Can you divorce a country?

Probably not. Lebanon follows you everywhere you go. Whatever position you occupy in your adopted country, you will always be the Lebanese. Wherever you go in this world, and especially if your adopted country did not bestow its nationality on you, you will always be the one with the Lebanese passport: a recipe for humiliation for you and your family.

My trip to Lebanon began with humiliation and psychological torture at the hands of US border agents. I am not one to complain about the US, for God knows I am grateful for what this country gave me, and continues to give me. But what a shame that a government agency consistently violates its own written rules, and discriminates based on the national origin of its residents, and treats children like terrorists.

My son Kais, who, as I wrote once, was born free, is one month short of turning two. He has always been the kind of boy who loves other people, shakes hands with everyone he sees, and throws smiles and winks at strangers. One day, he accompanied his family to Dulles airport, where a TSA agent asked his father to step aside and leave the family behind for a "double search". Reason: Lebanese passport, and a boarding pass stamped with SSS.

TSA rule: you do not separate families.
TSA agent: it's either you, or the entire family.

It was AK's choice to not subject his entire family to a procedure he has gotten used to. But Kais, seeing that his mother had her hands full with an infant, three carry-ons, and a stroller, wanted to be with his dada.

Little did he know that he and his father would be led to a glass-enclosed area, in the middle of a crowd of passengers taking their shoes and belts off. Kais could see his mother through the glass, and couldn't understand why strangers are going through his baby food, his diaper bag, and emptying his sippy cup. One agent came close to where he stood with his father. He flung open the glass door, giving Kais the hope that he and his dad will finally reunite with his mommy and "baby". That wasn't the case. The agent slammed the door in Kais' face, after stealing his boarding pass.

My boy was crying, unable to fathom why he had to be put in a glass cage in the middle of a jungle of people.

Soon, the agent would lead them even farther from "baby" and "mommy". There, the man in charge of security saw it appropriate to ask the toddler to stand over the two footprints, not made to fit baby feet, extend his arms, and endure thorough frisking. His father is trying to console him. It's OK that a stranger is searching him for explosives, treating him like a suspect, even though he did not bear the SSS mark, only his father did. The agent then moves to the father. Kais finds it even more horrific that someone is touching his hero and protector. "No", he screams. It's hysterical crying, mixed in with the coldness of people looking like monsters.

The agent then realizes the suspected terrorist and his son had no bags.  He goes over to the mother, asks her to pick a bag to be double-searched. She hands over her husband's computer bag. It's a treat to the agent. It's horrifying to Kais, who sees some of his toys being handled by a complete stranger, while he is being prevented to run to his mother.

The rest of the trip was even more traumatic. Kais now is clingy, anti-social, and will not go anywhere without his entire family by his side. This could be part of his development. The experience at Dulles sure helped accelerate it.

Kais, I tried to hide this world from you. I am sorry I could not protect you from it. Maybe it is for your own good that you get to know it now for what it is.

This country did not become safer after this episode. Maybe this is the price to pay, some will argue. But maybe it isn't. There's a lot of stupidity directed at the United States, but there is also a lot of the same within its borders. People who frisk children are united in shortsightedness with people who view a national dress as a terrorism symbol. These people deserve the bigotry award along with those who attack a presidential candidate for the name and religion of his father.

I am hoping that Kais will grow up to be whatever he wishes to be, including, who knows, a president of this country. Until that happens, I hope the people whom he would want to serve see him as an equal human being, not the bearer of evil genes.

I have written a lot about Beirut, less about the Beltway. After this last visit, I felt like the Beirut story has ended without me having anything to do with the ending. That's life for you, not exactly a film, no matter how much you try to imagine that it is.

I feel the need for change more than any time before. This blog needs to be liberated. I have allowed it to sink far too deep into the abyss of Lebanese politics. Soon, and this might not happen tomorrow, something new will this way come.

Comments

[Gebran Sons & Cedar Revolution II]

AK, your story is very moving. It is a true lesson about life that will no doubt shape Kais thinking. What we believe in is not a utopia country, a Urantia experience, a perfect society. What we believe in is a solid trust in freedom, dignity and democracy. We should always be willing to give more than receive and standing by these principles will never disappoint us. I just feel sorry for those who blindly follow people, political parties, or ideologies to the point of not seeing the tree from the forest. I speak for many of us by saying we are grateful to your blog, your unique sensitivity, and your stand for freedom and dignity. Kais and his brother are very lucky kids to be nurtured with love in a great land despite all its shortcomings. He has our support when he's ready to run for the oval office? :)

[RickD]

You can send your thank you note to the father of modern terrorism, Yasser Arafat. Others can go to Osama bin Laden, Imad Mughniya, and Nasralla. I've read your blog long enough to know that you know Islamic terrorism is a blight on the world.

