So two weeks ago, Ashcroft nabbed himself some Palestinian terrorists–right here in our own backyard. Who’d have thought? Boy, robbing your citizens of their civil liberties can do wonders for law enforcement. But we’ll get to that later.

Here’s the headline you certainly won’t see anytime soon: “U.S. Government Officials Linked to Terrorism.” Oh, and for Fox News fans, the word “terrorism” is in red letters and a really gritty Courier font. (That’s better. Now it’s starting to look like real news.)

Yes, that’s right. I guess Dubya thought he could pull a fast one on us–that if he started looking for terrorists outside the country we wouldn’t see the ones percolating in the White House.

I never did understand why Bush acted like he was truly making an effort to help the Palestinian situation. What part of pacifying a conflict does providing one side with all its arms fall under? That’s right, if the United States would pull the plug–poof! No more bulldozing houses with people in them, no more military occupation or curfews and no more lethal responses to rock-wielding demonstrators, among other things.

Do you think the U.S. government is really unbiased? Granted, the Israeli people have a right to defend themselves, but do you have any sympathy for a government that evicts people from their home, then invades the little land remaining, occupying it with a military presence, running a police state whose members have very little control as human beings, much less as citizens?

Sounds like terrorism to me.

So who is really the helpless victim? Not Israel–it’s encouraging its citizens to take up residence in the occupied territories. I don’t believe for a second that it’s interested in receding land, which seems to be the only internal solution at this point. There is even a number of Israeli soldiers who refuse to serve in the occupied territories. So why is Bush so interested, if even some Israeli citizens aren’t?

But let’s go back to the God-approved United States of America, where everyone enjoys his or her human rights because Thomas Jefferson says so, right? Well, not since the first Patriot “Government No Longer Held Accountable to Its Citizens or Hardly Any Laws For that Matter” Act. Now, there weren’t any WASP hijackers, so most of us have nothing to worry about, but for some, the last year and a half has been a little problematic. Enaam Arnaout’s case is representative of hundreds of others, of persons, with the help of the media, virtually disappeared by their government.

Arnaout, a U.S. citizen, is the CEO of the Benevolence International Foundation, a Muslim charity organization. In December 2001, after the government denied BIF’s earlier offer to let the FBI check for terrorist links, the FBI conducted an unannounced raid on BIF’s Chicago office and Arnaout’s home–all while Arnaout himself was working in Bosnia.

The charges? Well, see, that’s the beauty of the Fear Everything Act, the government really doesn’t have to say. It did come out later, however, that among BIF’s contributions to terror was an X-ray machine sent to Chechnya.

The following spring, the Justice Department, based on secret evidence, claimed that Arnaout perjured himself when he denied, under oath, that BIF had aided terrorists. Based on that claim, in April 2002, Arnaout was arrested and incarcerated–and not just jailed. He’s in solitary confinement, a place usually reserved for the most violent offenders. He must spend 23 hours a day in his cell and he is strip- searched before and after his break. He is malnourished and claims to have suffered other mild forms of torture.

Whatcha say we throw me in the hole for a year, cause, ya know, Timothy McVeigh was white and didn’t like government policy–and, hey, he was from the Midwest too!

Sami Al-Arian, of the University of South Florida, and the others arrested last Friday are tangled up in the same system, and I don’t trust it for one minute. Al-Arian and others like him have been harangued by the government for years–based, as usual, on secret evidence and foggy allegations. Al-Arian is on a hunger strike and has not taken medicine for his diabetes. To me, that hints at his innocence.

Hopefully, this indictment will be as groundless as other attempts, but even if they are, that hasn’t stopped Herr Ashcroft in the past. And, of course, we are not any closer to the root of the problem in Israel and Palestine. Here’s a tip: There may be evidence in this clandestine document called the Federal budget that shows that the United States supports Israeli terrorism. But it’s not terrorism, it’s active defense, right? Bush better hope that position holds up–I’d hate to see him on a hunger strike.

Andrew Ivers is a freshman studying English and political science.