Yesterday Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rescinded the Bush-era ban on two Muslim scholars, Professor Tariq Ramadan of Oxford, and Adam Habib of the University of Johannesburg, from entering the country because of their views. Both men had been critical of Bush administration policies and, being a Muslim, of course, potentially makes you a person with "links to terrorism." The ACLU had filed separate lawsuits on their behalf on the grounds that banning them from the country merely because of their beliefs violated their First and Fifth Amendment rights.
The two men were among the most high-profile -- but not the only -- Muslim intellectuals who were prevented from entering the country on dubious grounds during the prior administration. It should go without saying that the ban was a strategic mistake: preventing people like this from entering the country simply reinforces the notion that the U.S. is at war with Muslims and not with terrorist groups.
-- A. Serwer
