Posted on 06/19/2003 11:45:45 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
On the eve of her 24th birthday, Sarah Saga, the courageous, young woman who has sought sanctuary inside the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the past five days, was brought face-to-face with members of the Saudi government inside her living quarters. She was not given the choice of refusing these uninvited guests, but told by U.S. consular officers that she must comply with Saudi demands for a meeting.
As Sarah and her two young children huddled in a corner of the room, three Saudi men from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs approached her. She had grown up in a household with an abusive Saudi father who had beaten her on a regular basis, threatened her with a knife, and locked her up in a room for two years as revealed to me in an audiotaped interview a few weeks ago. Now, her worst nightmare was coming true Saudi men again intimating her and scaring her right inside the U.S. Consulate and in her own bedroom.
One of them said, "Let us tell you what your problem is but your option is only one." The nervous, frightened woman signed the document placed before her and then the men left. The arrangements had been made. Sarah was to be placed on a commercial airliner at 2 a.m. this morning and her children were to be given to relatives. The Saudis wanted to end this "hostage situation" and get back to their PR campaign in the U.S.
But Sarah has decided that she won't go. "I will never leave my children here to suffer the same horrible life that I had to endure," she tells a Fox News audience. She has locked herself inside her room and keeps her little ones close by.
A couple of days ago, Sarah told her mom that she had a piece of chocolate cake at the consulate cafeteria. "I told Sarah we'll have a big chocolate cake for her birthday when she comes home. That was her favorite."
Birthdays aren't celebrated in Saudi Arabia. They consider it a Western holiday. When I met my daughters in a hotel room in Riyadh eight years ago, Aisha didn't even know her correct age. I brought Alia a "Sweet Sixteen" birthday card as a present, but she was perplexed by it all.
This will be the first birthday in eighteen years that Sarah Saga will celebrate. Although she may be alone in a room in the U.S. Consulate with danger all around her, she can have her chocolate cake with her kids and we can each light one candle for Sarah and pray for her safe return.
Fox News has posted addresses of U.S. officials that can be contacted to express support for Saga in her quest for freedom for both herself and her children.
Get some education.
Thanking me for posting the part of the CCA2K that indicates that 'temporary' does indeed cut it, contrary to your assertions?
"Now will you apologize for
1) Contradicting my post by stating "Of course they're US citizens"."
Why no mention of my statement "The above being subject to their presence in the US, of course....?
2) For posting that I was wrong to state that foreign born children of American citizens are not automatically US citizens (especially as in this case where one parent is not a US citizen.)
You didn't say that.
"Get some education."
Hey, you had your chance to 'splain it to us, but you chose to remain a richard cranium.
In reality, neither of us have enough info to determine their citizenship.
I said they are not US citizens. You, an immigration attorney said:
'Of course they're US citizens'
You started it with that declaration. Now you are not man enough to admit you were wrong.
No they are not. Ask Freddy, the immigration lawyer.
You're the immigration lawyer. Why should I have to explain it to you.
That's not what this is about. It's about human rights, the same rights you and I have to pursue the right to happiness. That daughter still has rights as an American citizen, which she wants to exercise. There is no comparison of the medieval state of Saudi Arabia and the Constitutional Republic of the US.
Why are you such an apologist for a country which is notorious for its discrimination and subjugation of women ? Why should not these childrren have the same opportunities for freedom that so many advocated for Elian Gonzalez, especially as they have a legal right to them due to the lack of rights in marriage, in freedom to travel, the freedom to work out her destiny as an American citizen which was denied to their mother?
YAK, YAK, DON'T RUN SARAH, WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS!!
By this standard, the children of Sarah are not automatically citizens. However, in that her presence in Saudi Arabia is due to a parent/kidnap situation, the INS (or successor agency) may have some latitude in making a determination.
What's more amazing and disgusting is the number of Men who are adamant that the US should do nothing to help American women in these circumstances because "the bitches wanted to marry the Arab bastards, now they GOT 'em!" And that is a direct quote from another Freeper... and several other Freepers agreed with him.
Women are still second-class citizens right here in the UNITED STATES, so it's no wonder there isn't more of an uproar to protect/rescue American women who marry foreigners and find themselves in hostage situations.
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