last summer. I even had a letter sent and faxed asking that she be allowed
to come, from my U.S. Representative's Office to the U.S. Immigration office
in New Delhi. They refused her because apparently there is no guarantee
that she wasn't coming to find a husband. She was a 19 year old college
student, had all financial, friends, and family ties in India, is enrolled
in a University in India, already had the return ticket booked, and only
wanted a 2 week tourist visa (plus she had letters from myself, her parents,
and a U.S. Congressman). Not what I'd call a likely candidate to be flying
into the States to marry the first willing American she can find. The U.S.
basically uses the visa application process as a way for embassies to make a
lot of money without actually letting anyone into the country. Her parents
spent the equivallent of a small fortune at the embassy - and for nothing.
It made me sick... and ashamed to be an American quite honestly.
On my next visit to India, which should be sometime soon, I have every
intention of paying a visit of my own to the U.S. embassy. They appear to
be as corrupt, if not more so, than Indian government officials. I'd like
to see what they have to say for themselves when I, a U.S. Citizen, walks
into their office and demand an explanation and an apology for the
"unAmerican" way they treated my cousin. I will bring a small notepad, take
names from every person I speak to, and make it very clear that if they
think that they are untouchable just because they're stationed in a country
5,000 miles away from Washington and where people expect corruption when
dealing with local government officials, they're sadly mistaken.
~Simon
Simon Horwith
CTO, Etrilogy Ltd.
Member of Team Macromedia
Macromedia Certified Instructor
Certified Advanced ColdFusion MX Developer
Certified Flash MX Developer
CFDJList - List Administrator
http://www.how2cf.com/
-----Original Message-----
From: dana tierney [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: 05 January 2004 11:01
To: CF-Community
Subject: Re:Americans fingerprinted at Brazil airport
I was particularly looking at this as I am expecting a visit from a family
member.
Note to Big Brother: He is Canadian and we are very peaceful people who
pose no threat to the security of the US.
But how would they know this? He seems to be exempt from the
fingerprinting and picture taking. Seems to me they are assuming that
Europeans, Canadians and Mexicans pose no threat. Which may well be true,
except that assuming the reality of a well-financed network then surely
sleeper cells are possible? And sleeper agents can apply for new
citizenships. So...
It seems to boil down to skin color. What struck me in the stories about
the flight cancellations over the holidays -- apart from the five year old
boy and the Welsh Insurance agent -- was the interrogation of a woman who
"appeared to be" Middle Eastern, who was repeatedly asked why she was
traveling without her husband. What an offensive question. Maybe - because
she *can*???
But, you know. This all reminds me of Dec 31 1999. I was on the Mall in
Washington DC. The president was going to speak, and there were concerns
about terrorist attacks and Soviet missiles going haywire, etc etc. The
Secret Service decided that everyone had to go through a metal detector.
People in line were grumbling, but they were saying ok, I can see the reason
for this. It may not stop missiles, but it might stop a gun. This was about
my attitude. I was there with young children after all and was very much in
favor of the thing being as safe as possible.
And then the music started and people said the heck with this and trampled
down the orange net fencing that was keeping us all on the sidewalk along
the Mall and waiting in line for the metal detectors. Did the Secret
Service's precautions keep us safe? Who knows? Perhaps terrorists decided
that it was too tough a target and did not come. It is however just as
likely that someone in security saw the vulnerability and took a lot of
precautions that turned out not to be needed. If the publicity given to them
prevented an incident they were not wasted though. However however however.
If you are going to make what, a quarter million people, stand in line,
you need to have better security than their respect for the law and orange
net construction fencing. OK, so it would have cost thousands more to put a
fence that could not be easily knocked down. It would have been a lot safer.
The chosen course was both annoying and as it turned out, ineffective.
I don't pretend to have all the answers for national security. But
improving intelligence would seem to be critical. Otherwise the US simply
drowns in data about people who pose no threat at all and deserve to be left
in peace.
Dana
> dana wrote:
> > First of all, it's a huge demeaning hassle for foreigners. That
> might be
> > somewhat ok if it were a huge demeaning but *effective* program....
>
> The program can easilty be circumvented. Just play by the rules, don't
> overstay your visa and you will be fine. I fail to see how that would
> catch anyone but the most careless person.
>
>
> > look, they have exempted Europeans. I do seem to recall al_Quaeda
> cells
> > being found in France and Germany...
>
> And Italy, Belgium and several other countries. And lets not forget
> the militia groups inside the US.
>
Jochem
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