Uh, oh. In conjunction with tonight’s Orange alert, Tom Ridge has announced another blow to civil liberties concealed with an appropriately “patriotic” name: Operation Liberty Shield. That’s like keeping your child from harm by locking him up in an air-tight container. Sealed with duct tape, no doubt.
From CNN:
The plan includes detaining asylum applicants from nations where al Qaeda members and sympathizers and other terrorist groups are known to have operated.
Calling it a “reasonable and prudent temporary action,” the Homeland Security Department said the applicants would be detained while they are being processed so U.S. officials can stay in contact with them while deciding on their asylum claims.
Love that euphemistic phrase, “detained so officials can stay in contact.” Or, “held so they can be interrogated.” So, as I understand it, someone who seeks asylum from an extremist regime in the Middle East – let’s say, Afghanistan – will be detailed because al Queda is in that country. I wonder if this will apply to asylum seekers from Saudi Arabia, the country that spawned al Queda? The country that somehow manages to escape scrutiny when it comes to basic human rights?
What about this country? There’s al Queda here, too, as we discovered.
Why in the world would anyone ever want to seek asylum in this rapidly deteriorating nation – once a beacon of freedom, where freedom is only a buzzword applied to big brother-type policies and fried potatoes in the House cafeteria.