The TSA guys aren't the problem here. Whether they're the solution is another question I suppose.

We've all had to take off our shoes when going through security at the airport and wondered if anyone was going to pick up that piece of luggage that seems to be sitting there by itself. We can all commiserate but you sound like a cat getting its temperature taken at the vet. No one likes that but it's not personal.

[Dania]

Kais what you wrote is very moving as it speaks about most of our "routine" checks at airports us guys living abroad. I live in France and more than often my husband and I get the "royal" treatment too... I cant imagine how it'll be this time with a 2 months old baby, am imagining the worst btw. But please dont sound so resigned, Kais will bounce back from this bad experience and he will not be traumatized. I remember during the war days in Lebanon, specially the 80s, going through barrages of several militias whilst moving from one area to the other, talk about humiliation! As harsh as those security agents might have been, they are at least working for their country, their gvt and not against it or to destroy it as it was the case in our crazy Lebanon. At least its no syrian soldier calling you "wla" or a militia thug expecting his "due" to let you pass:(

[Mustapha]

Yeah, Dulles, So random and so idiotic.

I have obvious Middle Eastern features, I was in my twenties, I had a stubble and I was cranky, yet somehow the security people at Dulles decided that the not-too-Arab-looking Arab family in front of me were more of a threat to their national security, taking them to that dreaded glass room, while they let me go through with a smile because I have, wait for this, a West African passport.

I remember thinking back then: I might as well burn my Lebanese passport.

Sorry for the ordeal mate, but I like to think it made Kais a stronger person..

[abu yussif]

"humiliation and psychological torture" um, i notice there is not a word about the all-important root causes for the treatment at the border (you know, those who cynically and pervertedly exploit their children as cover for their subversive designs, knowing the innocent will suffer from their actions, which is also a side "benefit" for them). you are doing exactly what they hoped you'd do.

[نوارة]

بص يا عم
انا واحدة قلبي موجوع بما فيه الكفاية وما كنتش ناقصة التدوينة دي عشان قلبي يتوجع كمان

نصيحة لوجه الله تعالى
والكلام ده لوجه الله تعالى بصرف النظر عن رايي في اراءك السياسية اللي بالتدوينة دي عرفت هي جاية منين
ما علينا

نصيحة لوجه الله
اعرف ان الدنيا اختيارات
ما تنفعش تجمع ما بين الاعداء
يا عمي ما ينفعش
ما ينفعش تبقى عربي وامريكي فيه تضارب مصالح وفيه عداوة اتكتبت بدم مئات الالاف ولسة الدم بيسيح وح يسيح
واذا كنت انت كبير كفاية ابنك من حقه يبقى عارف راسه من رجليه

اذا كنت مرتاح في امريكا انت مش مضطر تفضل لبناني اسقط الجنسية عن نفسك وعن ابنك اللي سميته اسم عربي من غير مناسبة برضه

مش قادر تبعد عن جذورك وبتحب لبنان يبقى استحمل بلدك بظروفها دي
زي اي حد بيحب موطنه الاصلي وبيستحمل ظروفه مهما حصل ومهما عانى
بس حدد اختياراتك احنا بنتولد بديانة اهلينا وبلد اهالينا ولما بنكبر بنحدد عايزين نكمل كده وللا عايزين نختار اختيار تاني ونتحمل نتيجة الاختيارات
لكن ما ينفعش تبقى زي ما يونس شلبي بيقول: الصبح بالليل ساعة ما الشروق بيدخل في الغروب

ابنك لو فضل لبناني امريكي مش ح يبقى رئيس الولايات المتحدة

حدد انتماءك بالظبط لايه ولمين انت حر في انتماءاتك بس ما ترقصش على السلم

ايوة
المقتطف الاخير صح
اخلع من لبنان خلاص
ما تخصكش وعلى فكرة باين من زمان انها ما تخصكش
بتكتب عن لبنان بالانجليزي وبرؤية امريكية
انا مش باخونك بس عشان ما تفهمش غلط
يعني مش باقول لك انك بتقبض من السي اي ايه ولا نيلة بس انت وجهة النظر الامريكية عجبتك واقنعتك
ماشي
يبقى انت بجسمك في امريكا
ودماغك امريكاني
ليه مصمم توصم نفسك بينا وتشكك البلد اللي انت اختارتها لنفسك في ولاءك ليها
واسقط عن نفسك الجنسية ولو تقدر تغير اسمك العربي غيره
عشان تعيش انت وابنك بكرامة في بلد مش بتحترم العرب ولا ح تحترمهم
حقوق ايه انت بتحلم؟
الحقوق دي للامريكان ومدام محتفظ بجنسيتك العربية الى جانب الجنسية الامريكية يبقى هم مش ضامنين ولاءك ولهم حق يا اخي
احنا اعداء
اذا كنا احنا في العالم العربي لما بيدخل لنا عربي معاه جنسية امريكاني بنسجد له ده عشان احنا مهزومين ومكسورين
لكن هم مش مضطرين يعملوا زينا لانهم مش مهزومين
بماانك عايش في امريكا انت عارف المبدأ الامريكاني الشهير
i do it because i can
مدام قادرين يذلوا ما يعملوش كده ليه؟

