09/28/2009
FREEDOM'S JUST ANOTHER WORD, PART TWO
The irony of the verse, "freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose", is personally real to me. At the end of my active military career in 1985, my parents wanted me to return to Saudi Arabia and work there so I could be close to them. My father even sent me a resident visa, as thing are done in Saudi Arabia, issued to me at the "request" of Prince Naif. I visited the Saudi Arabian embassy in Bonn (West Germany) wearing my US Army uniform, as I was just down the road for a meeting. The person at the office looked at me and then at his files obviously finding my visa then looked up at me and said my visa was not there. To make a long story short in the end I was allowed to travel to Saudi Arabia on a tourist visa to see my parents. I never again got a resident permit there. Was it my uniform or was the Saudi government trying to keep me out for my political views, I would never know. It did work out for the best since I came back to the United States and was hired by the Department of the Army, I got married, went to college to get my Master's degree and start a business, all of it.
I held secret clearance in the military, i was on courier orders in Germany (West) as I transported parts of war plans in between military installations. I served my (adopted) country with honor and pride, I was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal, by the military and a Superior Service Medal by the Department of the Army for my civilian work. Dan fired me because I to many people were complaining about my work!!!!!!!
We can do better, no not for me to get a job back, but the America I came to was a beacon for me and for millons of others like myself, (even as we now know that we have been party to many a shady deal). If we want Bashir of Sudan to be tried for human rights violations, then what about our other friends that do the same all day every day, in Pakistan, in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. If we want sanctions against Iran and want them to open their nuclear facilities then why not Israel, ( no I am not and anti Semite). If we are against torture the why not all torture, what is this extra -ordinary rendition business. I am for equality of justice. That does not make me an enemy of the state, it makes me a real American.
LIFE IS A GAME OF CONNECT THE DOTS, IF YOU DON'T CONNECT ALL THE DOTS OR DON'T CONNECT THEM IN THE RIGHT ORDER YOU NEVER GET THE PICTURE
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