The US government’s decision to have all Saudi, Pakistani and Yemeni male visitors to the US aged 16-45 fingerprinted at ports of entry from Oct. 1, caught many Saudis by surprise, and is a rather shortsighted and idiotarian reaction to finding ways of stopping terrorists from entering the US.
While I do agree that fingerprinting at US ports of entry will be a deterrent, I can think of better ways the US can protect itself. Increased intelligence coordination with other countries would do wonders in increasing American security.
The sad fact is that terrorists come in all nationalities. Just look at the many Al-Qaeda members caught by the US both before and after Sept. 11: Zacarias Moussaoui is a French national; Richard Reid, the shoe-bomber, is British, and John Walker Lindh is American.
Clever terrorists, and I include Al-Qaeda ones in this description, will always find ways around American restrictions.
Long hailed as special allies of the United States, Saudis have been lulled into thinking that such a special relationship was still intact. But after the catastrophic events of Sept. 11, where 15 of the 19 hijackers turned out to be Saudis, this relationship has undergone extreme stress.
It is perhaps not very surprising to astute observers that the so-called special relationship has begun to unravel a bit, the events of 9/11 having blown away the superficial cover that used to gloss over the many differences between American and Saudi cultures.
Indeed, many observers from both sides are probably amazed that the special relationship between the two countries lasted as long as it did. Of course, the Kingdom’s vast oil reserves and the hundreds of thousands of Saudis who have studied in the US are what have cemented this friendship, and are what continue to keep the bonds intact.
But these bonds have suffered under the blow of nuclear-proportion blows that were the 9/11 attacks. Never before have so many Americans been killed on native soil, and the damage done by that is going to take a long time to heal, and may never heal completely again.
For sure the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia has been permanently altered by the events of 9/11. The imposition of fingerprinting of Saudi men is but one aspect of how that relationship has changed. A healthy dose of wariness has descended upon America, after having so naively and innocently believing that all those entering the US had good intentions toward it.
Now is the time to redouble efforts to strengthen ties between the two countries. The US government and private sector should reach out to Saudis and make sure that many Saudis are still welcome to study and live in America.
There is no doubt that there are many differences between the two cultures, but I think that is partly why the two have been so attracted to each other. The similarities should now be stressed.
If we allow the US-Saudi relationship to sour not only will the Saudi and American people have lost something valuable, but the extremists on both sides will have scored a victory.
How President Arroyo messed up with Jimenez
The Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday that Rep. Mark Jimenez should be arrested and put into jail while the court decides whether or not he should be extradited to the United States, caught most people by surprise.
Not only that, the high court decision is now threatening to produce a constitutional crisis after 70 congressmen signed a petition supporting Jimenez and calling for the impeachment, not of Jimenez, but of the high court justices! Jimenez is wanted in the US for tax evasion, making illegal donations to the Democratic Party, and wire and mail fraud. The US government has been asking that Jimenez be extradited back to the US for a few years now, and the Arroyo administration has conveniently ignored these requests, thinking for a while that it could get Jimenez to testify against former President Joseph Estrada in his corruption trial.
Jimenez used to live and work in the US as a businessman, who admittedly was involved in some shady deals. In 1997 he was indicted in Washington for giving nearly $40,000 to Democratic candidates, including Bill Clinton. He fled to the Philippines to avoid being arrested and became friendly with Estrada.
They later had a falling out and with Estrada overthrown in January 2001, Jimenez decided to run for public office, no doubt believing that it would protect him from being extradited. In May 2001 he ran for Congress and won a seat representing the sixth district of Manila.
I find it ridiculous that the Arroyo administration, through the Supreme Court, is now trying to get rid of Jimenez, undoubtedly to curry favor with President Bush, after trying so hard to get Jimenez to testify against his former pal Estrada. Is this hypocrisy or not?
As Rep. Francis Escudero, senior deputy majority leader of the House, so rightly pointed out, Jimenez is not accused of having killed, stolen money or harmed any Filipino, so why should he be arrested? I fully agree with this assessment of Jimenez.
The Arroyo administration should allow the Supreme Court to go ahead and make a final ruling on whether or not to extradite Jimenez. If they decide to allow his extradition, Jimenez should be allowed to finish his three-year term in the House of Representatives before being deported. In the meantime, Philippine officials should hammer out an agreement with the US government ensuring that Jimenez will not be imprisoned for more than five years in the US. All these rumors that he could face up to 100 years in prison if convicted by US courts on 47 counts are frankly ridiculous.
I’m not calling for special treatment of Jimenez, but since the Arroyo government entered into a dubious agreement with Jimenez to begin with, either implicitly or explicitly, it should fulfill its end of the devil’s bargain. Throwing him to the dogs now just looks silly. Atong Ang, wanted in connection with the corruption trial of Estrada, is sitting in a California jail awaiting extradition to the Philippines. It is possible that the US Justice Department has pressured the Philippines and said it would only send Ang back if Jimenez is extradited also. The Philippines should resist such a quid pro quo arrangement. Ang does not equal Jimenez in corruption terms, and the country can wait a little longer to get its hands on Ang.
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