Anonymous
21st June 2002, 18:16
Attorney General John Ashcroft recently announced the formation of a "National Security Entry-Exit Registration System." This operation is intended to better secure the nation's borders by photographing, fingerprinting and interrogating foreign visitors from high-risk nations.
Though the criteria for determining which individuals will get the treatment remain secret, the only persons certain to be screened are "those from countries already on the State Department's list of terrorist nations." That sounds sensible enough until you look at the list.
Oil-rich Saudi Arabia is a breeding ground of radical Islam. Cuba is a poor agrarian nation that's having trouble feeding itself.
Fifteen of the 19 hijackers from 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia, as did Osama bin Laden and several of his key lieutenants. Cuba, on the other hand, officially condemned the attacks and promptly offered condolences and assistance in their aftermath.
Oil-rich Saudi Arabia is a breeding ground of radical Islam that sponsors madrassas throughout the Arab world to spread its teachings. Cuba is a poor agrarian nation with a predominantly Catholic population that's having trouble feeding itself. Any terrorist sentiments it may have harbored clearly evaporated when its principle military-economic sponsor, the Soviet Union, went out of business. Yet, Cuba is classified as a terrorist nation while Saudi Arabia is not. It would appear that we're fighting the wrong war.
This puzzling development can only be explained by understanding its implications for domestic politics. Cuba, you see, is a captive of the Electoral College while Saudi Arabia is the cash cow of Big Oil.
If we elected presidents by popular vote, the influence of the Cuban exile community in Miami-Dade County would be negligible. A small community of anti-Castro partisans in South Florida could hardly influence the outcome of a general plebiscite. Because we vote in national elections by state, however, this same group has acquired gravity disproportionate to its size. Just glance at the razor-thin margin by which Bush captured the state's decisive 25 electoral votes in 2000, and you'll understand why neither political party is anxious to alienate a pivotal voting bloc.
With the rest of the nation largely indifferent to the issue, nobody's going to risk losing Florida on behalf of the hemisphere's only communist government.
Add the fact that the president's brother, Jeb, is up for re-election as governor of the Sunshine State and it becomes clear that Cuba is likely to remain a hotbed of terrorism for the foreseeable future.
Unlike their rabble-rousing Cuban counterparts, the peace-loving subjects of the House of Saud are sitting atop the world's largest proven reserves of petroleum. Big Oil contributed generously to G.W. Bush's campaign coffers and provided Dick Cheney with lucrative employment during his Clinton-imposed interlude from public service. An uninterrupted supply of oil is vital to both the national economy and the political fortunes of the men who govern it. Saudi Arabia, then, will formally remain a trusted ally no matter how many crazies it exports.
While critics worry that the new guidelines will be used to unfairly target Arab immigrants, officials warn that further attacks are inevitable. The latter prospect might be less certain if we could figure just whom it is that we're fighting.
Though the criteria for determining which individuals will get the treatment remain secret, the only persons certain to be screened are "those from countries already on the State Department's list of terrorist nations." That sounds sensible enough until you look at the list.
Oil-rich Saudi Arabia is a breeding ground of radical Islam. Cuba is a poor agrarian nation that's having trouble feeding itself.
Fifteen of the 19 hijackers from 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia, as did Osama bin Laden and several of his key lieutenants. Cuba, on the other hand, officially condemned the attacks and promptly offered condolences and assistance in their aftermath.
Oil-rich Saudi Arabia is a breeding ground of radical Islam that sponsors madrassas throughout the Arab world to spread its teachings. Cuba is a poor agrarian nation with a predominantly Catholic population that's having trouble feeding itself. Any terrorist sentiments it may have harbored clearly evaporated when its principle military-economic sponsor, the Soviet Union, went out of business. Yet, Cuba is classified as a terrorist nation while Saudi Arabia is not. It would appear that we're fighting the wrong war.
This puzzling development can only be explained by understanding its implications for domestic politics. Cuba, you see, is a captive of the Electoral College while Saudi Arabia is the cash cow of Big Oil.
If we elected presidents by popular vote, the influence of the Cuban exile community in Miami-Dade County would be negligible. A small community of anti-Castro partisans in South Florida could hardly influence the outcome of a general plebiscite. Because we vote in national elections by state, however, this same group has acquired gravity disproportionate to its size. Just glance at the razor-thin margin by which Bush captured the state's decisive 25 electoral votes in 2000, and you'll understand why neither political party is anxious to alienate a pivotal voting bloc.
With the rest of the nation largely indifferent to the issue, nobody's going to risk losing Florida on behalf of the hemisphere's only communist government.
Add the fact that the president's brother, Jeb, is up for re-election as governor of the Sunshine State and it becomes clear that Cuba is likely to remain a hotbed of terrorism for the foreseeable future.
Unlike their rabble-rousing Cuban counterparts, the peace-loving subjects of the House of Saud are sitting atop the world's largest proven reserves of petroleum. Big Oil contributed generously to G.W. Bush's campaign coffers and provided Dick Cheney with lucrative employment during his Clinton-imposed interlude from public service. An uninterrupted supply of oil is vital to both the national economy and the political fortunes of the men who govern it. Saudi Arabia, then, will formally remain a trusted ally no matter how many crazies it exports.
While critics worry that the new guidelines will be used to unfairly target Arab immigrants, officials warn that further attacks are inevitable. The latter prospect might be less certain if we could figure just whom it is that we're fighting.