Posted on 04/19/2009 4:23:41 PM PDT by Steelfish
Just Heard B. Hussein O refer to jailed news-reporter Roxana Saberi as "Iranian-American" in a newscast hosted by Fox's Julia Banderas. So our new president think of American as hyphenated citizens.
Is this the only thread on this hostage crisis?
The actual news is that she was sentenced to EIGHT YEARS.
All I have heard is Obama’s statement to the effect that
“I am convinced she was not engaged in espionage”.
So what’s the implication of that? If she WAS engaged in espionage she deserves eight years?
Is this UNBELIEVABLE?????
What did we do to deserve this miserable wretch despoiling the White House?
Can you imagine anything more tepid and non-committal?
He might have gained a point by issuing a statement ad hominem, to the effect that “looks like Ahmedinijad is trying to test me. He’s making a mistake”.Uh-uh..... looks like we have to endure another week or so of this Administration sorting things out and trying to figure out
how to get through this without threats or even showing the Iranians we think what they are doing in criminal.
Here is another thing that will be interesting to watch, since it is INDEED another “test”, and it’s coming at the beginning of his Presidency, just as Carter’s hostage situation came at the end of his.
If the pix doesn't come through, here's the link:
http://www.bittenandbound.com/2009/03/01/roxana-saberi-former-miss-north-dakota-detained-in-iran-photos/
America journalist Roxana Saberi, 31, was arrested and detained in Iran
> Yes. As stated above she has dual citizenship. Id say that, in those instances, there can be little question that hyphenation is reasonable.
I have three citizenships and I do not accept hyphenization. I am what I am where I am. In New Zealand I am a Kiwi, in Canada I am a Canuck, and in the UK I am a Pom. None of this hyphenization crap for me: it is too complicated and it doesn’t reflect the true state of play.
Your first loyalty belongs to the country where you are living at the moment and whose protection you enjoy as a citizen. Your other loyalties are secondary (and hopefully complementary) to that. But they do not color your first loyalty at all.
Well, I don't think he has made any effort to clarify what his given name is, so until he does, I think it is perfectly fine for anyone to call him whatever they d*mn well please. I, for one, prefer to use Barry Soetoro.
did he call her sweetie?
So you think his “given name” was Soetero, the name of his stepfather whom his mother didn’t meet until after he was born? Interesting logic.
Call him whatever you want. I don’t particularly care. But don’t try to couch it in false logic.
Here’s a segment of the BBC report:
Case tests Obama’s Iran agenda
By Jon Leyne
BBC News, Tehran
It started with a young woman arrested for allegedly buying a bottle of wine.
Roxana Saberi had worked as a journalist in Iran
Now the case of Roxana Saberi could become the first big test of relations between Iran and the new administration of President Barack Obama.
For nearly three months, Ms Saberi has been held in Evin prison, Tehran.
It soon became clear the bottle of wine was only a pretext. She was accused of operating as a journalist without a valid press pass.
Then, in a space of barely 10 days, she was charged with the much more serious offence of spying, tried and sentenced to eight years in prison.
It is a tough sentence, even on such a grave allegation.
The evidence has never been published, the trial was held in secret and her father claims she was tricked into making a false confession.
It all raises deep suspicions over whether this case has been hijacked by hardliners within the Iranian government, eager to sabotage any reconciliation with the United States.
Ever since President Obama started reaching out to the government of President Ahmadinejad, it has been clear that the government here is sceptical of his intentions, and confused about how to respond.
The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has suggested there is no difference between President Obama and his predecessor, George W Bush. Sometimes it seems as if the government here pines for the certainties of the Bush era.
In one recent demonstration, government approved protesters chanted “Death to Obama” for the first time.
Ayatollah Khamenei suggests there is no real change in US leadership
The confusion is understandable. Here they chant “Death to America” on state occasions, just as one might repeat God save the Queen, Vive la France or God Bless America.
But if Roxana Saberi’s sentence is a political manoeuvre, it could be more complicated than simply an attempt to sabotage new talks. Already through this case the Iranians have moved the agenda from the nuclear programme that the United States would like to focus on.
They have a bargaining chip to use in talks, perhaps to use as they press for the release of Iranians still held in Iraq.
Hahahahahahaha you made me laugh , right on!
And, traveled with an Indonesian passport?
According to records we've seen from his country of citizenship, that does appear to be his legal name.
The List, ping
“Intent matters”
Of course it does. All sarcasm is intentional. Didn’t he say recently “I have Muslim members of my family” in an interview with al-Arabiya. So why should reference to his middle name be offensive?
Well, this school record from Indonesia sure would support my "false logic"...get a clue before you go spouting off.
It could be worse - wikipedia says she is “Iranian-Japanese-American” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxana_Saberi
but she does apparently have Iranian and American citizenship so I can how you’d say Iranian-American. Or at least how he would.
The Kenyan-anti-American.
I’d prefer to refer him “to the door, and don’t slam it on the way out”
As she has been in Iran for 6 years, would that mean her first loyalty is to Iran?
As for her dual citizenship: Her father was born and raised in Iran. That was enough for her to qualify for dual citizenship I assume.
I just really do not see outrage at calling her Iranian-American under the circumstances. Heck, lots of conservative writers have been using the term to describe her.
I'll save my outrage for things like cozying up to Castro, Chavez and Ortega.
> As she has been in Iran for 6 years, would that mean her first loyalty is to Iran?
Yes, definitely, for as long as she is on Iranian soil with Iranian citizenship her first loyalty is to Iran. Not only is that ethical, but by happy coincidence it also happens to be the way laws work.
The American government cannot help her — at all — if she is a citizen of Iran and being processed in accordance with Iranian law.
Having dual citizenship is a mixed blessing: usually it is an advantage but there are some snags. This is one of them, unfortunately.
If I were to describe her, it would not be as an “Iranian-American”, or even the more accurate “American-Iranian”, but rather as an “Iranian having dual American citizenship”, if I felt the American Citizenship were relevant.
In this case, it isn’t really relevant at all. Describing her as an “Iranian” is sufficient.
Whether you are a citizen of a foreign country is up to the laws of that particular foreign country, not the USA.
Some countries have laws where if you are just born there, you are a citizen of that country for life, regardless of where you live, what other countries you're a citizen of, etc.
Therefore the only law that can really be crafted to stop dual-citizenship is to not allow anyone seeking US citizenship that comes from one of the countries of origin that has "citizen for life" laws.
I highly doubt a law like that will fly too well with immigrants (legal immigrants who went through the process, not these illegals) who truly want to become citizens, but because of where they were born, they get kaboshed.
Yes, he did. But it is completely bizarre to refer to someone as "first initial, middle name, last initial". I've never seen that kind of construction before. Have you?
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