Wanting a favor, Ethiopian refugee sends Obama HIV-infected blood

Fox news reports:

A man from President Obama’s hometown of Chicago has been arrested for allegedly sending Obama and his staff envelopes containing HIV-infected blood, in the hopes of killing or harming them.

It’s only the second time ever that HIV-infected blood has been sent with malicious intent through the U.S. mail system, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said.

In the weeks leading up to Obama’s inauguration, Saad Hussein, an Ethiopian refugee in his late 20s, sent an envelope addressed to “Barack Obama” to offices of the Illinois government in Springfield, Ill., according to court documents. 

The envelope contained a series of curious items, including a letter with reddish stains and an admission ticket for Obama’s election-night celebration in Chicago’s Grant Park. Court documents said Hussein, who takes drugs to treat a mental illness, later told FBI agents he is “very sick with HIV” and cut his fingers with a razor so he could bleed on the letter.

I wondered at first why he would want to harm Obama. I thought all foreigners loved Obama. (Except the people of Macedonia, who, I’m told, were the only Europeans to prefer John McCain to Obama.) It turns out Hussein does like Obama. He just wanted something from him: help from the government and tickets to the inauguration. Maybe someone should have told him that in America it is not the custom to send somebody your infected blood if you want a favor.

Hussein, who has never held a job in the three years he’s been in the United States, was arrested last month….[He] is currently being detained in a Chicago correctional facility.  A judge ordered he receive a mental examination to see if he’s fit for trial, but as of two weeks ago the court couldn’t locate a translator to conduct the examination, according to court documents.

Earlier the article said his brother acted as translator during an interview with FBI agents.  But the guy needs more help than anybody is providing.  He’s been here three years and hasn’t had a job. He’s mentally ill. He doesn’t speak English well enough to have a mental exam without a translator.  And he doesn’t keep his mental illness to himself.

This is not the first time law enforcement officials have had to take Hussein into custody. He was arrested by police in 2006 after starting a fire in the middle of a crowded Chicago intersection. When officers arrived on the scene, he was waving the Koran in the air and yelling”Allah Akbar,” or “God is Great” in Arabic. Court documents say he was transported to a hospital, where he called President Bush a terrorist and criticized American foreign policy. He was not formally charged, but he did spend time in the mental health unit of the hospital.

I hardly know what to comment. I imagine he’s not the only refugee with mental problems, considering what most of them have gone through, but we don’t hear much about that aspect of refugee resettlement. What can be done with him? I hope he has some family besides his brother. But getting him English lessons and a job might help orient him a little in reality. 

Note how much the guy seems to resemble members of ANSWER and other radical groups. I’ve always thought they were mentally ill.

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