Sen. Cornyn's Common Sense About Yale's Taliban Student

Newsmax ^ | March 17, 2006 | Jerry Falwell

[rocksblues]

Have American liberals – locked into the gullible belief of unreserved diversity (except for conservative people of faith, of course) – truly descended to the level of cuddling with terrorists as they seek to establish their magic utopia?

The answer to this rhetorical question is of course yes!

[ArtyFO]

It's not too late to round him up and send him to Gitmo. Isn't this dealing with the enemy? Send a few Yale administers there, too. There must be a few enemies in the State Department to approve that visa.

[FormerACLUmember]

Have American liberals – locked into the gullible belief of unreserved diversity (except for conservative people of faith, of course) – truly descended to the level of cuddling with terrorists as they seek to establish their magic utopia?

Yes. Think of ultra-liberal Al Queda terrorist Lynne Stewart.

[Cboldt]

From Byron York at The Corner on National Review Online

Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn has sent a letter to Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff about the decision to allow Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, the former Taliban spokesman, into the United States to become a student at Yale.

Dear Secretary Chertoff:

I write to you regarding Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, the former Taliban spokesman currently attending Yale University on a student visa.

In 2005, Congress passed the REAL ID Act and expanded the terror-related grounds of inadmissibility. Under current law, an alien is inadmissible or removable on terror-related grounds if he is a representative of any designated or nondesignated terrorist organization. Further, an alien is inadmissible or removable if the alien endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization. The REAL ID is clear that the grounds of inadmissibility and removal apply regardless of when the conduct in question occurred.

Mr. Hashemi was an official spokesman for the Taliban, which gave safe haven and other material support to Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, and continued to do so even after the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Yet the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) admitted him into the United States on an F-1 student visa. I would like to know what steps the Department of Homeland Security is taking to determine whether Mr. Hashemi was properly admitted and whether the Department of Homeland Security will seek to deport Mr. Hashemi under one of the terror-related grounds of removal.

I am also concerned about the Department of Homeland Securitys role in reviewing Mr. Hashemis student visa application prior to its issuance. The report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States concluded that the key officials responsible for determining alien admissions (consular officers abroad and immigration inspectors in the United States) were not considered full partners in counterterrorism efforts prior to September 11, 2001, and as a result, opportunities to intercept the September 11 terrorists were missed.

Congress subsequently passed the Homeland Security Act, and section 428 allows DHS to assign staff to consular posts abroad to advise consular officers, review visa applications, and conduct investigations. Yet it is not clear that DHS officials were afforded an opportunity to review Mr. Hashemis visa application prior to its issuance. Please provide an update on the progress DHS is making in assigning officers to the consulate in Islamabad and whether those officers are fully integrated into the visa screening process.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator

http://corner.nationalreview.com/06_03_12_corner-archive.asp#092385

[rocksblues]

Is she still out on bail, or locked up?

[FormerACLUmember]

Is she still out on bail, or locked up?

bailed out immediately by millionaire liberals.

[KarlInOhio]

called for an investigation into how the Taliban's former ambassador Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi was able to get a student visa into our nation

I expect Yale to be opposed to the US in the war. But what the hell is going on at Immigration? I thought they learned their lesson after being publicly humiliated for granting some of the 9/11 terrorists student visas after 9/11.

Remember, this is the same organization which will likely be passing out "non-amnesty" amnesties to more than 12 million illegal immigrants in the near future.

[Tzimisce]

Meanwhile, decent Americans who want to go to school can't get in....

[the invisib1e hand]

(it was a really tough choice...)

[FormerACLUmember]

I'd rather kiss the frog.

[monkeywrench]

I thought the FBI had to review all student applications and give the go ahead or denial of entrance.

[Billthedrill]

I simply cannot understand the reasoning that Yale officials utilized to determine that a member of the Taliban would make a good addition to the student body.

I can. It's the sort of a bas le bourgeois statement that academia loves to transmit to the unwashed middle classes - "we'll let him in and we won't let you in because we think his message is more legitimate than yours." It really is that simple.

[Raycpa]

I am shocked we let him come in. I had an employee last year who suffered a stroke. Her mother was from India and wanted to visit her daughter. After the 9/11 tightening up, her mom was not allowed to come.

If someone with no ties what-so-ever to the talibon can't even come here to visit a sick child, how in the world did this guy be allowed here?

[Raycpa]

Which one is the frog?

[lormand]

Senator Cornyn is my Senator.

< /Texas Pride >

[Kaslin]

It is outrageous that he was allowed to come in, and especially after 9/11

[thoughtomator]

Cornyn has an excellent point... there's no way an ex-Talibani could have gotten a visa without lying on the question that asks whether he was ever a member of a terror organization.

[CowboyJay]

"< /Texas Pride >"

What I love most about Texas!

This country could use an infusion.

Y'all willing to donate?