WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com)�Muslim officials and human rights activists reacted with shock and outrage March 21 to a "McCarthy-style" raid on the homes and offices of more than two dozen Muslim-operated businesses in suburban Northern Virginia and in Georgia the day before.

"This is a great tragedy," Johari Abdul-Malik, Islamic Chaplin at Howard University, told reporters. "In mosques and Islamic centers around the country we�re calling them to raise the issue of the civil rights violation of the American Muslim society. So in every city in the United States you can rely that this will be on the lips of the imams, calling the people to stand up for our civil rights," he said about the simultaneously executed raids by 150 officers carrying 14 search warrants looking for proof of "terrorist" activity among some of the highest profile and politically best connected groups in the country. Ironically, many of the targeted groups supported the Bush presidential campaign.

Agencies involved in the arrests included Customs, the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the FBI, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the U.S. Postal Service. There were no arrests.

"The search warrants executed yesterday by �Operation Green Quest� were approved by a federal magistrate who found that there was probable cause to conduct these searches," said Customs Service spokesman Dean Boyd, according to published reports. Customs would not provide any other information concerning which homes and businesses were searched, saying that the affidavits filed in support of the warrants were under seal in federal court.

"The Muslim community is deeply concerned about what appears to be a fishing expedition by federal authorities using McCarthy-like tactics in search of evidence of wrongdoing that does not exist," said Jason Erb, Governmental Affairs director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).

The action by the government is only "the latest in a series targeting Muslim organizations and individuals without proper cause or evidence," said a statement from American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice. "The government will not convince Muslims worldwide that the war against terrorism is not a war against Islam while it violates the rights of Muslim citizens and residents within its own borders."

"It triggers grave concern to note that reportedly renowned and well known mainstream Muslim organizations such as the Muslim World League (MWL) and the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), which have for decades been running activities and conducting business all over the world and with the United Nations have become a target of the U.S. investigation," Yaser Bushnaq, chief coordinator of Solidarity US, said in a statement.

The MWL, based in Saudi Arabia, is that kingdom�s largest charity and umbrella organization, which enjoys diplomatic status as an official "observer" in both the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Other raided groups include the International Relief Organization (IRO), International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), Success Foundation, and the FIQH Council�which is composed of Muslim scholars and jurists who provide interpretations and guidelines on religious issues for the majority of Islamic worshiping places in the U.S. and Canada.

This "second phase" of raids and interviews announced by the Department of Justice is "unjustifiable considering that the first raid yielded little or nothing in the way of intelligence or enhanced national security," the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) complained in a statement.

Last Dec. 4, President Bush froze the assets of the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, claiming that organization had been "funneling money to the terrorist organization Hamas."

These raids will only further isolate and alienate law-abiding Muslims at the very time when law enforcement agencies should be seeking the "full cooperation" of Muslims, MPAC said.

"It seems like the government is declaring open season on Muslim American groups," Abdulwahab Alkebsi, executive director of the Islamic Institute, one of the targeted groups, told The Final Call. "We have been repeating over and over again, the Muslim American community is uniquely qualified to help in this war against terrorism."

But if this targeting of Muslims communities continues, the society begins to perceive Muslims as "part of the problem," he said.

According to some analysts, Muslims are also frustrated at the reaction of the Bush administration because many of the same mainstream Islamic organizations targeted in these raids campaigned for Mr. Bush�s election.

"The unfortunate reality is that at the end of the day, after he received that vote�which many argue was the critical margin of victory that enabled him to win the Oval Office�he did what other politicians are accustomed to doing with communities that are socially and politically marginalized, that is he turned on them," Mauri Saalakhan, director of the Peace and Justice Foundation, said in an interview.

Critics say these latest raids are reminiscent of the unconstitutional crackdown, displacement and confiscation of the land of Japanese Americans, who were suspected of being loyal to Japan instead of to this country during World War II, said Mr. Alkebsi.The home raids may have been the most shocking. The raid on her home was "the most un-American thing I have ever seen" said Laura Jaghlit, a high school English teacher and the wife of Dr. Mohammad Jaghlit. Agents roamed throughout her residence, broke cabinets, rambled through personal family photos, and confiscated the passports of family members and envelopes containing invitations for her daughter�s wedding party scheduled for late March.

"My daughter and I are citizens of good standing," said Aysha Unus, wife of Dr. Iqbal Unus, after the raid on her home. She was handcuffed for three hours for supposedly "failing to be quick enough to open her door for the raiding agents."

Officials at the targeted agencies could not call home because "the people at home were being handcuffed while the institution was being investigated," Imam Abdul-Malik said.

Photo: (L-R); Howard University Chaplain Johari Abdul-Malik (at microphone), moderates a press conference among Muslims protesting federal government "anti-terrorism" raids on the homes and businesses of dozens of the most prominent Muslims in the U.S., including Dr. Iqbal Unus, head of the International Institute of Islam Thought (IIIT), whose home was raided; Abdulwaha Alkesbi, executive director of the Islamic institute; and Dr. Louay Safi, IIIT Director of Research. -Credit: Askia Muhammad