New York Times
When the Immigration and Naturalization Service notified a Florida aviation school in March that two of the Sept. 11 hijackers were approved for student status, it became a bitter symbol of the department's ineptitude. Investigations and public confessions revealed that the I.N.S. didn't know if foreign students attended classes, nor if schools certified to accept these students were even open.
Such poor management isn't new. The technology to prevent student visa fraud was demanded by Congress after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. It got bogged down two years ago, however, because colleges and John Ashcroft, then a senator, opposed having schools collect student fees to finance the system. Sadly, it took the horrors of Sept. 11 for Congress to invest $36.8 million in making the paper route a digital one.
Starting next month, some schools will be able to use the computerized program, known as the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or Sevis. This will eventually put thousands of colleges and trade schools in communication with the I.N.S. and embassies. While the new system will most likely have glitches, it will be a good step forward. At the same time, we should be realistic about the reaches of this new program. Thirteen of the 19 hijackers entered the country on tourist visas. Foreign students account for only 2 percent of foreign visitors. ...
There should be a mandated limit to the number of foreign students served by any one administrator and the I.N.S. should offer training to those school officials as well as their own employees. Even the best technology will be weakened without thorough instruction, leaving the system vulnerable to abuse and unresponsive to foreign students.
Washington Times
American women haven't fared very well under Saudi Arabian law. Air Force Lt. Col. Martha McSally was one of the many American servicewomen forced to wear the Muslim abiyya while off base in order to observe Muslim religious law. The fact that she is not a Muslim made no difference under Saudi law. Last Wednesday, in a congressional hearing, the mothers of some American women and children being held against their will in Saudi Arabia testified about the horrible situation Saudi law has created.
It is hard to make sense out of the Saudi government's refusal to help Pat Roush's two daughters -- both American citizens -- who were kidnapped from the United States and taken to Saudi Arabia by her estranged husband in 1986. Mrs. Roush testified that both of her daughters -- now over age 18 -- desperately want to return to the United States. They cannot, because, under Saudi "law," they need their father's permission to do so. Indiana Rep. Dan Burton has sent a letter to the president asking him to pressure the Saudi government to allow Mrs. Roush's daughters, and 44 other such Americans, to come home. The president should do that and more. He should rethink our relationship with the Saudis, who have done little to earn our trust. ...
Mr. Bush should demand that each of these 46 Americans be brought to the U.S. Embassy and asked -- in private, with no Saudis present -- if they want to return to the United States. Their choice should be final in the matter and enforced with whatever means necessary. The right of Americans to freedom and self-determination cannot be sacrificed to Saudi law or diplomacy. The Saudi government opposes our plan to remove Saddam Hussein, and its plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians amounts to little else than a surrender of Israel's security. We cannot buy Saudi support for the campaign against Iraq, because the price will be too high and the support too shallow. Mr. Bush should tell the Saudis that while they may be an ally, they are clearly not an indispensable one.
Washington Post
Is anti-Semitism once again infecting European politics? The very suggestion, when voiced by a couple of columnists on the opposite page, inspired furious denials from across the Atlantic: "Obscenely offensive rubbish," thundered Chris Patten, the European Union's commissioner for external relations. We wonder what words Mr. Patten has for Jurgen Mollemann, deputy leader of Germany's Free Democratic Party.
Mr. Mollemann, whose mainstream party often has served in government and hopes to join a new coalition after elections in September, has enlivened the ongoing campaign with a series of statements explicitly pandering to anti-Jewish sentiment. He began by defending the suicide bombers who seek out and murder Israelis at religious celebrations and discotheques. ...
As elsewhere in Europe, where harsh criticism of Israel is now commonplace and attacks on synagogues are on the rise, the political incentives for anti-Semitic appeals in Germany seem to be growing even as the post-Holocaust taboos fade. One recent survey suggested that 15 percent to 20 percent of Germans still are openly anti-Semitic and another 30 percent passively bigoted; Mr. Mollemann's home state contains a relatively large number of voters with roots in the Islamic world and strong feelings about Israel. The sad reality is that anti-Semitism has no more died away in Europe than racism has in the United States, and though no serious European politicians now accept the discriminatory agendas of the past, much less the genocide of the Nazis, the ancient prejudice nevertheless is alive in electoral politics and may twist some of the debate about the Middle East. Mr. Mollemann clearly understands that truth; other European politicians would do well to drop their indignant denials and face it.
San Jose Mercury News
For the past several weeks, President Bush's policy on the Middle East has appeared rudderless. As a veritable procession of Saudi, Egyptian, Jordanian and Israeli leaders paraded into Washington, the Bush administration put out seemingly conflicting messages and revealed little about how it plans to move forward toward its vision of a two-state solution.
There's reason to hope the administration will sharpen its message soon, perhaps as early as this week. In a conversation with the Mercury News, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice provided the outlines of the administration's policy.
Those hoping for a concrete timetable toward a regional peace conference and a final solution will be disappointed. Placing the blame for the collapse of earlier final-status negotiations squarely on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Rice said the administration wanted a dependable Palestinian entity to negotiate with before pushing for a final solution.
Rice sidestepped the issue of whether President Bush will call for an interim Palestinian state. The immediate goal, she said, is to curb terror attacks on Israelis and to create a set of democratic institutions for a future Palestinian state, a process that goes far beyond reforming Arafat's Palestinian Authority. ...
Key to the administration's plan is the continued involvement of Arab leaders, particularly the Saudis, whom Rice said can be instrumental in helping reform Palestinian institutions and severing ties with terror groups.
Portland Oregonian
How wide is the U.S.-China cultural divide? The Grand Canyon is a good analogy, when you consider what the Beijing Evening News published the other day.
Over the Internet, a writer for the state-run Chinese paper naively lifted an item from The Onion, an American humor outfit that prints only satire -- made-up stuff, just for laughs. The "news story" said the U.S. Congress had threatened to move out of Washington unless a fancy new Capitol was built, complete with retractable dome. The item ran alongside such Onion headlines as "Sexual tension between Arafat, Sharon reaches breaking point."
The Onion's parody said that if a new Capitol with more lavatories and better parking wasn't built, then U.S. lawmakers were ready to pack up and move to Memphis or Charlotte. The piece was accompanied by a faux architect's rendering of a proposed futuristic Capitol with a "Dancing Waters fountain" and "55 more luxury boxes" than the existing building.
More than two weeks after publishing the bogus story and even the fake drawing as serious news, the Beijing paper last week finally admitted to readers it had erred. But even in their published apology, the Chinese editors still appeared clueless.
"Some small American newspapers frequently fabricate offbeat news to trick people into noticing them, with the aim of making money," the paper said. "This is what The Onion does."
The Beijing paper cited a recent Onion article about the U.S. government issuing life jackets to all Americans for some unexplained reason. "According to congressional workers," the paper said, "the Onion is a publication that never ceases making up false reports."
It goes to show that satire is always risky business. Some people will just never get it, especially when it tumbles into such a yawning cultural chasm.
(Compiled by United Press International)