انا مقدرة حجم الصدمة اللي حصلت لك وحصلت لابنك
ولو ان ابنك على فكرة ح يتجاوز الصدمة دي اكتر منك
لكن ما تعودهوش على انه يتذل ويقبل الذل

احتفاظك بجنسيتين كل واحدة فيهم عدوة للتانية ح يعرض ابنك للذل واللخبطة
اختار
once and for all

[Malek New York]

I am a Lebanese, married to a blonde American woman. I have a US passport, but I look Lebanese. So it happened a few times already that the TSA guys would start to single me out for a search. Then, realizing the pretty blonde is with me, they switch at the last second and decide they want to search HER bags. It is quite funny because they try to pretend they are not profiling by picking on my wife. Of course she is not as amused as I am.

[AK]

AbuYussif,

Pray tell me what the causes are for not showing sensitivity towards a two-year old? What justifies this kind of treatment, which has not made anyone safer? Nothing justifies breaking the law by the people sworn to uphold it. All we asked for was for TSA to actually do it by the book!

RickD,

I have no problem with security checks. In fact, I am also one of those who look at bags and heck, people, and wonder if they're going to be searched. I have a family, and I don't want to take chances.

What happened speaks more of incompetence and blindness than a policy that will give us peace of mind. Do you sleep better knowing that not all my bags were searched, that a two year old boy was singled out, and that tens of people who indeed looked the part weren't touched because they held a British passport? You tell me.

[Jeha]

According to the Patriot Act, Article 6.6.6, full frontal lobotomy is performed on all United States' border agents. This explains their unique mental capacities. I fear that the next terror attack, when it comes, will see more lobotomies, with little added security; the failed shoe bomber had only to be marginally smarter than the "security" agents...

I feel that security is not really what creatures such as the "Homeland" security is about, but rather bureaucratic growth. Rather than addressing the real weaknesses in the security system, the police organism feeds on people's fears to expand its control. Worse than a police state, the US and other democracies are turning into bureaucratic states. And we'll see more of such "formative" experiences.

But you're right on focusing more on the Beltway; after all, some of the power in Beirut is found in the Beltway. And most of the action is there...

[abu yussif]

all i'm saying is that you lebanese are all in a huff that america tries to protect herself and her guests from islamic fascists, yet you regularly roll over for hizbullah every chance you get.

ok, so you had a hard time at the airport. why not shrug it off with 10% of the effort as you do when you read about what your own crazy shi'a countrymen are doing to your people daily?

no, while i and my family are also subjected to this treatment when we travel, i place the blame SQUARELY on those who have taken away our freedom and america's goodwill we once had. if i was america i'd do it to us too.

[Jeha]

Father Jo,

It is interesting that you simplistically frame the issue as one related to "America [trying] to protect herself from Islamic Fascists". Khaver, the issue is not about questioning "America's goodwill" or apportioning blame, and ranting about "crazy shi'a" will not strengthen your failed logic.

[abu yussif]

jeha,
simplistic? but not incorrect. why do you think usa now is not welcoming to us? our bad breath?

[AK]

abu yussif, you are barking up the wrong tree. Nobody here is in denial about what the actions of extremists have caused. And I certainly have never rolled over for Hizbullah, so where did you get that presumption from? If you're incapable of showing sympathy, and you don't have to, then at least spare me the patronizing attitude.

[RickD]

AK,

OK, so you had a bad day traveling. Yes it sucks. My wife's great aunt, 70+ years, had to take off her bra because it set off the metal detector. We all suffer.

BTW, I'm not looking at bags and wondering if they're going to be searched. I'm looking at bags and wondering if they're going to blow me the hell up. I fly from a small regional airport to LGA a couple times a year and I play the 'spot the terrorist' game. Look around and decide who might be a terrorist. At my small airport there is usually only one or two candidates. At LGA half the people walking around could be bad guys. My wife doesn't think it's funny. I would certainly report any unattended luggage.

Obviously no one sleeps better because TSA is on the job. I assume that the lack of an attack on US soil since 9/11 is more due to the US Cavalry breaking things in the ME and keeping the bad guys occupied than our own protections at the border, but it's impossible to know. At any rate I don't sleep well at all and don't expect to until things change in Iran and Pakistan. You Lebanese are probably in for some more interesting times ahead until things settle down.

