Wisconsin Gurdwara Shooting: Who is Responsible?

Wade Michael Page, a lone gunman, killed seven persons at a gurdwara and and “dozens” critically injured, including a police officer. Many men and women were at the gurdwara in what appeared to be a hate crime in Oak Creek, a quiet suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the United States, to pray when a man walked in and went on a killing spree. While it is too early to comment on the motives of the gunman who was later killed by a police officer, the Sikh victims were, like others in all terrorist acts, innocent people.

The incident comes scarcely two weeks after at least 12 persons were killed in Aurora, Colorado, at the screening of the latest Batman movie.

Page used a 9mm handgun utilizing multiple ammunition magazines, he added. Authorities are trying to identify another person, a White male, whom they described as “a person of interest.”

The police have identified the deceased as brothers Seeta Singh (granthi) and Ranjit Singh (raagi); gurdwara president Satwant Singh Kaleka; Prakash Singh (granthi), 39; and congregation members Subegh Singh and Paramjit Kaur. Kaleka was killed after he tried to tackle Page.

Three others are in hospital in critical condition -- Punjab Singh, Santokh Singh and police officer Lieutenant Brian Murphy. A fourth victim was treated and released from hospital.

Officer Lieutenant Brian Murphy was shot eight or nine times in the face and extremities at “very close range” The shootings were being “treated as a domestic terrorist-type incident.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has launched a probe into the incident that law enforcement authorities have termed as "domestic terrorism". No motive has been identified behind the shooting spree.

The investigation is still being treated as a possible case of domestic terrorism, the local police said. On August 5, six persons were killed and three critically injured when Page, a former US army psychological operations specialist, opened fire inside a Gurudwara.

Who is Page?

Page, the 40-year-old ex-army veteran who killed six people at a Gurudwara in the US regularly attended hate events, was an ardent believer in the white supremacist movement and was associated with rock bands whose violent music talked about murdering Jews and black people.

Wade Page was shot and killed by a police officer in the parking lot of the Oak Creek Gurudwara after he wounded another police agent and killed six persons as preparations were underway for Sunday morning prayers.

Page was a “frustrated neo-Nazi” who had been the leader of a racist white-power band known as “End Apathy.” He has been affiliated with, including self-described “American Nationalist” band ‘Youngblood’ and ‘Definite Hate’, a group captured in a 2007 YouTube video performing in front of a Nazi flag superimposed with the image of Adolf Hitler’s head.

After serving in the US Army from 1992-1998, Page is believed to have worked as a truck driver from 2006 to 2010 in North Carolina.

Further, records from the Cumberland County, North Carolina Sheriff’s Department show Page was issued five permits to purchase pistols in May of 2008.

Assessment

India has sought an assurance from the United States over the safety of the Indian community there in the wake of the shooting at a Wisconsin Gurudwara that left seven people, including the gunman, dead.

The attack on worshippers at their place of worship points towards an unacceptable degree of religious intolerance among certain individuals in that society. Even though community leaders point out that Sikh immigrants have a respected and established presence in many parts of the US, there is no doubt that many states in America give their inhabitants easy access to guns. Incidents of gunmen attacking innocent people abound.

US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue

The latest round of the US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue confirmed the two countries' 'dedication to cultivating a strategic, comprehensive and long-term partnership,' according to a joint statement released at the conclusion of the three-day gathering. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistan Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, accompanied by high-level delegations, held the third ministerial-level meeting of the dialogue, following meetings in March and July.

The dialogue was preceded by sectoral-track engagement on agriculture, communications and public diplomacy, defense, energy, finance and economic cooperation, health, law enforcement and counter-terrorism, water and women's empowerment. Qureshi conveyed the gratitude of Pakistan to the United States for humanitarian assistance given in the wake of the Pakistan floods, and for mobilizing international assistance for relief, recovery, and reconstruction. Clinton 'commended the tenacity of the Pakistani people as they recover from the catastrophic flooding,' and pledged constant US support as relief efforts transition into the long-term recovery phase.

Wide Range of Issues
Sectoral meetings covered a range of subjects 'with a clear focus on socioeconomic development and the establishment of a mutually beneficial partnership.

The United States committed to redouble its efforts to seek US congressional enactment of legislation to create Reconstruction Opportunity Zones and for the establishment of an Enterprise Fund. Both sides sought to work closely and collaboratively with the international donor community and international financial institutions to extend economic assistance to Pakistan.

