Homeland Security's Heavy Hand
The week before last, after a blue moon and in the middle of the dog days (when the dog star rises with the sun), the Bush administration cried wolf. Tom Ridge, czar of Homeland Security, scared the living daylights out of the country on a dog day Sunday afternoon by listing financial institutions that had been targeted by al-Qaida. He praised the president for his leadership on homeland security: a nice boost for the sagging re-election campaign. Troops in full armor and carrying automatic weapons appeared around the targets. It was a grim Sunday evening in America.
The next day the stock market -- allegedly the target of the plotting -- pushed the Dow average higher. Perhaps the blue moon, dog day omens were not good for crying wolf again. It also emerged that the material about the targets had been gathered four years ago, though it ''may'' have been updated as recently as January. The head of MI6, the British intelligence agency, raised questions about frightening people when there was no evidence of immediate threat. He also wondered whether the release of so much information might endanger ongoing intelligence operations.
Clearly, the discovery of al-Qaida computers was a major breakthrough, even if the computers tell more about its past than about the present. However, the Bush administration has cooked up a couple of weeks of fear. Whether they have cried wolf once too often remains to be seen. Meanwhile, Homeland Security doesn't seem to have the time or the money to make the nation's ports secure.
It does have the time, however, to practice cruelty. It discovered 292 refugees from the volcano eruption on the island of Montserrat in 1995 (many of them descendants of the Irish slaves Cromwell had exiled to the Indies). This year Homeland Security canceled their ''temporary protected status.'' Either they must go back to Monserrat, which is unsafe, or to England or to anywhere. But they must leave the new families they have formed and their new jobs and new homes and depart the United States. What kind of men and women take pleasure in such cruelty?
I encountered recently the harsh face of Homeland Security and the Patriot Act in the Harbor Country of western Michigan. The victim snatched away by Ridge's goons is Ibrahim Parlax, the proprietor of the Cafe Gulistan restaurant in Harbert. My friend and colleague Roger Ebert (who introduced me to the wonders of the cafe) insists that Parlax, granted permanent residence and political asylum many years ago, runs the best restaurant in this part of the world.
Parlax is a gentle, soft-spoken man, lovingly kind to his 7-year-old daughter and warmly friendly to all his clients. His story since he came to America -- after time in a Turkish jail -- is a perfect type of the American dream: a poor immigrant working hard, making a success of himself and becoming a true American. His big mistake was applying for U.S. citizenship. That gave the vile people at Homeland Security a chance to reconsider -- after more than a decade -- this grant of political asylum.
We cannot afford in this country to lose such an admirable potential citizen.
Parlax is not a violent man and never recommended violence in his time as a Kurdish nationalist, much less is an ''aggravated felon.'' However, given the hatred of the Turks for all Kurdish nationalists, if he is sent back to Turkey he may very well die.
I trust those who have his fate in their hands understand that the Kurds are the solid allies of the United States in Iraq and are strongly pro-American. As centuries-long victims of oppression by Iraqis, Iranians and Turks, they are loyal to their friends, and the United States is their friend. The charges against Ibrahim seem not only wild but innocent of understanding of the Kurds or the situation in that part of the world. Perhaps someone could tell Ridge that the Kurds are our allies.
The alternative to deportation and death is apparently permanent detention -- which means until the goons in Homeland Security are swept out of office.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
The week before last, after a blue moon and in the middle of the dog days (when the dog star rises with the sun), the Bush administration cried wolf. Tom Ridge, czar of Homeland Security, scared the living daylights out of the country on a dog day Sunday afternoon by listing financial institutions that had been targeted by al-Qaida. He praised the president for his leadership on homeland security: a nice boost for the sagging re-election campaign. Troops in full armor and carrying automatic weapons appeared around the targets. It was a grim Sunday evening in America.
The next day the stock market -- allegedly the target of the plotting -- pushed the Dow average higher. Perhaps the blue moon, dog day omens were not good for crying wolf again. It also emerged that the material about the targets had been gathered four years ago, though it ''may'' have been updated as recently as January. The head of MI6, the British intelligence agency, raised questions about frightening people when there was no evidence of immediate threat. He also wondered whether the release of so much information might endanger ongoing intelligence operations.
Clearly, the discovery of al-Qaida computers was a major breakthrough, even if the computers tell more about its past than about the present. However, the Bush administration has cooked up a couple of weeks of fear. Whether they have cried wolf once too often remains to be seen. Meanwhile, Homeland Security doesn't seem to have the time or the money to make the nation's ports secure.
It does have the time, however, to practice cruelty. It discovered 292 refugees from the volcano eruption on the island of Montserrat in 1995 (many of them descendants of the Irish slaves Cromwell had exiled to the Indies). This year Homeland Security canceled their ''temporary protected status.'' Either they must go back to Monserrat, which is unsafe, or to England or to anywhere. But they must leave the new families they have formed and their new jobs and new homes and depart the United States. What kind of men and women take pleasure in such cruelty?
