Day: December 3, 2012

New book says Ireland doesn’t treat refugees well; media partly to blame

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I don’t know if they do or they don’t, but this author has written an entire book on how Irish society is reacting to the third worlders arriving on the Emerald Isle.   Type ‘Ireland’ into our search function* and see that Muslim Somalis and Rohingya are among the refugees resettled there.

Here is a blub from the book entitled ‘The Exclusion of Refugees and Asylum Seekers from Irish Society‘ by Zoe Hughes.

The author reports that even the mainstream news media in Ireland has a negative view of refugees — that’s a new one on me!

     Irish government policy towards refugees and asylum seekers is increasingly restrictive and geared towards confining their participation in and excluding them from Irish society. This is evident from a regime created through institutions and policies that stratify rights in accordance with race-based administrative categories, with refugees and asylum seekers occupying the lowest levels. This trend is also reflected in the media in Ireland where negative framing of refugee and asylum issues as threats to security and to the moral fabric of society has normalised these policies of exclusion. The fact that the media is mainstream society’s main source of information about marginalised groups like asylum seekers and refugees, and the fact that the government and policy-makers have the greatest voice within the media has important implications for the way in which the public view refugees and asylum seekers.   [Fascinating—if true, why is the media in Ireland not as politically correct as elsewhere in the West?—ed]

* In fact we have written a lot about Ireland over the years, so do type ‘Ireland’ into our search function for dozens of mentions.  One post in particular about Irish writer Kevin Myers from 2008 just caught my eye.  Myers on Somalia in an article no longer available at the Irish Independent:

Somewhere, over the rainbow, lies Somalia, another fine land of violent, Kalashnikov-toting, khat-chewing, girl-circumcising, permanently tumescent layabouts.

LOL! Maybe Ms. Hughes has a point, you would never see a line like that (or the previous one I didn’t repeat here) in the American media!

Iraqi refugee charged in explosion of IED at Arizona Social Security Office….

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

…..but, it’s too sensitive to charge him with acts of terrorism!

*** See updates to this story linked below***

That is what Patrick Poole reported yesterday at Pajamas Media, here.   (Hat tip: Judy)

The typically quiet town of Casa Grande, Arizona, was rocked by an explosion at the local Social Security Administration office early Friday morning of what appears to an improvised explosive device (IED). No one was hurt in the explosion, which occurred shortly before the office was scheduled to open. The explosion was reportedly heard and felt all over the area.

While the little town of Casa Grande and the nearby Phoenix area are talking about the incident, virtually no one else is. In fact, the only reason I was following the story is because I’m presently in the area and saw the initial reports on the explosion and continued to look into it .

Within 90 minutes of the explosion, police had a suspect in custody. But you wouldn’t know it from reading the establishment media reports this past weekend. One reason might be that the suspect is 47-year-old Abdullatif Aldosary of Coolidge, AZ, an Iraqi refugee.

On Friday, federal agents served a search warrant on his home. Aldosary has been on the radar of the Department of Homeland Security for at least the past couple of years.

Late Sunday afternoon, I confirmed with a source at the Phoenix FBI office that the case is being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism. The source said that Aldosary is expected to be charged with a host of federal and state explosives and arson charges.

But, hold on!  All that has changed as Poole reports in an update to his original post.

…..the FBI is saying very little and and will prosecute this as a simple explosives and arson case because of “the political sensitivities involved.”

Why so sensitive?  Because the whole Refugee Resettlement Program was put on hold for Iraqis when the two Iraqi refugee terrorists were arrested in Kentucky in June 2011.   As a consequence, we were told that new security measures had been put in place and supposedly earlier Iraqi arrivals were being rescreened!  And now the flow of Iraqis to the US has begun to reach its normal high levels.   Oops!  Guess they missed one.

Now for your chuckle of the day.  Poole also reported that the Daily Kos first blamed the bombing on rightwingers.

But, get this, last week in the tiny town of Sharpsburg, MD, the state police and the FBI put on a massive “manhunt” for a guy who had a few guns and a two-decades-old marijuana conviction.  The guy on the political right hadn’t threatened anyone or shot or bombed anyone, yet 150 officers took part in a massive raid on his home.  Read all about it, here.

Why the double standard?  The Arizona bombing doesn’t fit the narrative of the Obama Administration or its media groupies.  And, I am convinced the Administration is just itching for a “gun nut” to take a shot at authorities so they can make their case that it’s not Muslims we have to worry about but Christian rightwingers.

Update (sort of):  It is actually an earlier story on the Arizona arrest.

Update December 4th:  See my post attempting to answer the question, so why wasn’t this guy deported when he committed prior criminal acts.

Update December 5th:  Debbie Schlussel has more, here.  A news story Debbie has linked indicates he was appointed a woman lawyer—bet that really pleased him (Not!).

Update December 7th:  Aldosary’s citizenship had been rejected due to “terrorism-related activity.”  (See the latest, here)