[ghassan karam]

There is a fundamental concept in economics which says that personal utility cannot be used to make any interpersonal comparisons. I truly believe that the same principal applies to many other areas, one of which is how we react to searches. If you felt violated then there is nothing that anyone can say that will make you feel less violated. That is a given. But I would like to raise the issue of the idea behind the searches.
I am sure that we all agree that developments over the past few decades have made it imperative to take measures at airports and other facilities to guard against violent acts by some groups and some individuals. There is no doubt that most and possibly all of these measures create a tremendous inconvenience for most and are specifically discriminatory against some. But , let us face it, there is usually a strong tendency to use profiling. If I saw a crime committed by a blonde six foot seven male then it would be a waste of my time to go after five foot four black haired females. Would , under the circumstances,stopping all tall blonde males be effective? I am not sure but it is more efficient than stopping everyone.
The same idea presents itself when some complain about stereotyping by Hollywood. But is it not logical, in light of the real world, to have the terrorist in movies look Middle Eastern rather than say Norwegian? Of course it is. Hollywood did not choose to stereotype Arabs as potential terrorists but it so happens that most of the terror acts have been undertaken by individuals of Arab heritage.

And finally, and I might have at one point described my ordeal on this blog a few years ago, I was stopped with an American passport in Prague and subjected to a 4-5 hour search. I even missed my intended flight. Did I enjoy being singled out and subjected to that detailed search? Of course not, but yet it did not bother me. I understood the rationale for their actions although I disagreed totally with the efficacy of what they were doing.

[AK]

So some of you are telling me tough shit, so what, we all get searched. And I keep explaining to you that I don't mind the search, and I accept it, but I want it done properly, not haphazardly and by violating the rules that were put to protect us.

If you can't understand this, then I am shutting down comments on this post.

[sydney2008]

AK,

I live in Sydney but I am married to an American. I had the same problem because everytime i visit the USA I am singled out because of my passport and what you described seems so familiar. I just ignore it and don't take it personnally. However,there is no excuse for the agent to be merciless with the little child. You should complain about this treatment to the appropriate authority. That is unacceptable...
However, I think you are upset because as a parent you expect yoursel to give the best to your kids and what you probably felt guilty of "being Lebanese" ...We expatriates are suffering from "identity crisis" we don't know what to think of ourselves? We feel pround and yet ashamed of our own country...We try to uproot ourselves from ourselves...It is a state of mind and soul similar to what children of criminals and prostitutes feel...they live in denial and pain because if you hate your parents you end up hating yourself...
Ak, I don't know what to say but let this blog be a candle in the night...
God bless you

[Umm Kais]

Wow, quite a few patronizing comments here. We have accepted the fact that AK will be searched at the airport every time, mostly because of his passport--how many times does he have to state that? We're almost used to it--but this last time, TSA just made things up as they went along.

If you're going to make our family go through this every time we travel, follow your OWN DAMN RULES and stop traumatizing children. The TSA agent telling me to "pick a bag" of AK's to be searched does not really make you feel safe--since I get my pick (I'm just the blonde American wife), who knows what I have lurking in those other bags. Does that make you feel safe? Why bother picking on the Lebanese passport holder when you create your own security rules on the spot?

And if you're going to pick on the Lebanese passport holder, at least treat his 2 year old like a 2 year old...do NOT treat him like the 30-something Lebanese passport holder.

[danny]

AK

I think most are commenting on two different topics. Some whether it is OK to go through the search and others on your point of the little Kais being subjected to this through the eyes of a father...(of course father Jo has his racist zingers as well...)

Whether September 11th or not; the customs people act as gatekeepers to heaven. Some are courteous some downright ignorant.

I hope you enjoyed your time back in Lebanon. Time to get back to "real" life. Welcome back.

[ken]

I doubt it will be getting any better for Lebanese abroad now that Hezbollah has been given veto power. If anything, expect even more severe treatment.

[k]

excuse my ignorance, but what is SSS ?

[ghassan karam]

Ak/ UmmK,
Could it be that your personal frustration with the way this particular incident has unfolded have led you to sound as if you were condemning the whole system of searches when your object was to highlight the potential for abuse when some low ranking bureaucrat decides to act on his/her own instincts. If the latter is the case then may I suggest filling an official complaint against the personnel at that specific point of entry?

[Jeha]

GK,

I can't speak for UK and AK, but I think this is more than mere "frustration". The entire system is hopelessly useless anyway.

From a "design" perspective, the people in charge of searching follow a "static" pattern, while those interested in committing terror acts are following a "dynamic" system, investigating weaknesses into the system.

From a "management" perspective, security is often administered by the airlines, with little performance monitoring. To them, it is a cost centre. And those guys searching you are barely a notch above minimum wage; you don't get top talent at those prices.

From a "profile" perspective, the system is fatally flawed. While it focuses on ragheads like me, it still misses the Tim McVeigh-types...

... The list can go on, and we can be sure of one thing; those morons searching a 2 year old will be the same idiots who will let the next shoe bomber pass without batting an eyelid.

[Pierrre Tristam]

"At LGA half the people walking around could be bad guys." That about sums it up. The inane, irrational and casually bigoted (because we're so used to it now) attitude that takes it as fact, if not preference, that you're guilty until proven innocent, even when you're the definition of innocence, as in the case of Kais, and even if you're what this country should be most proud of, not most suspicious of, as in the case of Kais's dada. This is not the America we knew when we first emigrated here. This is not the America we ought to allow to morph so blindly into the high-tech banana republic its current Dear Leader has done so much to peel, reducing citizens to monkeys in cages (not always metaphorically, thanks to the TSA).

That we've "all had to take off our shoes when going through security" doesn't make it less reprehensible, especially when the case related here is a lot more than taking off one's shoes. It is an institutionalized form of powering over an individual's dignity, doing it in front of his child, and expecting him to accept it as some sort of worthy, necessary patriotic duty. Necessary my ass. Folks here are bitching about Hezbollah back in Lebanon being the kind of thing that makes TSA's routines necessary. Not to take anything away from Hezbollah's nuttiness, but fanaticism is fanaticism, whether it comes bearded in the style of a Hezbollah militant or badged in the underpaid, self-important corpulence of a TSA drone. Both represent the same sort of monomaniacal idiocy.

[AK]

Thanks Pierre. Well said.

[Vulcan]

AK, I'm sorry you and your little boy Kais had to endure this treatment at the airport, nothing justifies it period. Unfortunately bigotry, racism and discrimination against people of Arab descent is prevalent well beyond airport checks it is present in schools and everyday life in America. One would only hope that children will grow stronger and by the time they are adults, these ugly days will only be a thing of the past.
Please do not be discouraged and thank you for your entertaining and insightful blog.

[The Perpetual Refugee]

AK,

I feel with you 100% on this one. Actually more than 100%. I don't want to travel with my toddler for the very same reasons. I always 'randomly' get searched. I would hate for my child to have to witness that, let along be subjected to the humiliation (and yes, it is humiliation).

I had a black guy once tell me that these sorts of checks are absolutely necessary. Perhaps. I wonder what his views are to cops pulling over a black guy in a Ferrari driving through a ritzy neighbourhood for no other reason than checking his paperwork.

As a Lebo with a foreign (Western) passport, I used to travel into JFK about 4-5 times a year on business. I would always get subjected to the drill however, (and here I am speaking of rules), the time I remember was Homeland security doing the thorough background check. The guy seemed frustrated because he couldn't quite put the picture together so he just blurted it out, frankly & honestly:

What is your religion?

Simple. That for me said it all. Rules or not, it all boils down to bullshit.

In Lebanon, at least we're honest about our barbaric tendencies. We don't need to gloss everything over in red, white or blue.

Lol, it happens to me everytime I go to JFK! I understand why it's humiliating when you travel with your family, but look at it from the bright side: people in the high-security lane are processed faster than John Does, and the gaz machine does wonder to my hair. I'd have to pay $20 if I wanted my hairdresser to give me the same haircut.

You get SSS but I keep getting SSSS. I'm either a bigger shot than you or a nazi sympathizer

[Solomon2]

I want it done properly, not haphazardly and by violating the rules that were put to protect us

I went through Kais' experience when I was seven, at Schiphol airport. Except that I did not know the language, no one knew the rules, and most important no relative was allowed with me while I was strip-searched behind a curtain and my new PanAm carry-on rummaged for God-knows-what.

Scary and traumatic, yes, but I got over it and bear no ill will towards the Netherlands. The rest of my family has probably forgotten about it entirely.

There is one other difference, of course. Ultimately it was YOUR decision as the responsible parent, not Kais' or the agent's, for Kais to accompany you in what for him turned out to be a scary experience. The TSA agent, in singling you out, may have tried to bend the rules in an effort to spare your child; you insisted that Kais accompany you anyway.

You could have chosen differently. Umm Kais would have been overburdened, of course, but would that not have been a transient thing compared to what happened to Kais? I know that if I had done what you did, I would have apologized to my child afterwards.

That said, some of the TSA guys may need better training, at least in manners. At BWI there's this guy in dreadlocks who pulls people over and questions them only to interrupt their answers with the repeated demand, "Are you dissin' me?" I hope he's not there any more...

[Solomon2]

"you lebanese are all in a huff that america tries to protect herself and her guests from islamic fascists, yet you regularly roll over for hizbullah"

Perhaps that's because most Lebanese feel powerless against Hezbollah, but know that they have a chance to get their way via a peaceful political process here in the U.S.A. That's what psychologists call displacement.

[vj]

Wow. Some of the comments here. Hailing from Australia, as I do, I think perhaps I have a bit more objectivity. A bit more objectivity to say - guys, you're more likely to be killed in a car accident. You're more likely to be killed by someone with a gun, given your insane gun laws. You sad little people, spending energy sweating over whether someone has a bomb in their suitcase.

Some of the defences of the way your country is going sound an awful lot to me like the hopes of Jewish people in Germany and Poland and other countries before the war. As they got herded into ghettos and displaced from their homes they kept telling each other 'it will be ok. The government won't let anything too bad happen....'.

A government that lets children get treated in this sort of manner has no respect for human rights or human dignity. And you're all going to be far more affected by that lack of respect than by anything that any terrorists can do to you.

[Min Canada]

AK my hear goes out to Kais. I have two daughters and if that should happen to me, I don't know what I would do. Probably what you did my friend, endure the physiological rape and make your son believe that all is ok. Yes I did say rape. The purpose of rape when the military do it is not the sexual satisfaction, but the deep humiliation of violation of the person and preferably in the presence of family who can't help. Sound familiar to you readers? That is exactly what AK was describing, and I can't believe that commenters with families could not see it and still believed that the victim is the one at fault. Walaw?!?!

At some point in the future, you need to talk about this with Kais AK. Don't let him interpret this his way. A child's imagination is lethal and you need to frame the event for him somehow. He maybe too young to understand, but he is not too young to think and you need to help him think this in simple and benign ways. I don't mean to teach you how to parent, but I hope you know where I am coming from.

Basita AK. Take a deep breath and think ahead. Maybe we will overcome some day.

[Andre]

AK,

I am so sorry you had to endure this humiliation and that your 2 year old son had to witness this awful episode, he must have been horrified. There is no excuse for such acts involving children, but that goes to show you how real this problem of racial profiling is at major airports. I had to endure the same search you described a couple of years ago on my way back from San Francisco and it was initimidating, so I know where you're coming from on this. I hope that in due time you'll have an opportunity to clear your mind and discuss with your toddler in a way that he can understand. Once again, I wish you well and your family...welcome back!

[bint ras-beyrouth]

Um Kais, what an awful homecoming for your little ones...
It's taken me a few days to come back and write - a lot of the experiences AK describes in this blog are so profoundly touching (and familiar).

It is disturbing (but not surprising) to read how many commenters chose to focus on the inane pseudo-political reasons for such egregiously bigotted behaviour on the part of YOUR government employees paid with YOUR taxes from YOUR hard-earned money (uh... assuming you're not a conscientious objector, and refuse to pay taxes, hehe...). Levity aside, the arbitrariness of it all is so damn frightening - I hate to admit it, but I get very paranoid when I cross the border into the US from Canada. I've lived in the US for many years, and still have a lot of personal ties there, but in the last few years I've felt so alienated, frightened and unwelcome there, precisely because of incidents like this one and the underlying message behind them.

It doesn't matter that I've never been personally persecuted (apparently, I don't "look" the part of a menacing member of the Islamohordes), nor does it matter that I am a Canadian citizen, and so are my children. But the intimidation campaign is definitely working, and so, even though I can't fully explain it to myself, I've been dragging my feet on getting my kids the dual citizenship they're entitled to. Disturbing and sad.

So, dear Kais,UK, AK and baby K, I know it won't comfort much, but you have this reader's complete sympathy. Let's hope and work for change, it is up to us to make our children's world fairer and safer.

[M.]

I am randomly 100% checked every time time I leave and enter the states, which is around 3 - 4 times a year. Do they not keep records? (I get 4 S's though ;) Of course, the highlight of all my experiences was when some TSA dude comes up to me and tells me they need to confiscate my laptop, which they kept for 28 days.

Yes, I have a Lebanese passport. But the US is the only way that treats me this way. And I've been all over.

Truth be told though, we are still lucky, relatively speaking. Iranian students at my university were harassed for around a year by FBI agents who decided to interrogate them ...

And sorry Kais had to go through all that.

[sydney2008]

I think the legal word for such an ordeal is called:
DISCRIMINATION...There is nthg more humiliating than being discriminated against...

[George]

Honte à la nation qui célèbre la libération d'une bête humaine qui a fracassé le crâne d'un bébé de quatre ans

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lkLMawFv6oE

[Adam]

I'm not an Arab but I do live in the Middle East and everytime I go to the US I get the red flag too (always get the four signs though).

As much as it isn't fair, it's just one of those things that we can do nothing about.

I think your story is more than a little melodramtic. I don't think the child will be scarred for life by this experience. If he does, then he should think himself lucky he doesn't live in Lebanon, where his daily diet of images could be much worse.

[JAS]

Kais is two? So is my grandson. Two-year-olds will feedback and mimic the behaviors and claims of those around them. Your alarm becomes his alarm. Your claim easily becomes his claim.

My grandson overheard a discussion about his age. So he dashed to the family room sofa and began to jump up and down, all the while shouting, “Terrible twos, terrible twos, terrible twos!”

