 |
| Bus bombing--morning commutes in L.A. are dangerous. |
The action begins at 6am. Islamic terrorist groups have
‘victimized’ the United States for eleven weeks. At a Los Angeles bus station,
a Middle Eastern man, late for work and distracted by news broadcasts of the
latest bombing, chases a bus. The driver refuses to let him on, prompting the
man to shout, “I have as much right to be on the bus as you!” Inside the
bus, a wild-eyed man fingers an electronic device and the bus explodes.
Minutes later in the White House
Oval Office, President Wayne Palmer meets with his cabinet to dismiss a mandate
created by Tom Lennox, his Chief of Staff, which would allow the government to
hold Muslims in detention centers for questioning and possible deportation.
Lennox says it will increase public safety and reclaim lost faith in the
administration. Karen Hayes, the National Security Advisor, endorses the
President’s refusal, stating it would destroy civil freedoms, to which Lennox
growls, “Security has its price!”
 |
| Tom Lennox: this season's perpetual asshole. |
Meanwhile, CTU (Bauer’s
Counter-Terrorism Unit) completes a shady deal. Abu Fayed, former partner of
Hamri Al-Assad, the notorious Muslim terrorist, will give up Assad’s location
if he can kill Jack Bauer and have 25 million dollars. Bauer, who killed
Fayed’s brother, has been in a Chinese prison for the last two years, the twist
on which season five ended. President Palmer, at his wits end with the attacks,
agrees. CTU facilitates the deal with its newest employee, Muslim Nadia Yassir,
who acts as translator between Fayed and CTU director Bill Buchanan.
 |
| Jack's Jesus phase. |
In another part of Los Angeles, a
suburban family watches the morning news. A Culver City mosque has been bombed
in retaliation for the bus bombing earlier that hour. Ray, the father, debates
with his wife whether they should let their son, Scott, go to school.
Across
the street, the FBI arrests Ahmed Amar’s father on suspicion of domestic
terrorism. Stan, a neighborhood tough guy, intimidates Ahmed after the FBI
leaves. Knowing Ahmed is his son’s best friend, Ray chases away Stan and offers
Ahmed his home as shelter until his father returns.
 |
| Ray: father of a skater boy son, protector of neighborhood Muslims. |
24’s
first stumbling block is Ahmed Amar, played by Kal Penn, the noted young Indian
actor (yes, Kumar), and former member of the Obama administration. Popular for
his stoner movie roles, his ethnicity is well known, and one cannot help
laughing when he appears on screen. To be cast as a Middle Eastern teenage
terrorist, Penn admitted in New York
Magazine:
I
have a huge political problem with the role. It was essentially accepting
a
form of racial profiling…it’s repulsive. But it was the first time I had a
chance
to blow stuff up and take a family hostage. As an actor, why shouldn’t
I
have that opportunity? Because I’m brown and I should be scared about the
connection
between media images and people’s thought processes? (Yuan)
Obviously, in
accepting the role, Penn did not share the concerns of The
Council on American-Islamic Relations. In Ahmed’s character, Muslims, even the
quiet ones across the street, cannot be trusted.
At 7am, Abu Fayed reveals to Jack Bauer that he, not Hamri
Al-Assad, is behind the attacks. Soon, Fayed calls Ahmed and asks him to
deliver a package. Ahmed tells Fayed of his father’s arrest. Fayed replies, “If
your father is meant to be sacrificed that is how it will be.” Ahmed nods. Of
course, the slaughter of ‘infidels’ is more important than family.
 |
| Abu Fayed, this season Big Bad, chats with Kumar....I mean Ahmed. |
Fayed
continues, “I could have chosen other people. I chose
you.” Not only does Fayed think Ahmed specially suited for the job, but he
tells him he will kill him should he fail. Forget the idea that Muslims don’t
kill Muslims and Arabs don’t kill Arabs.
The show reveals Ahmed’s motivations as ‘Arab Rage.’ “The
roots of so-called ‘Arab Rage’ lie not in some purported cultural or religious
peculiarity of the Arabs, but in the adherence by peoples of the Arab world to
the universal claims of justice and equality which the rest of the world has
propagated these two centuries past” (Halliday 22). None of 24’s Americans possess this deep-seeded
anger (unless you count the depictions of “others” on this show).
