Extraordinary Rendition: Putting a Face on It

I am a youtube freak.  Since we don't have cable, I get to watch Olbermann on youtube, snippets of congressional hearings - things cable users take for granted.  I am also an organic farmer on two acres just outside of Tulsa, OK.

About 10 days ago, I made a negative comment about Bush on youtube, as I have felt this man, with Cheney's help, has ruined our nation.  It lead to another comment from mmok2k8.  This person appeared to dislike Bush more than I did.  Reason?  Her husband was arrested and deported in 2006, in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  Why?  Her father hates Muslims and resented his ability to make a better living than he was.

Yes, I've sent this story to the Tulsa World, my local newspaper, I emailed the new governor of Arkansas and one man contacted me about this story but I have not heard any more from him.  I sent this to the ACLU, Oklahoma chapter and as I come across other ideas - I send this story out.   Maybe it is because my only kid is a girl who is about the same age as Rose - my grandson is just older than her two kids and I don't understand how easily our nation went from being the USA to Nazi America. 

Rose and Hasan Ansari were married in the early 2000s.  Hasan has master degrees in three areas, worked for large corporations such as Wal-Mart and a trucking firm in Fayetteville.  Rose became Muslim and her father hated Hasan enough to call Homeland Security, have him arrested and in Fayetteville, Arkansas, he was forced to lay naked on a cement floor with a wet towel draped over him as they tried to force a confession from him for 9/11.  Hasan has lived in the USA since the early 1980's and has no family back in Pakistan.  He was not involved but due to the torture he endured and the fact Homeland Security answers to no one, he was deported without notice to Rose. 

Rose has been disabled and now suffers from epilipsy, but she finally sold her engagement ring and followed him to Pakistan two years later - she was sure she only had to go to the Embassy and request his return - but the Embassy told her that her only chance of returning to the USA was to divorce her husband.  She has also feared reprisal from the Bush administration and kept her secret until Obama's inauguration from the public.

Rose Ansari has obtained a Freedom of Information form to send back to her home state of Pennsylvania.  She sent one back in December 2007 when the Bush administration was still in office - in fact, she still fears for her families life.  Our emails back and forth show she has to dress herself when she goes out so that others don't see she is an American, the American School was closed after the Marriott bombings and which means her seven year old is receiving no education.   The kids - 3 and 7 - speak English, meaning the kids must be hushed if they are out.  The bombing was less than a mile from her home and we know that an American UN worker was kidnapped recently with driver killed.  American's are not safe in Pakistan - as we have begun the raids on the borders, we are growing another country that the US will call terrorists, which I believe them to be patriots of their own country.

Rose is now telling her story in telling her story from Pakistan.  This will put a face on the renditions that the government has been involved in and I'd love to see more of us get involved in getting her family back home.

I plan to continue my effort to find someone who will follow through on getting Rose and Hasan and their kids back to the USA.  I believe their story is important, that this false arrest and deportation means that you and I are not safe from our own government and that this is not only a judicial error but a war crime.  We need to prosecute the last Administration - it is the right thing to do.