I used to hear about it certainly not in the news, I used to think these were just fake stories, I used to think that America was still the symbol of Freedom and Democracy in the world, until it happened to the closest people I know.
Here is the story that happened over last weekend:
A Lebanese couple, both over 70 years old, went for the summer to the US to visit their 2 kids who are living there since many years now and contributing positively to the american society. The summer is done and the couple were coming back from America to their dear country Lebanon last friday, they were supposed to arrive to Beirut International Airport on saturday evening, but .... they didn't.
The kids kept on calling their parents' Lebanese mobile lines non stop with no answer whatsoever. The line was still closed. The kids called everybody they knew in Lebanon, nobody had seen their parents or heard anything about them.
The kids thought to call the aeroport in the US where their parents boarded, in order to check if they made it to the plane and check if all went ok with them. The first answer that they had from the airline, was that their parents boarded normally the plane, and they are out of the US. But when the kids insisted that their parents didn't make it to Lebanon, this is when they were transferred to another operator, who told them that they don't know where their parents are, since after giving up their luggages on the counter, they went in and somehow didn't make it to the plane.
The kids tried in vain to reach anybody in the American airport in order to tell them where their parents are, but of course, noone knows anything, and noone can give any answer.
12 hours passed alltogether since the parents must have arrived to Lebanon when the first sign of them appeared. They called from Paris Airport one of the kids in the US and told them what happened. They were held for many hours in the American Airport for interrogation about possible terrorist threat coming from them and they missed their plane!!!!!!
They were interrogated for hours, they were kept standing in a small empty room with wind blowing from all sides, they were searched over and over again, they were scanned with all kind of different scanning machines and the stupidest thing of all, the officers brought a piece of luggage that don't belong to them and kept on asking them about it and what there is inside it. Among the questions they were asked: Why did you come to the US? How much money you have?
Who did you visit in the US? Do you have any connection to terrorist groups? Are you terrorists yourself???
When are you planning to come back?.....
Here I have 2 types of questions:
First principal ones:
Does this happen in the US?????
Is this what happened to the land of the free???
Is this the American freedom and democracy???
Second practical ones:
Do they suppose to catch terrorists like that?
Humiliating 2 over 70 year olds will contribute to the safety of the US?
Do they think that if they ask a terrorist if he is one, will he answer them yes I am a terrorist?
For those of you who are wondering, yes the couple are Christians and with Christian names as well.
For those of you who are still wondering, the couple were supporters of feb. 14th politics in Lebanon since America is so good that it gave their kids new home and work opportunities, but now when you ask them about America, they answer: Tfehh Ke. Ekhe. Amerka.
Fresh out of Freedom and Democracy -
3rd September 2008
and also to show how efficient and clever they are in catching terrorists
