I came home to see Omar Al-Faruq on the front cover of my free copy of Time Magazine. OK, so that explains the embassy closings. That article is serious bad news, except for the fact they caught him. Really, the arrest of Faruq is a perfect example of the war on terrorism done right. Authorities got a lead, they followed it up, they cooperated with the local authorities, they checked his background, they nailed him. Good job, gentlemen. Police work at it’s best.
Contrast that to the denial of visas to 150 honor students from Malaysia. How do you ask a country to make dozens of arrests on your behalf and share intelligence information, then turn around and stiff the best and brightest young people from that country? Supicion should have some grounds. Were the students even in the Muslim Students Association, never mind anything more insidious? Where is the discretion, the individual assessment, the case-by-case examination? Bin who? Denied. Mahathir is playing it cool though. They’ll probably just transfer the kids to Canada.
