US travel ban discriminates against Muslims: Author

Several American and foreign organizations have criticized the US Supreme Court’s decision allowing parts of President Donald Trump’s travel ban to go into effect. They are urging institutions like the US Congress to take action to stop the implementation of this discriminatory act against Muslims.

To discuss the issue, Press TV has talked to Michael Springmann, author and former US diplomat, and Michael Lane, founder of the American Institute for Foreign Policy, both from Washington.

Springmann described the travel ban on Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen as discriminatory.

“It discriminates against Muslims certainly, but only certain Muslims states” are on the list which have never been involved in any attack against the US and its citizens, the former diplomat said on Wednesday.

Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan and member states of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council have not been mentioned on the travel ban list, he mentioned.

According to Springmann, the travel ban and the US interventions in the Islamic world indicate that Washington does not care about Muslims, Arabs and even humanitarian purposes.

He also pointed to Washington’s foreign policy in the Middle East and other parts of the world, which is promoting hatred against the United States.

The US meddling in Yemen, Libya and Syria guarantees “more hostility towards the United States in Yemen and elsewhere in the world,” he noted.

The analyst further said that Washington has pursued hostility toward the six Muslim nations for a long time.

Former Army general Wesley Clark said in September 2001 that the United States would destroy seven countries in five years, Springmann explained, adding that countries subject to the travel ban today are the same ones with the exception of Lebanon being swapped out for Yemen.

Meanwhile, Lane claimed that the travel ban is not targeting Muslims but “it targets residents of six countries that the United States either has no relationship with because they are failed states and there is no government with whom we can work to implement vetting procedures or it represents states with whom we have an adversarial relationship.”

He also said that the ban “does not discriminate against people from any state” and “Trump is trying to establish procedures to ensure that terrorists do not mix and mingle themselves in with regular traffic.”

However, rights groups and international organizations like Amnesty International have decried the Supreme Court’s partial reinstatement of President Trump’s travel ban.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk