Friday, August 11, 2006

When is it time to go?

If you have people marching in US streets openly declaring allegiance to the head of a terrorist group who seeks the destruction of the Little and Great Satans, do we have a right to revoke their citizenship and get them out of our shores? Isn't this beyond speech and an open committal of treason?

Why are they here to begin with? The answer is likely the green card lottery, which has to be replaced with a more open immigration system (but with a strict interview process and selection criteria). We should never turn away someone willing to respect individual rights - but if you are bringing in people who swear allegiance to terrorists, than you have forfeited the right to exist in freedom.

Daily protests occur in Dearborn. At one recent demonstration, organized by the Congress of Arab-Americans, about 1,000 people attended. College-age men asked, in call and response fashion, "Who is your army?" Protestors responded: "Hezbollah." "Who is your leader?" they were asked. "Nasrallah," the chanters responded. Many carried placards of the Hezbollah leader. A few days earlier at an even larger demonstration, more than 15,000 turned out, about half of Dearborn's Arab community.

Those who regularly attend the demonstrations tend to be the most strident.

"Oh, Jews, remember Khaibar," the marchers chant. "The army of the Prophet will return."

The line is a reference to Khaibar, a Jewish town north of Medina that, according to Islamic tradition, was overtaken by the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century. Once defeated, the surviving Jews of Khaibar were forced into serfdom. Two decades later, they were expelled from the Arabian peninsula.

No comments: