Foreigners Have No Rights in Our Country

August 12, 2005

Have you guys seen this article in the New York Times from two days ago? The Syrian-born naturalized Canadian citizen who was snatched in Kennedy airport and deported to Syria to be tortured because the US gov't decided he was a member of Al Qaeda is suing. The government is now arguing in court that "Foreign citizens who change planes at airports in the United States can legally be seized, detained without charges, deprived of access to a lawyer or the courts, and even denied basic necessities like food." For some reason, it's the last item that gets to me. Denied food? Why would you want to do that?

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My comment is this; I am a natural born American citizen. This is my country and I am proud of it. Am I proud of the current administration? No, but I find it interesting that on a daily basis foreigner are putting down this country and trying to change our traditions, Christmas, Easter etc. We are not allowed to say or do the things this country was founded upon for fear of offending foreigners. I have traveled to many, many countries and I can tell you from experience. When in another country and I do not like their policies, there is no way in "HELL" they would change them. I would either have to get used to their policies or leave and this is what I say to every one here that does not like the US. Get used to it or leave. To all foreigners, guess what? We are the same people as when Clinton was president and the world loved us. Now that GWB is president, we, the same people are hated. I say to all of you, get a life and leave the horrible US.
We live in a sick society. The Bush administration has made hypocrisy a matter of routine. Not only is this generally unprincipled (if not immoral), it is ridiculous, arrogant and dangerous. The geniuses of the Rove-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz administration expect that American citizens should be treated like royalty in foreign countries around the world while Americans piss on the basic human rights of foreign visitors.This is another jackass move brought to us by the same honest people who brought us the hunt for Saudi Arabian terrorists that mysteriously skipped Saudi Arabia.When will conservatives realize that this isn't a problem only for "bleeding heart liberals." This is a problem for all intelligent Americans who know that turnaround is fair play.
Forienger have no rights in our country.What a laugh. They have more rights than American citizens that's how it seems. And certinaly more rights than in their own country (china, korea, viet nam, japan, mexico, el salvador, etc. And all on American citizens dime.I don't feel sorry for the Syrian guy. Terrorism light goes off in my head. Yes, I'm all for profiling. I woould rather offend a few people and live than be politically correct and dead.Needless to day, the line about going without food is nothing but a red herring designed to get all the bleeding hearts to run to the aid of this guy and spend our tax money on him.The pity is if you were in his country he wouldn't give a shit about you. And that's being real.I say we stop throwing our tax dollars away on bull like this guy. As well human trafficking and the poor illegals. When you knowing come to our country and ener it illegally. You commit a crime! You deserve whatever befalls you.Get a grip.charlie goto
Umm Chuck,a couple of little points on your post - not that I expect much to get through - but...The 'Syrian guy' was\is a Canadian citizen who was waiting for a transfer flight from NY to his home in Canada, so the idea that he was 'entering the US illegally' is ...well...WRONG!. I don't know if you've ever travelled overseas and had to change planes in some intermediate country on your way to your final destination, but it happens regularly. It would seem kind of bogus to 'accuse' me, you or anyone of trying to 'enter illegally' because their plane HAS to land in Country A on the way to Country B. The passengers don't get to 'set' the flight paths.Then, it seems kind of puzzling to me why our government would 'decide' that Mr. Arar, even if he needed to be 'deported' for the crime of waiting for a plane, should be sent to Syria and not Canada - the country of which he is a citizen. So deport him (which could easily done by letting him get on his connecting flight) back to his 'home country' - Canada. Bingo! nasty 'terrorist' deported and America is safe!Now the great 'clincher' in this example of 'homeland security' run amok is that we now claim that he is a member of Al Qaeda based on some 'secret papers' that we won't show anybody!! Now, IF this were true - him being a terrorist and all - don't you think we should share it with somebody??? Like say, the Canadians?? Don't you think they might like to know about a nasty terrorist in their country? Apparently we don't think our Northern buddies 'deserve' to be safe.So, it would seem that we have 'profiled' a dreaded Canadian (pheww! they are dangerous!) who was going to CANADA!!!!Oh,and by the way I suspect that if you were in his country - Canada - and you had a problem, they would give a damn about you.Heck, you might even get free medical care!
Charlie Goto,I'm assuming by 'forienger' you mean 'foreigner.' I won't bother going through all of your grammatical and punctuation errors. One or six are understandable, but... Let me just say that it's never too late to continue your education.You obviously didn't know anything about the Arar case until it was posted here. How typical. I guess Fox News didn't give Arar more than 10 seconds and a dark photo, as is their usual whenever the US government has screwed up.You say (in your own special style) that "line about going without food is nothing but a red herring red herring"? Throw that crack pipe away, son. Read the article again and slow down this time. Those are the arguments of the US government in court. If you don't believe the "bleeding heart liberals," why don't you prove this is an inaccurate report of actual court proceedings instead of lazily spewing out platitudes (that sort of means 'cliches,' Charlie).Why don't you "get a grip"?
I stand corrected. My rant was juvenile and embarrassing. And well educated betters are right in taking me to task for it. I am guilty of sticking my nose in...and I richly deserve the kicks in the ass. Mea culpa. This time I will preview & use spell-check.Guess what? I read the article. And guess what? I support the government’s argument. The government was right to prohibit the guy and send him to Syria. He was a suspected terrorist. Why send him next door to Canada? He's Syrian. That's his country. Adios. Do I really care that he has Canadian citizenship papers? No.The government should protect American citizens and that's what they were trying to do with this guy. Yes, it’s sad what happened to Mr. Arar (if he's innocent and I doubt it) but the greater good (our protection) was served.By the way, IF Mr. Arar was tortured; he was tortured by his own people. SYRIANS. Why doesn't he sue them? Because they'll laugh in his face! But the foolish Americans won't. Look at that Georgetown professor running to spend our tax dollars arguing Mr. Arar's rights.Call me foolish. Call me stupid. Call me selfish… but my priority is American lives and the rights of Americans. Americans for Americans . Let the world look after their own.Charlie
So Charlie (aka foolish, stupid, selfish - you told me to, I didn't think it up!) when do Mr. Arar's Canadian citizenship papers finally make him Canadian? If we should be looking out for our own and the heck with everybody else, why didn't we just send him along to Canada and let them sort it out? You, Charlie FSS, have an 'ancestry' of some sort. What is it? Assuming you are not Native American, at what point did the 'citizenship papers' carried by your immigrant ancestors become 'good enough' to make them citizens? When did the US become experts in the validity of 'Canadian citizenship' paperwork? Seems like we have a jurisdictional problem - I think it is kind of 'cheeky' for the US to be 'deporting' people for being 'bogus citizens' from other countries.