Through Murky Waters: Kurd-catching in Harrisonburg for the sake of national security
By Alex Sirney, senior writer
Posted on April 27, 2006

The terrorist hunters out there will be happy to learn that the USA PATRIOT Act has been applied without remorse here in sleepy Harrisonburg.

Unfortunately, that taste of victory should turn bitter — the four men arrested here last October are not terrorists, “not the bad guys” by prosecuting U.S. attorney William Gould’s own admission to the defendants.

Even Gould’s superior in Roanoke and the man who ordered the investigation, U.S. attorney John Brownlee, seems to realize a mistake was made. When asked, the only response he gave was that it is his job to enforce the law — not exactly the triumphant rhetoric of someone who broke up a sleeper cell in his backyard.

Breaking up a sleeper cell, of course, would be the cause for celebration, but sadly for Brownlee, he didn’t even come close to one. Rather, he managed to break up a ring of men solely interested in getting money back to their families still in Iraq.

The four men, Ahmed Haji Abdullah, Fadhil Noroly, Rasheed Qambari and Amir Rashid are Kurdish immigrants who were resettled as refugees by the U.S. government in the 1990s when it became too dangerous for their pro-U.S. activities in Iraq, which is the opposite of suspicious entry into the country. Once they arrived, they got jobs and joined the pursuit of the American dream. All accounts paint them as model citizens, hard-working family men who volunteer time at the hospital and courts translating for the substantial Kurdish population in and around Harrisonburg.

They stand accused of wiring money overseas without a license, and two are also accused of embezzling money from Housing and Urban Development, and these charges stink of political motivation — it’s helpful in a re-election campaign to say you helped in bringing down terrorists, and 13 different organizations from the FBI to the U.Va. campus police participated in the raid.

The embezzlement charges are purely frivolous — they resulted from a mistranslation of a ledger when an account shifted banks. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, though; the trials have been marked by lack of adequate translators and general bumbling. The arrests themselves were carried out as paramilitary raids in front of wives and children. While certainly gentler than Saddam’s secret police they feared in Iraq, compared to the government allowing the Enron chiefs to turn themselves in, these arrest raids are beyond extreme and completely unjustified by the charges of running a money-wiring business.

The money-wiring charges themselves are a bit more substantial than the embezzlement sham which is likely to be dropped. Abdullah and Rashid have already pleaded guilty and Qambari has been convicted. Of course, the money-wiring they were doing involved sending money to their families and families of other refugees in Harrisonburg on their behalf. They even sent money to a charitable, pro-U.S. Non-Governmental Organization and, unlike a business, had no intention of turning a profit. They also had no intent to hide anything, or break the law — the transfers were made through the Bank of America, not exactly a back-alley terrorist factory.

The PATRIOT Act changed the money-wiring laws — it was always illegal to do so without a license, but a suspect had to intend to violate the law, not do it out of ignorance. Now, anyone committing the crime has to face the time and, at this stage of the defendant’s trials, at least three of them face that time.

The sentence is heavy at a maximum of five years and possible fines, but the consequences of the verdicts could carry an even heavier weight. None of the men have been able to find out if they will be deported by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, a very real worst-case scenario.

This is where the public needs to step in — the courts and the INS all can be swayed by public opinion, and these men need support now and in great strength. The accused are upstanding members of our community who got caught doing what parents do every time their children study abroad and what thousands of immigrants do every day — something that, in the end, amounts to simply supporting their families and charities. Americans everywhere should be standing up and saying that, rather than sending these men home, we need more of them in this country.

Alex Sirney is a junior anthropology/SMAD major who encourages you to contact him at sirneyac to find out how to help and who welcomes feedback at the same address.