The United States commended the 'steadfast resolve' of Pakistan to defeat terrorists. Pakistan expressed appreciation for the Secretarys announcement to seek US. Congressional authorization for a Multi-Year Security Assistance Commitment, a five-year pledge by the United States.

Both sides said that 'a democratic, progressive and prosperous Pakistan was in the interest of the United States, the region and the world.' The officials 'renewed their resolve to promoting peace, stability and transparency throughout the region and to eliminate the threats posed by terrorism and extremism.

During the Pakistani delegations visit to the White House, President Barack Obama announced his plans to visit Pakistan in 2011 and welcomed President Asif Ali Zardari to Washington. The next round of the Strategic Dialogue is planned to be held in 2011, and the sectoral working groups plan to meet prior to the next ministerial-level meeting.

Pakistan is an important player in the ongoing global effort for countering terrorism in the Afghan-Pakistan region, which has implications for Pakistan's security, and regional and global politics. It opted for this strategy in September 2001, signifying the abandonment of its policy of supporting the Taliban movement and its government in Kabul.

While sharing the goals and the general direction of countering terrorism with the US, Pakistan has demonstrated autonomy on the issues that the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) view as integral to Pakistan's internal political imperatives and external security with reference to Afghanistan and India.

The Pakistan-US Strategic Dialogue has more to do with discord than accord. It is more about distrust than trust. Way back in 2006, President George Walker Bush spent a few hours in Pakistan and spoke for an 'enduring' relationship between the two countries. This time we are told by Washington bigwigs that Americans will not walk away. They will continue to be good friends.

Positive indications given by Bush, however, have not yielded the desired results. Little headway has been made insofar as trade and investments are concerned. It is puzzling and, indeed, disappointing to find the US deliberately ignoring these vitals interests of a close ally. In addition to this, the promise to set up Reconstruction Opportunity Zones in the tribal areas has also not been fulfilled.

A major initiative, after the lapse of many years, has been the passing of the Kerry-Lugar Bill (KLB). But its conditions and the peculiar manner of its implementation have taken the sheen off an otherwise fairly attractive gesture. A clarification that part of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan funding and Flood Relief assistance will come from the KLB commitments has further affected the positive impression earlier created. The delay in disbursement of the coalition support installments too has downgraded the quality of relationship between the two countries.

The basic problem for any dialogue between the US and Pakistan is that the two countries remain as strategically far apart as they perhaps ever have been. A relationship of necessity based on fear of the other can never be the starting point for a true and meaningful partnership. Consider that beyond non-proliferation and counter-terrorism -- both 'negative' reasons to cooperate -- there is little that can be seen as long-term areas of cooperation in the strategic dialogue. Nevertheless, dialogue is always good. At least now the US and Pakistan have a regular forum to meet and discuss issues at a high level -- if nothing else, they may begin to understand each other's security concerns better.

$2 Billion Package for Islamabad
The new military aid plan or 'security assistance', as the US mandarins call it) was yet to be formally unveiled, but US media accounts suggest it is a done deal: That it would be a $2 billion package spread over five years, over and above the $7.5 billion non-military aid plan approved last year. The new security pact would have three parts: the sale of the US military equipment to Pakistan, a program to allow Pakistani military officers to study at American war colleges and counterinsurgency assistance to Pakistani troops.

Between 2001 and 2009, Pakistan had collected about $9 billion in US military assistance, in terms of aid and reimbursement for its operations in aid of the American-led war effort in Afghanistan. Another $3.6 billion funded economic and diplomatic initiatives. 'But US officials and journalists' accounts have raised concerns that such funds are not being used as intended, and not just because of the typical concerns about corruption,' a Newsweek investigative account said last year. 'Will any amount of money produce results?,' it posed, noting: 'A big part of that answer lies in determining how much bang the United States has gotten for its buck so far -- whether or not some of the money was siphoned off along the way to fund Army generals' new houses or the Taliban elements.'

That may have been about one kind of misuse, but the other misuse by diverting the money for beefing up Pakistan's military might against India has been confirmed by the Pentagon itself. Documents revealed last year how Pakistan had brazenly used billions of dollars meant to fight the war on terror for buying an array of conventional weaponry to develop its offensive capability against India.

