In the late evening on Saturday, two non-Americans of Middle Eastern descent,( let's not call them Arabs!) Ahmed Mohamed and Yousef Megahed, were pulled over for speeding in a car on Highway 176 in Goose Creek, near Charleston, South Carolina. Goose Creek is the location of the United States Naval Weapons Station, which, among other things, houses the brig where some U.S. citizens alleged to be unlawful enemy combatants have been held. The two are apparently students studying engineering in Florida.
One of the men reportedly tried to hide a laptop computer from the cops and acted suspiciously, which led to a search of the vehicle. Originally, it was said that a completed bomb was found, but updates indicate that police found PVC (polyvinyl Chloride) piping (which can be used in making pipe bombs), model rocket motors (model rocket engine igniters can also be used as charges for pipe bombs), and other "suspicious" materials. There was also some kind of explosive material in the car, since the police did what was described as a `controlled demolition' later.
The FBI is saying that there are no "links to terrorism." What that means to me is that the background of the two perps hasn't been fully investigated enough yet to know if they have any definite links to al Qaeda or other foreign terrorist organizations.However, as we've seen, jihadi technology and propaganda via the internet is radicalizing Muslims in the west even without direct links to people like al-Qaeda.
It's also true that the FBI, like the dinosaur media ( who are noticeably not covering this story) are known to deliberately understate things when Muslims are involved.or the FBI may be deliberately downplaying this in hopes of putting some bigger fish off their guard. It will be interesting to find out what was in that laptop one of the `non-Americans of Middle Eastern descent' was trying to hide from the authorities when they were pulled over.
State authorities in South Carolina are planning a press conference later this morning..we'll see what they have to say.
My question is: what are non-citizens from the Arab world doing with a student visa here in America during war time? Have we learned nothing?
UPDATE:
The folks at CAIR are already involved in this one. A CAIR spokesman says it's all a misunderstanding — the two men are "really naive kids" who were joyriding around in South Carolina in a car that happened to have `fireworks' left in the trunk from the 4th of July.
Ri-ight.
The student visa comment raises an interesting issue: If we don't give student visas to some Arab countries with the intention of keeping out muslim students, then shouldn't we extend that same treatment to other countries that have minority muslim populations? That would mean most European countries, and places like India and China.
ReplyDeleteHi Nazar,How are you?
ReplyDeleteA well put comment.
However, you unfortunately jumpthe shark and make the assumption that my intention in questioning the visas issued these two is to keep out all Muslim students.
That would neither be possible or even desirable.
What I in fact wrote was `what are non-citizens from the Arab world doing with a student visa here in America during war time?
That's very different, and I think you recognize the difference.Students from Saudi Arabia or `Palestine'are much more likely to be jihadi oriented and problematic than your average student from India of whatever denomination.
Not to beg the question, I would say that substantial background checks should be instituted for anyone applying for a US visa from whatever country..particularly if they're Muslim.
You are perfectly free to consider that bigotry if you like...but wartime permits certain exigencies.
Thanks for weighing in...you always contribute a lot to the debate.
Regards,
ff
If we want to promote democracy and send the message to all the dictatorships, we should not allow any students from such countries. Most of the dictatorships are countries from the middle east and China. This will be a great incentive to all these countries and a clear message.
ReplyDeletensj