I suspect that the behaviors and claims of parents are far more important than that of TSA agents. Or maybe I have watched too many TV episodes of “Nanny 911.”

[George]

Ecoeurant que ce cirque macabre où l'éloge de la haine

Voir la vidéo:
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/video/0,47-0@2-3218,54-1074346,0.html
Hier, Samir Kantar et les quatre autres militants ont été accueillis en véritables héros par le Liban entier. Quand ils sont arrivés à l'aéroport de Beyrouth, affublés de tenues militaires fournies par la milice islamiste, le président de la République, Michel Sleimane, a été le premier à les accueillir sur le tarmac.

Près d'une centaine de députés et d'anciens ministres se sont alignés devant un long tapis rouge pour les recevoir. Le premier ministre Fouad Siniora et Saad Hariri, le fils de l'ancien premier ministre assassiné en 2005, ont fait un déplacement remarqué.

Mr le président du Liban, vous ne representez que vous même en recevant avec les honneurs un tueur d'enfant !!

Et dire que vous étiez à la tribune officielle le 14 Juillet à Paris, quelle honte, le Liban ne vous dit pas merci, et la suite des évènements s'avèrent difficille avec un tel defficit d'humanité.
Ceux qui hurlent haro sur les israéliens pour leurs bombardements au Liban en 2006, je leur rappelle simplement qu'ils n'ont fait que de se défendre contre des attaques de brigands terrorristes. Lorsque vous aurez été au Liban, vous comprendrez, en effet les israéliens savaient où taper et ainsi il y a eu très peu de bavures. Les villages chrétiens n'ont pas été touchés... Tous les soldats de l'ONU envoyés à la fin de l'été 2006 peuvent vous le confirmer, mais cela ne se chante pas sur tous les toits... cela se dit de bouche à oreille car pour nos politiques, Chirac en tête, il ne faut surtout pas froisser le monde musulman, surtout les radicaux qui veulent nous bouffer...

- Enfin demandez aux libanais ce qu'ils en pensent? Quand je dis aux libanais, je pense au peuple pris entre deux feux depuis des dizaines d'années, pas aux guignols et assassins de politiques... Vous verrez si ce que je dis est faux...

[George]

1200 mort et combien de ponts ruinés, combien des blessés, infrastructure ruinée, l'économie en ruines tout cela pour obtenir un meurtrier d'enfant.

Ils l'appellent "la victoire" ? Les corps d'hommes Hizbullah aurait était rendu de toute façon via la Croix-Rouge suite des négociations.

Liban devient misérable et fête en héros un misérable tueur d'enfant de quatre ans.
Le Liban "pays du miel et du lait" n'est plus que celui du sang , de la mort de la haine et du mépris, malheureux et méprisable.
Il n'y a que cette râclure d'Aoun pour s'associer, comme chrétien, à cette liesse d'égorgeurs fanatiques.

[George]

The Radwan deal," the headline of Asharq Alawsat on Thursday cynically ran, "cost Hizbullah over $7 billion, more than 1,200 dead and 4,500 wounded Lebanese citizens."

The paper referred to the exchange by the name given to it by the guerilla group. Radwan was the "nom de guerre" of Imad Mughniyeh, Hizbullah's terror mastermind who was killed several months ago. While Hizbullah blamed Israel for the assassination, Israel maintains it was not involved.

The Saudi paper Al Wattan pointed out that Hizbullah has yet to disarm and that UN Resolution 1701, which ended the war, has not been implemented.

In Lebanon, Al Anwar carried an editorial piece which said it was "shameful to see members of the government in Beirut join the celebrations of Hizbullah."Obviously, all of the above are correct. But Hezbullah doesn't care what happened to Lebanon, and it has no interest in disarming or implementing any other parts of 1701 (I wonder what parts al-Wattan had in mind). And therefore, the fact that government representatives took part in Hezbullah's celebrations is a victory for Hezbullah - and a loss for Lebanon.

[Macemuscle]

AK, I thought the article below by Paul Craig Roberts would be appropriate for the occasion. Sorry to hear about your ordeal, but what else can you expect from a regime that attacks and invades another country and causes the deaths of over 1 million innocent Iraqis all on the basis of a big fat lie!!

"The Bush Regime’s “terrorist” protection schemes have reached the height of total incompetence and utter absurdity. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, a private organization that defends the US Constitution that inattentive Americans neglect, there are now one million names on the “terrorist” watch list.

One of them is that of former Assistant US Attorney General Jim Robinson, whose top security clearances are current. Every time Mr.Robinson flies away on business, he is delayed by a totally incompetent “terrorist” protection racket that cannot tell a person named Jim Robinson, who served in the highest echelons of the US government, from a [...] terrorist.