After the phone call with Fayed, Ahmed tells
Scott—remember, his neighborhood pal—he must leave. Scott says he is sorry
about his father and that “the whole world’s gone crazy.”
Ahmed hisses, “The world’s been crazy for a long time. You
just haven’t been paying attention.” He hurries home and tears apart the living
room wall with a claw hammer (this begs the question: how did Ahmed’s father
not know his son hid something behind the drywall?). As he removes a small box
from between the wall studs, Stan, the neighborhood bully, bursts into his
home. Ahmed pulls a gun and shoots Stan.
From that point on, Ahmed becomes a volatile, wild-eyed madman.
Hearing the shot, Scott rushes into Ahmed’s house, sees
Stan’s body, and Ahmed takes him hostage. Marching him back across the street,
Scott asks him why he is doing this; they’re best friends.
“Friends?!” Ahmed shouts. “You can’t even pronounce my
name. It’s not Ahmed. It’s AH-Med!”
First, Penn’s overacting is hilarious. Second, Ahmed will
kill friends and innocents because they mispronounce his name? Oh, yeah, the
irrational Arab!
 |
| "Go ahead! Call me 'Ahmed' again!" |
Taking
Scott’s family hostage, Ahmed demands Ray, the father, deliver the box to his contact
in exchange for another package or else he will shoot his wife and son. Ray,
with wonder in his eyes, says to Ahmed, “You were a terrorist all along.” Well,
yeah! He’s Muslim!
Ray complies with Ahmed and delivers the box to Ahmed’s
contact. The man opens it, says there is not enough money inside, and demandss
higher payment. Ray, in a fit of rage and fear, kills the man and takes the
package. This scene exemplifies a thread throughout this season: contact with
Muslims will inevitably cause rational Americans to lose their senses and harm
not only themselves, but each other.
 |
| "I'm sorry," says Ray. "A Muslim made me do it!" |
Ray, with
the package, demands Ahmed release his family or he will destroy whatever is
inside it. Ahmed compromises, and releases the mother. She flees the house,
calls Ray, and they decide to call the police, who then call CTU. Soon, fresh
from escaping Fayed’s men, Jack Bauer and his partner Curtis Manning are on
their way.
As
promised, Ray delivers the package to Fayed (the big bad terrorist) and is soon
taken hostage. Fayed calls Ahmed and orders Scott’s death: “He’s seen and heard
too much.”
 |
| Make your own caption, I guess. |
Meanwhile, outside, Jack and Curtis sneak upon Scott and
Ahmed. Just as Ahmed is ready kill Scott, Jack bursts in and shoots him. Scott
tells Jack of the conversation he overheard between Ahmed and Ray about where
his father took the package, but it is too late. The package, a detonator to a
nuclear bomb, is used to explode the device. Ray is killed in the blast,
leaving a kind, American family fractured by Muslim intrusion.
In Part 4, I’ll continue my dissection of season six’s
other Muslim characters.
 |
| An actual affecting moment in the show--Fayed bombs Los Angeles. |
Bibliography
“Day 4.” “Day 6.” 24.
Fox, 2005, 2007.
“24 Under Fire from Muslim Groups.” BBC News. BBC News, 19 January 2007.
Armstrong, Stephen. "Rough Justice." New
Statesman 136.4836 (2007): 36-38.
Bauder, David. “TV Torture Influencing Real
Life.” USA Today. 11 February
2007.
Dougherty, Michael Brendan. "What Would Jack Bauer
Do?" American Conservative 6.5
(2007): 8-10.
Flynn, Gillian. “24: TV Review.” Entertainment Weekly. 11 January 2007.
Halliday, Fred. 100
Myths About the Middle East. Los Angeles: University of California Press,
2005.
Irwin, Robert. Dangerous
Knowledge: Orientalism and its Discontents. New York: Overlook
Press, 2006.
Lewis, Bernard. From
Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2004.
McCormick, Patrick. "The Torture Show." U.S.
Catholic 73.5 (2008): 17.
McDermont, Jim. “A Trojan Horse.” America 196.7 (2007): 23-24.
Rossi, Melissa. What
Every American Should Know About the Middle East. New York: Plume
Books, 2008.
Said, Edward. Orientalism.
New York: Vintage, 1978.
Yuan, Jada. “The White-Castle Ceiling.” New York Magazine. 4 March 2007.
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