Pakistan also used a large portion of funds provided under FMF (Foreign Military Financing) to purchase up to 60 mid-life update kits for F-16 A/B combat aircraft valued at $891 million. Of this, it paid $477 million from the FMF funds given by the United States.

Pakistan's Offerings
Pakistan agreed to the seven US demands but in reality, some of these demands were not fully complied with. For example, the US was not given 'blanket over flight and landing rights'. Instead Pakistan provided a corridor for US aircraft to fly over Pakistani territory on the way to Afghanistan. Similarly, Pakistan did not give unlimited use of its naval ports, air bases and strategic locations on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Other facilities extended to the US included flyover and landing rights to American aircraft, support facilities, as well as transit of goods and personnel through Pakistan, the sharing of information between the intelligence agencies of the two countries and permission to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to function in Pakistan in collaboration with its Pakistani counterparts.

Pakistan gave two airports -- Shamsi in Balochistan and Jacobabad in Sind -- for logistical, communication and emergency support to counter-terrorism operations in Afghanistan. Though the US was not authorized to use these air bases for launching air raids into Afghanistan, the US military authorities did not always honor this commitment. A third airport, Pasni, was made available to them temporarily. Shamsi is said to be still in American use in 2010.

Obama's Janus-Headed Policy Toward Pakistan
Is it intended to be a sop to Pakistan in lieu of being overlooked for a US presidential visit that takes Barack Obama to its neighbor and arch-rival, India? The fact that Washington chose to convene a third round of US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue less than a fortnight before Obama's India visit in November 2010 and pledge a hefty $2 billion military aid package may be nothing short of a balancing act.

For all the talk of de-hyphenation of America's policy approach toward India and Pakistan, it may still be a zero-sum game that Washington plays in the subcontinent, no matter the delinking of the Presidential visit to the two countries. The stratagem in the US corridors of power may also be aimed at keeping Islamabad in check, just in case Obama decides to unveil some goodies while in New Delhi, such as endorsing or signaling support for India's bid for a permanent seat in UN Security Council and/or easing high-tech export controls. For that very reason, India, also, may mute for the time being its concerns over the substantial military aid to Islamabad.

Whatever the American calculations, Indian worries are set to mount, given the likelihood of Pakistan again diverting much of the new aid to bolster its military machine against India instead of using it to combat terrorism. Defence Minister AK Antony apparently had an inkling of what was coming, so he made it a major talking point when he visited Washington last month and held parleys with three of the big guns of the Obama administration -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defence Secretary Robert Gates and National Security Adviser James Jones. But Antony's expression of concern appears to have fallen by the wayside.

Treatment in Guantanamo Detention Camp

A former US captain by the name of Imam Ma Yee came for the first time to Malaysia. He gave a talk detailing to the Muslims in Malaysia about his personal experience and treatment when he was arrested by the US authority. He was kept at the Guantanamo Detention Camp. He said he has witnessed with his own eyes the inhumane treatment of Muslim prisoners of war by the US soldiers inside the Guantanamo Detention Camp.

Nevertheless he said he was confident that US President Barack Obama would fulfill his promise and commitment to close the Guantanamo Detention Camp eventually. He added that the Muslims in the United States, the local US human rights organizations as well as some supporters of President Obama were in high anticipation for President Obama to close the Guantanamo Detention Camp. This was because this detention camp has seriously damaged the US world status and reputation.

Inhumane Treatment Prisoners of War by US Soldiers
At the Al-Khaadem fund raising dinner (held on 16 May in Petaling Jaya), Imam Ma Yee, also known as James J. Yee, has given a speech titled 'Guantanamo: Exploitation of Human Rights' to the Muslims in Malaysia. At this fund raising dinner, former Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad and his wife were guests of honor for this function. Also presented at this fund raising function was Al-Khaadem President Syed Hussain Yee.

In his speech, this ex-US captain said by now he was disappointed with President Obama because on 11 January 2010, President Obama has promised to close the Guantanamo Detention Camp. However, as of today, the US Government has not taken any action to fulfill President Obama's promise.

He said that there were still more than 180 detainees being kept inside the Guantanamo camp. He said that at the height of it, there were as many as over 700 detainees kept there. He also added that the condition at the Guantanamo Detention Camp at present stage has been improved a lot. He said that incidents leading to the abuse of power, corruption and ill treatment of prisoners of war by the US soldiers were not as serious and as rampant is it used to be in the past.

