Deporting Arabs

President Bush was questioned heavily yesterday about his administration collecting phone records from millions of Americans. Bush's reply went like this:

"We're not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans... Our efforts are focused on links to Al Qaeda and their known affiliates."

I have a resident from Syria named Joseph. Jospeph lived here with his uncle and some relatives. He, and his whole family, are pretty staunch Catholics. Early last year, men in black business suits showed up at his door, and arrested Joseph's Uncle and other relatives. No one in the family knew what was going on, the men who showed up just presented identification cards, and put Joseph's Uncle and two cousins in the back of a black car and drove away.

Three weeks later, one of Joseph's cousin was brought back home and told his family this:

He had been questioned by some people who work with the FBI, or CIA or something, he wasn't sure. At any rate, they asked him why he and his Uncle and two other cousins said the name "Allah" so frequently on the phone. They told him that his family only speaks Arabic over the phone, and that they said the words "Allah" "Allah is good" and "Praise Allah" a total of four hundred and something times in five months. Joseph's cousin tried to explain that his whole family speaks Arabic over the phone because it is their native tongue, and in Arabic, the word "Allah" is a catch phrase of sorts. When questioned about his religion, Joseph's cousin told the questioners that he, and his family, are all staunch Catholics. And, that many people from his town in Syria are staunch Catholics. They actually live in the shadow of a huge monestary. (I've seen pictures of it, it's beautiful.)

Joseph's other two cousins came home a few days later and told the same story. Joseph's Uncle did not return. He was deported back to Syria becuase his Visa expired during his three weeks in questioning.

Thank you Mr. Bush, for saving me from these terrorist Catholics from Syria. I'm ever so comforted that you are only checking the phone lines of people with known links to Al Qaeda, and I see that this would never infringe on the liberties of the average person. Like Joseph. And his Uncle.