Frankly, given the history of this country, I’d think that Brits of British origin might be more worrisome than Brits of Pakistani origin, but hey, our government is racist.
Omar Khyam, the ringleader of the thwarted London bomb plot who was sentenced to life imprisonment on Monday, showed the potential for disaffected young men to be lured as terrorists, a threat that British officials said they would have to contend with for a generation.
But the 25-year-old Mr. Khyam, a Briton of Pakistani descent, also personifies a larger and more immediate concern: as a British citizen, he could have entered the United States without a visa, like many of an estimated 800,000 other Britons of Pakistani origin.
American officials, citing the number of terror plots in Britain involving Britons with ties to Pakistan, expressed concern over the visa loophole. In recent months, the homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, has opened talks with the government here on how to curb the access of British citizens of Pakistani origin to the United States.
At the moment, the British are resistant, fearing that restrictions on the group of Britons would incur a backlash from a population that has always sided with the Labor Party. The Americans say they are hesitant to push too hard and embarrass their staunch ally in the Iraq war, Prime Minister Tony Blair, as he prepares to step down from office.
Among the options that have been put on the table, according to British officials, was the most onerous option to Britain, that of canceling the entire visa waiver program that allows all Britons entry to the United States without a visa. Another option, politically fraught as it is, would be to single out Britons of Pakistani origin, requiring them to make visa applications for the United States. [Full story]
Let’s review.
White Britons have:
- Launched several ships with the express purpose of invading U.S. soil beginning in 1642.
- Attacked (white) Americans in an extortion attempt called the Stamp Act and the American Revolution.
- Attacked (white) Americans again, taking hostages to serve as sailors in their army and invading U.S. soil once more in the War of 1812.
- Seriously considered siding with rebels seeking secession during the U.S. Civil War.
- Formed several Irish gangs in New York, Boston, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere (this is something of a stretch, but since Ireland was under British control until recently, and part still is, I’m counting it).
Let’s not even go into what Americans of British descent have done to other Americans in the past four hundred years (think genocide and enslavement of entire populations, lynchings, terrorist attacks — McVeigh is a Scottish name, I believe? — rebellion — Lee is, in the case of Robert, an English name, I believe? — and more).
Meanwhile, Britons of Pakistani descent have committed the following attacks on American soil:
…
…
Do you hear crickets?
I know, I know. “But now the British are our allies!” Not exactly. See, the British prime minister, Tony Blair, he’s our ally. Most average Brits seem to think we’re cracked, though. “But Pakistan, they’re our enemy.” Not exactly. See, the Pakistani leaders, they’re our allies. Most average Pakistanis seem to think we’re cracked, though.
So basically, what this comes down to is we’re blocking a loophole in British visas not because people of British origin have continually raised havoc in the U.S., but because three Britons of Pakistani descent suicide bombed the British transportation system (out of four total bombers), and five others plotted another attack? That’s not even a tiny percentage of the number of Pakistani-descended Britons who have gone their whole lives without ever bombing anything. And it’s not like, say, white citizens of the UK ever bomb anything (*cough* Belfast *cough*).
Treating people of color like second-class citizens in the U.S., Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines and Latin America is just not satisfying enough?
Right then. Carry on.