Aim To Obtain Intelligence From Muslim Captives
Imam Ma Yee pointed out that what made Muslims angry was that the Guantanamo Detention Camp has made use of religion as the main weapon to force the Muslim detainees to provide intelligence on terrorist activities.

'Very often, in order to force the Muslim detainees to come out with intelligence on terrorists, the US soldiers would make all kinds of profanity to desecrate Islamic faith, including trampling on the Koran and prohibit the Muslim detainees from performing their prayer rituals.

'The way the US military treated the Guantanamo Muslim captives was like treating dogs or animals without observing any basic human rights.'

Imam Ma Yee said he himself had also been innocently investigated by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents. He was arrested and kept in the Camp for as long as 76 days under the order of US military tribunal court. Moreover, he was put in an isolated cell, handcuffed in both hands and legs. In addition, his eyes were blindfolded and his ears were covered. When he was detained, not only had he lost his total freedom, he has also lost the rights to see and to hear. He said he was simply cut off from the entire world.

Counseling Prisoners of War in Guantanamo Detention Camp
Imam Ma Yee believed that he has suffered such an unfair treatment by the US military because he is an ethnic Chinese and also a Muslim.

In November 2002, the then US Captain Imam Ma Yee was sent to the Guantanamo Detention Camp by the US forces with the assignment to provide religious counseling to the more than 600 Taliban prisoners of war the US soldiers had captured in the Afghanistan battlefield. His other duty was to persuade these Taliban prisoners of war to surrender.

However, in August 2003, when he made use of his vacation to go home to visit his relatives, when he was half way through Florida, he was abducted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was charged with 'instigating revolt during the period when he worked in the Guantanamo Detention Camp.' He was also charged with 'fornication foreign enemies' and 'does not obey orders', among others offences.

After his release in 2005 Imam Ma Yee resigned from the US military forces. Currently, he engages in writing and in giving talks about his personal experience at the Guantanamo Detention Camp. He has been to a number of countries telling other nations about what he has gone through at the Guantanamo Detention Camp. He said the countries he had giving talks included Germany, India and Turkey among others.

Issues Pertaining to US Born Muslims

Although the Obama administration has abolished the former US George W. Bush administration's "war on terror" emphasis shortly after US President Barack Obama became the US President, but the special effort taken by President Obama in wanting to improve the US perception in the World Muslim in the past year has failed to achieve any concrete result. There is no sign to show that the "clash of civilization' phenomenon has subsided. Moreover, before the end of 2009, we heard news about a religious extremist who claimed he would act on behalf of the Al Qa'ida terrorist network to carry out terrorist mission. This Islamic extremist tried to detonate a bomb on a Northwest Airlines international fight heading toward the US homeland but failed.
More compelling is that within the global Islamic extremist forces, we witness the emergence of a growing number of US-born Muslims. Such a trend was obvious when, on the day after the foiled terrorist attempt to blow up the Northwest Airlines plane, US mainstream daily The Washington Post has through its website on its international news section, posed two top stories relating to US-born Muslim terrorist development.
The first news said that on 24 December 2009, the Yemeni government carried out an air strike in order to clear the hideout place of Al Qa'ida network members in Yemen. Apparently, this was done with the help of the United States. The action taken by the Yemeni government has caused concern and attention to the people in the United State. Many wanted to know if the anti-US Muslim cleric Anwar Awlaki was among those killed in the air raid. Earlier report has allegedly charged that Anwar Awlaki has connection with the Fort Hood army base Muslim shooter Major Nidal Hassan. The second top news carried by Washington Post on the same day said that the Pakistani authorities were getting ready to prosecute the five US Muslims from Virginia whom Pakistani authorities have arrested for their allegedly involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan.
The common denominator of the two top news carried by The Washington Post was that both the incidents involved US born Muslims. All the names involved in the news were US Muslim citizens and that the anti-US Muslim cleric Anwar Awlaki was no exception. If the US Muslim cleric Anwar Awlaki were indeed killed in the Yemini air strikes aided by the United States, then as the father of Anwar Awlaki claimed, it would be the first time the US Government executed death sentence to a US citizen by providing direct support to a foreign government without going through judiciary process. More importantly, these recent developments have shown that in the international "political Islam' trend, the US Muslims are increasingly playing a prominent role in such a development. US born Islamic extremists are indeed on the increase. The senseless Fort Hood military base shooting by Muslim Major Hassan has created tremendous impact to the mainstream US society as well as the US Muslim population that are law abiding.
To the mainstream US society, such a development is a challenge to the US traditional immigrant society culture. The development has also given the mainstream US society a sudden sense of feeling that their superiority European societal culture has been weaken. In a relative comparison, the US society suddenly discovers that after half a century of their assimilation policy, they still cannot really "digest" the non-Christian immigrants coming other countries as well as from Europe. All along, the United States is proud of its successful "melting pot" immigrant policy. However, recent series of religious terrorist related events have shown that this "melting pot" immigrant culture has lost its effectiveness on the descendents of US Muslim immigrants.
President Obama is the first US President that carried some Afro American blood. Obama is also the first US President that can trace his religious root to some Islamic influence. Nevertheless, since Obama was raised his single mother and Christian grandparents, Obama only retains middle name 'Hussein' In reality Obama has not been influenced by Islamic culture.
In Washington, the political fight for power has been intensified. Such political struggle for power has begun to have an impact on US foreign policy direction. President Obama's original intention to reduce the Muslim World's anti-US sentiment by cooling down the counterterrorism policy has suffered severe setback. The US Government's intention to treat all citizens "fairly" has also become more difficult to achieve.