I encountered recently the harsh face of Homeland Security and the Patriot Act in the Harbor Country of western Michigan. The victim snatched away by Ridge's goons is Ibrahim Parlax, the proprietor of the Cafe Gulistan restaurant in Harbert. My friend and colleague Roger Ebert (who introduced me to the wonders of the cafe) insists that Parlax, granted permanent residence and political asylum many years ago, runs the best restaurant in this part of the world.
Parlax is a gentle, soft-spoken man, lovingly kind to his 7-year-old daughter and warmly friendly to all his clients. His story since he came to America -- after time in a Turkish jail -- is a perfect type of the American dream: a poor immigrant working hard, making a success of himself and becoming a true American. His big mistake was applying for U.S. citizenship. That gave the vile people at Homeland Security a chance to reconsider -- after more than a decade -- this grant of political asylum.
We cannot afford in this country to lose such an admirable potential citizen.
Parlax is not a violent man and never recommended violence in his time as a Kurdish nationalist, much less is an ''aggravated felon.'' However, given the hatred of the Turks for all Kurdish nationalists, if he is sent back to Turkey he may very well die.
I trust those who have his fate in their hands understand that the Kurds are the solid allies of the United States in Iraq and are strongly pro-American. As centuries-long victims of oppression by Iraqis, Iranians and Turks, they are loyal to their friends, and the United States is their friend. The charges against Ibrahim seem not only wild but innocent of understanding of the Kurds or the situation in that part of the world. Perhaps someone could tell Ridge that the Kurds are our allies.
The alternative to deportation and death is apparently permanent detention -- which means until the goons in Homeland Security are swept out of office.
The week before last, after a blue moon and in the middle of the dog days (when the dog star rises with the sun), the Bush administration cried wolf. Tom Ridge, czar of Homeland Security, scared the living daylights out of the country on a dog day Sunday afternoon by listing financial institutions that had been targeted by al-Qaida. He praised the president for his leadership on homeland security: a nice boost for the sagging re-election campaign. Troops in full armor and carrying automatic weapons appeared around the targets. It was a grim Sunday evening in America.
The next day the stock market -- allegedly the target of the plotting -- pushed the Dow average higher. Perhaps the blue moon, dog day omens were not good for crying wolf again. It also emerged that the material about the targets had been gathered four years ago, though it ''may'' have been updated as recently as January. The head of MI6, the British intelligence agency, raised questions about frightening people when there was no evidence of immediate threat. He also wondered whether the release of so much information might endanger ongoing intelligence operations.
Clearly, the discovery of al-Qaida computers was a major breakthrough, even if the computers tell more about its past than about the present. However, the Bush administration has cooked up a couple of weeks of fear. Whether they have cried wolf once too often remains to be seen. Meanwhile, Homeland Security doesn't seem to have the time or the money to make the nation's ports secure.
It does have the time, however, to practice cruelty. It discovered 292 refugees from the volcano eruption on the island of Montserrat in 1995 (many of them descendants of the Irish slaves Cromwell had exiled to the Indies). This year Homeland Security canceled their ''temporary protected status.'' Either they must go back to Monserrat, which is unsafe, or to England or to anywhere. But they must leave the new families they have formed and their new jobs and new homes and depart the United States. What kind of men and women take pleasure in such cruelty?
I encountered recently the harsh face of Homeland Security and the Patriot Act in the Harbor Country of western Michigan. The victim snatched away by Ridge's goons is Ibrahim Parlax, the proprietor of the Cafe Gulistan restaurant in Harbert. My friend and colleague Roger Ebert (who introduced me to the wonders of the cafe) insists that Parlax, granted permanent residence and political asylum many years ago, runs the best restaurant in this part of the world.
Parlax is a gentle, soft-spoken man, lovingly kind to his 7-year-old daughter and warmly friendly to all his clients. His story since he came to America -- after time in a Turkish jail -- is a perfect type of the American dream: a poor immigrant working hard, making a success of himself and becoming a true American. His big mistake was applying for U.S. citizenship. That gave the vile people at Homeland Security a chance to reconsider -- after more than a decade -- this grant of political asylum.
We cannot afford in this country to lose such an admirable potential citizen.
Parlax is not a violent man and never recommended violence in his time as a Kurdish nationalist, much less is an ''aggravated felon.'' However, given the hatred of the Turks for all Kurdish nationalists, if he is sent back to Turkey he may very well die.
I trust those who have his fate in their hands understand that the Kurds are the solid allies of the United States in Iraq and are strongly pro-American. As centuries-long victims of oppression by Iraqis, Iranians and Turks, they are loyal to their friends, and the United States is their friend. The charges against Ibrahim seem not only wild but innocent of understanding of the Kurds or the situation in that part of the world. Perhaps someone could tell Ridge that the Kurds are our allies.
The alternative to deportation and death is apparently permanent detention -- which means until the goons in Homeland Security are swept out of office.