After having given four years of military service to our country during the U.S. Iraq occupation, Samam Kareem Ahmad sought to become a permanent resident of the United States. Despite “put[ting] his life on the line with, for, Coalition Forces on a daily basis,” the Bush administration said , “No.”The Department of Homeland Security apparently chose to ignore his patriotic and selfless service in war, and chose instead to consider only his past membership in the Kurdish Democratic Party, a group DHS has now labels an “undesignated terrorist organization,” whatever that means. And, why you wonder would that group warrant that label? Because it sought to overthrow Saddam Hussein!!
So, Samam once belonged to an organization that sought to overthrow Sadam Hussein. Then he joined the Coalition and American Forces that actually overthrew Sadam Hussein, and that's reason enough for the Bush Administrations to label him a terrorist. Is that a bad joke or what.
Sometimes it's almost impossible to understand where our government is at. Seems as though our Fatherland Security Department has lost all common sense, relying instead solely on inflexible rules - that our government repeatedly violates - that serve to hassle, discriminate against, and deny basic rights or humane treatment, to those of us who are born U.S. Citizens, and those who seek to become U.S. Citizens.
Something basic is wrong here. What has happened to our country?
3 comments:
You're asking the wrong question. It's not what's happened to our country? It's when will our country live up to the ideals on which it was allegedly founded?
From the time we failed to say we opposed slavery in the Declaration of Independence, through the denial of basic human and civil rights to non-white males, to gross violations of civil liberties and freedom caused by chronic paranoia, to support for brutal regimes from Israel to Chile to Indonesia, to being the only nation to actually use the A-bomg to murder innocent people, to killing thousands of innocent women and children in Iraq, the United States has stood as a monument to hyporcisy.
All these abuses have come under both Republican and Democratic presidents and Congressional majorities.
What happened to our country is that, from the start, we let it be run by bad people. And we haven't taken it from them yet.
The story of Ahmad is indeed a travesty. The "faceless bureacracy" that is departments such as the DHS make it nearly impossible to overturn exceptional cases such as Ahmad's, and I believe DHS needs to be re-examined and streamlined. It is an outrage that this man and others like him are being denied permanent residence due to a backwards approach to filtering out would-be terrorists. I don't know if it would be a logistical nightmare, but cases such as Ahmad's should be looked at individually, and not lumped into some ridiculous category such as "undesignated terrorist organization." But unfortunately bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo can discredit the sacrifice and services Ahmad gave to our country. Perhaps the stipulation that those who "[have] attempted to overthrow a government" are inadmissible is somewhat justifiable as an immigration caveat, but it can't be a blanket statute. There are exceptions to these cases, and Ahmad's story embodies this. Hopefully the work of Petreaus and the Bush administration waking up will expedite admission for such cases.
Both of you make great points and I won't repeat them by restating your sentiments in my own words. Another piece of this problem to examine is what becomes of America's image when we allow cases like this to go unaddressed? Is this how the US repays those who risk their life for our country? Undoubtedly, this story is heard by many not within our own borders. How does a tragic tale like Ahmad's help counter terrorism? If anything, it might validate it, were this story to fall upon the wrong ears. This point is only a tail end to the more applicable ones already made but is still something to consider.
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