George Mason Student Busted for Anti-Recruiting
By Matthew Rothschild
October 13, 2005
Tariq Khan is a junior at George Mason University in Virginia. An Air Force veteran at 27, he has strong views about the Iraq War and about military recruitment on campus.
He went to the trouble of making up his own anti-recruitment pamphlet, which he entitled “Three Good Reasons Not to Join the Military.� Those reasons, he says, are: first, you have to submit to authoritarianism; second, you have to commit human rights violations; and third, you have to risk your own life for leaders you might not respect or trust.
For the last two semesters, Khan says he has kept these pamphlets with him on campus because he’s never sure when the recruiters will be there.
And so on September 29, when he saw the Marine recruiters had set up a table in the Johnson Center on campus, Khan decided to stand nearby.
“I got out an 8½ by 11 piece of paper, which I had written on: ‘Recruiters Lie. Don’t Be Deceived.’ And I taped it to my chest,� Khan says. “I was standing about four feet from the Marine recruiting table.
I wasn’t blocking access or anything.�
Khan says that someone from the Johnson Center staff came up to him and told him he couldn’t be there.
“He kept telling me that I had to have a permit to table,� Khan says.
“But I told him I wasn’t tabling. I don’t need a permit just to stand there.�
“Do you want me to call the police?�
“Call whoever you want but I’m not leaving.�
Then Khan says a student came by, took a pamphlet, ripped it up, threw it in his face, and left. The student returned with another person, who said he was in the Marines and was just back from Iraq.
Khan says he asked him, “How many people did you kill?�
According to Khan, the Marine said: “Not enough. I want to go back and kill more.�
They started to hassle Khan, calling him “a pussy and a coward,� he recalls. “The guy who said he was in the Marines rips the sign off my chest. I said, ‘Thanks for defending my freedom of speech.’ So I took out another piece of paper and started to make a new sign.�
“He told me the same thing: that I’m not allowed to be there unless I have a permit. I told him I don’t need a permit to stand here.�
When Khan wouldn’t leave, Officer Reynolds threw him down and handcuffed him. Khan says that some of the students nearby were egging the police officer on, yelling, “Kick his ass! Kick his ass!�
Khan says he kept saying, “I’m nonviolent. I’ve committed no crime.�
Reynolds and another police officer dragged Khan out to the police and took him to the George Mason University police station, he says. There, they found out his name. (Khan is a Pakistani-American, who was born in the United States.)
“All of a sudden, they started talking about 9/11,� he says. “They said, ‘You people are the most violent people in the world. There’s no telling what you’ll do.’ �
The officers then took him to the Fairfax Adult Detention Center. According to Khan, Reynolds said: “If you run your mouth off again or even look at an officer the wrong way, they’ll hang you up by your feet.�
Khan was charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct. He has a court date of November 14. He could face up to two years in jail and a $5,000 fine.
It is pretty fucked up that your country has come to that.
Having said that, it could well turn out to be his lucky day.
Once a junior lawyer has contested the charge under numerous constitutional free speech precedents, he will be able to sue for wrongful detention (?kidnap), deprivation of liberty, assault, racial discrimination, psychological and physical trauma and I'm sure a clever lawyer could come up with a few more things.
well it appears america is going the way of our past enemies. jailing anyone really that opposes the war.. see i could stand in front of the recruiters table at my high school and demonstrate but if i get arrested my mom will take away my mercedes.. soo... yea
if the recruiter comes and asks me if im ready to sign on my 17th birthday ill say .. sign for what.. vietnam.. i mean iraq.. nah we are losing screw this war man im leaving the country.. oh by the way.. get your heads out of your asses..
Case Against GMU Protester Is Dropped
Student, an Air Force Veteran, Passed Out Fliers Saying Military Recruiters Lie
By Tom Jackman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 15, 2005; Page B03
Fairfax County prosecutors yesterday dropped charges against a George Mason University student who was arrested by campus police in September while protesting military recruiting at the school.
After investigating the case, George Mason officials asked last month that the charges against Tariq Khan, 27, be dismissed. Fairfax prosecutors complied in a brief hearing in Fairfax General District Court. Neither school officials nor prosecutors would explain why yesterday.
Khan, who served four years in the Air Force after graduating from Park View High School in Sterling, said yesterday after the hearing that his military service gave him a new perspective on the promises made by recruiters.
Khan said he "made bombs" that were dropped on Iraq after the Persian Gulf War. "We were not fighting for freedom. We were acting the same way every tyrannical government acts anywhere in the world, trying to impose the view of an elite few."
So at lunchtime on Sept. 29, Khan stood near a military recruitment table in the Johnson Center on campus, holding fliers and wearing a sign on his chest that said, "Recruiters Lie, Don't Be Deceived." He said he had done the same thing three times before without incident.
This time, Khan said, two students ripped the sign off his chest, tore it up and tossed it in the trash. Campus police arrived and "started assaulting me," Khan said. He said the students who had ripped the sign joined in while some ROTC students stood nearby and cheered.
Campus police took Khan to the county jail and charged him with disorderly conduct and trespassing. He said one of the officers told him, "You people are the most violent people in the world." Khan is a Pakistani American who grew up in Sterling and now lives in Falls Church.
George Mason officials initially said that Khan was "considered to be distributing literature" and "creating a disturbance," according to university spokesman Daniel Walsch. Walsch said Khan was asked to leave, refused and was arrested.
Khan, a junior sociology major, said he had not been harassing the recruiters or handing out literature indiscriminately, which would have required a permit.
The incident sparked an outburst of support for Khan and for free speech. More than 100 faculty members and students held a teach-in last month to endorse Khan's right to challenge the government's policies.
Since his arrest, Khan said, "Recruiters haven't been back on campus. Just that in itself makes it worth it." He also said a number of students had volunteered to join him in counter-recruiting.
But Khan said the university "has yet to admit to doing anything wrong." He said he spoke to the school's police chief, Michael F. Lynch, who told him that campus police had acted properly and had not used excessive force.
Lynch did not return a phone call yesterday.
Walsch also did not return calls yesterday. He said last month that the school believed that the matter should be handled internally rather than in the courts.
Robert F. Horan Jr., the Fairfax commonwealth's attorney, did not return a phone call yesterday to explain why prosecutors dismissed the case.
The American Civil Liberties Union was prepared to defend Khan in court. Rebecca K. Glenberg, the legal director for the ACLU in Virginia, said, "We really look forward to seeing what kind of changes GMU makes in its policies."
Khan said that he planned to resume protesting military recruitment on campus and that his group was in the process of getting a permit for a table to distribute literature. "We just stand there with our signs," Khan said. "We don't go out and get into people's faces."
It would seem to a logical person that those who assaulted this guy were the ones creating the "disturbance". Why weren't they arrested? This entire campus "police" department of goosestepping facist fucks ought to be fired.
It would seem to a logical person that those who assaulted this guy were the ones creating the "disturbance". Why weren't they arrested? This entire campus "police" department of goosestepping facist fucks ought to be fired.
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