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FBI revokes its service award from Arab leader

BY NIRAJ WARIKOO

10/11/03: (Knight Ridder Newspapers) (KRT) - After pressure from a pro-Israeli group and columnist, the FBI rescinded an award it had planned to give to a prominent Arab-American leader this week and raised questions about his connections with men the government wants to deport.

Imad Hamad, who heads the local branch of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, had been scheduled to receive a prestigious service award today in Washington, D.C., for his work with law enforcement after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Local conservative columnist Debbie Schlussel and the Zionist Organization of America - one of the oldest pro-Israeli groups in the nation - led a spirited attack last month against Hamad, charging in letters and articles that he is sympathetic to terrorists and unworthy of such an honor.

Hamad said the allegations that he supports terrorism are baseless and came from fringe groups with no credibility.

Schlussel and the Zionist Organization of America were especially irked that the FBI was honoring Hamad with flight attendant Madeline Sweeney, who calmly told authorities by phone details of her plane's hijacking before it crashed into the World Trade Center.

The FBI had planned to fly Hamad, who lives in Dearborn, to Washington and pay his travel expenses for the ceremony, which was to honor just him and Sweeney.

In the past, the U.S. government had tried to deport Hamad, hinting he might be connected with a terrorist group called the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In 1982, Hamad had taken part in a rally criticizing Israel's invasion of Lebanon.

But in 1999, an immigration judge ruled the government's evidence linking Hamad was ``vague, lacking in specificity and uncorroborated.''

Schlussel, though, wrote a column last month on her Web site and in the New York Post that reviewed Hamad's past and lashed out at him and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, alleging they support groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

Hamad has said repeatedly he's against killing innocent civilians. He said Schlussel ``lacks credibility'' and pointed out that he was cleared of any links to terrorism.

But late Tuesday, the man in charge of the FBI's Detroit office, Willie Hulon, visited Hamad in person at his office and told him the FBI's Washington office was taking back the award.

The decision illustrates how intensely the war on terrorism is playing out in metro Detroit, an area whose large Arab population has drawn close attention since Sept. 11.

The FBI's move pleased the Zionist Organization, whose president, Morton Klein, said Wednesday by phone from Jerusalem that it's ``an important step in continuing the war against all terror groups.''

Schlussel said awarding Hamad is akin to awarding German Americans who supported Nazis during World War II.

``I'm glad they rethought this,'' she said. ``It's a tremendous victory over terrorism and those who support it.''

But it stunned many Arab Americans in metro Detroit, where Hamad has emerged during the past few years as an international spokesman for the community.

``I'm absolutely furious,'' said Mo Abdrabboh, a Dearborn attorney who sometimes works on Arab-American issues. ``It's a blatant insult without any regard for Hamad or the community.''

Abdrabboh said he and other Arab Americans are seriously thinking of resigning from BRIDGES, a group of local law enforcement officials and Arab Americans that meets monthly in Detroit to discuss various issues, including terrorism. The group is the only one of its kind in the country and is cochaired by Hamad and U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins.

``It's not about the award,'' Abdrabboh said. ``It's about the disrespect.''

That sentiment was felt among several local Arab leaders, who called the move another blow to a community already reeling from what its members see as an assault on their civil rights by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Late Tuesday, the FBI released a statement saying that Hamad was somehow connected with people who could be deported.

``It has recently come to our attention that evidence referencing Mr. Hamad has been filed in connection with an upcoming deportation proceeding against associates of his,'' said FBI spokeswoman Cassandra Chandler in the statement. ``Accordingly, this award has been withdrawn.''

FBI officials, in Detroit and Washington, D.C., didn't elaborate on how Hamad may have been tied to the potential deportees. But they released a statement that said FBI Director Robert Mueller ``has decided to present only one Exceptional Public Service award,'' which will go posthumously to Sweeney.

On Wednesday, Hamad received calls from supporters, and he stressed that he wants to continue a positive relationship with the FBI.

``I want to keep building bridges of understanding,'' Hamad said. ``I want to continue making Michigan a role model for the rest of the country.''

Hamad also said he has no problem with only Sweeney receiving the award. He said Sweeney deserved the award way more than he did.
© 2003, Detroit Free Press.