Assimilation of Societal Process
Of note is that since the Second World War, the US defense and military have made effort to recruit and promote soldiers and military officers coming from minority groups with the intention to reduce racial prejudice and to speed up assimilation of societal process. This is the reason the Fort Hood shooting killer Major Nidal Malik Hasan could still earn the trust of the US Armed Forces although this Muslim Major has shown his anti-US tendency much earlier. After the tragic shooting at Fort Hood army base, the right wing conservative groups have begun to question this traditional "politically correct" military policy. They even demanded the resignation of US Army chief.
Yet at the same time, with the extremist Muslim population in the United States on the increase, it seems to us that the US intelligence agencies, in particular the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have vigorously strengthened their vigil, surveillance and penetration to the US Muslim community and certain Muslims. A recent issue of The New York Times has even revealed that some FBI agents have disguised as Islamic religious extremists and set up trap to order to arrest Islamic extremists and put them in courts. Moreover, the report also said that the FBI personnel also work with the US Immigration to lure some of their targeted Muslims as their 'line agents' by either approving their green card permanent residency or threaten to deport them from the United States. The job of these "line agents" is to secretly monitor and prosecute the Muslims of their same kind.
Such practice by the US intelligent bodies in treating the Muslim population has caused a strong rebound in the US Muslim community. To borrow the words of The New York Times, they have planted "the seeds of anger and fear" in the Muslim community.

Fundamental Interests of Islamic World
The way the US authority handles the Muslims made the US Muslims feel that from the beginning to the end, the authority has always suspected and considered them as a different category of US citizens. As such, many Muslim citizens have taken a negative approach by taking less overseas trips, becoming very selective in their friendship and by reducing their willingness to do voluntary work for the society or made donation to the society as an act of Islamic faith.
As of today, the US Government and the US community at large are still not willing to look into the underlying causes of why the Islamic radical and extremist thought could attract the younger generation of Muslims in the United States so deeply. In the author's opinion, the main reason is that in the eyes of the majority of the US Muslims, they feel Washington's foreign policy is detrimental to the fundamental interests of the Islamic world. To take a recent example, under the subtle approval by the Obama administration, the Israeli regime has continued to occupy and carry out expansion in East Jerusalem. However, to the Muslim World, the importance of East Jerusalem is only second to Mecca and Medina. East Jerusalem is considered as the third holiest place to the Muslims. According to the Islamic faith, East Jerusalem is the land where the Prophet Mohammad ascended to heaven.

Demand of Situation
Under such circumstances, Washington might continue to view the Muslim community in the United States as the potential "fifth fleet" of the Islamic extremist force in the United States. Such subtle handling of US Muslim population can only widen and distance the US Muslims from the mainstream US society.
Some time ago, we read a Reuters report that said that when the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) made an announcement for the recruit of more workers, the Arab Americans have responded to this call in a rather lukewarm or even cold manner. They simply said, "Does the United State love us?" This short statement has candidly summed up the contradiction and the ambivalence faced by the US Muslim population.