What confidence can we have in a regime that is incapable of differentiating an Assistant US Attorney General from a terrorist?

Mr. Robinson said: “If I were convinced that America is a safer place because I get hassled at the airport, I might put up with it, but I doubt it. I expect my story is similar to hundreds of thousands of people who are on this list and find themselves inconvenienced.”

“Hundreds of thousands of people” on a watch list that they have no business being on?

Yes. “Members of Congress, nuns, war heroes and other ‘suspicious characters,’ with names like Robert Johnson and Gary Smith, have become trapped in the Kafkaesque clutches of this list, with little hope of escape,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.

And this is America, not Nazi Germany?

How can Airport “Security” possibly protect anyone when the idiots cannot differentiate a high level American government official from a terrorist?

Do you really believe there are one million terrorists and nothing has blown up in the US since September 11, 2001 (assuming you believe the government’s account of that episode)?

How can there possibly be 1,000,000 terrorists and America still be in one piece? If there were 1,000,000 terrorists, America would be in ruins. According to the Bush Regime’s line, it only took a handful of terrorists to destroy America’s tallest skyscrapers and a section of the Pentagon and to send the President of the United States scurrying to a hiding place.

One million terrorists could bring America to its knees, and they wouldn’t need to fly on airplanes to accomplish this.

What we are witnessing with the one million person “watch list” is bureaucracy run amok. One Million Terrorists makes the danger seem overwhelming. Such overwhelming danger rationalizes the aggressive behavior of the bullies and thugs attracted by the power of confiscating your toothpaste and bottled water and riffling your belongings in your luggage.

Show your ID.
Take off your shoes.

Take off your belt.
Take off your jacket.

Empty your pockets.

Don’t complain about being searched without a warrant or you will miss your flight. You might be arrested, handcuffed, kicked and otherwise abused--the fate of many American citizens.

The morons who comprise the US government call the “watch list” one of the government’s “most effective tools in the fight against terrorism.”

What an effective tool it is! It cannot tell the difference between Jim Robinson and a [...] terrorist.

The “watch list” has not apprehended a single terrorist, but thousands of American citizens have been inconvenienced and arrested.

The ACLU says that “putting a million names on a watch list is a guarantee that the list will do more harm than good by interfering with the travel of innocent people and wasting huge amounts of our limited security resources on bureaucratic wheel-spinning.”

It is worse than that. What the “watch list” or “no-fly list” is doing is training Americans to submit to warrantless searches, to abandon their constitutional rights, and to submit to humiliation by thugs and bullies. A Gestapo is being trained to have no qualms about searching and intimidating fellow citizens, using any excuse to delay or arrest them. Americans are being taught to use arbitrary power and to submit to arbitrary power. In the false name of “safety from terrorists,” Americans are being made the least safe people on earth."

[Macemuscle]

Btw George, get off your high horse... How many innocent Lebanese infants died at the hands on your beloved Israelis? Hundreds? Thousands? Who is the bigger terrorist here??

[sydney2008]

Macemuscle
"causes the deaths of over 1 million innocent Iraqis all on the basis of a big fat lie!!"

If Bush invaded Iraq and toppled the baath regime...does that give fellow muslims the right to kill and massacre each other? are these the teachings of Islam?
Just i don't understand this backward mentality of ours

[sydney2008]

Macemuscle
"How many innocent Lebanese infants died at the hands on your beloved Israelis? Hundreds? Thousands? Who is the bigger terrorist here??"

What a sickening and flawed logic is that?

Your logic does not justify in anyway the coward and criminal behaviour of Kuntar. Was he really liberating Palestine by attacking civilians and intentionally murdering a child? don't tell me he did not have the choice to spare this little child the fate of her father.

As you know, the Israeli army avoids civilians because it will work against them by stirring the international public opinion. (I am not defending them but just stating the fact) So i assure you that HA's strategy is to hide behind civilians in order to trick the israelis and show that they are children'killers..that is exactly what happenned in the last war when the international media got hold of these horrible photos of children allegedly killed by Israelis...these HA know excactly how to play the game on the international stage...

We in the middle East are a bunch of loosers and the only thing we are good at is to bash Israel and the USA to show our impotence and incompetence...disgusting ...they are reaching the moon and the outerspace and what did we achieve? can someone tell me? Even the ABC of democracy we failed to attain?

[George]

This is how Lebanon looks abroad:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07182008/postopinion/editorials/a_shameful_exchange_120485.htm

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07172008/news/worldnews/monsters_ball_120267.htm

[George]

This is how we look abroad 2 :

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2008/07/18/a_strange_kind_of_hero/

[George]

This how we look abroad 3:
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/07/16/2008-07-16_a_welcomed_hero.html?page=1

[George]

I hear the complaints and wining about checks in US airports. Is it not because of Arab terroistts and 9/11?
Millions of passengers the world over suffer. In Europe too!