Editor: This is another contribution from our premier crime investigator ‘Pungentpeppers.’ Regular followers of RRW know that Bowling Green has long been a hot resettlement site for third world refugees. We have reported on many occasions about what is happening to Senator Rand Paul’s home town ranging from third world refugees being placed in slum buildings and left to themselves to those two Iraqi refugee terrorists caught and convicted there a couple of years ago. (Our lengthy Bowling Green archive is here and our even lengthier archive on Kentucky is here.)
If a Senator can’t even save his home town, how can we expect him to save America?
Bowling Green Interpreter: A Publicity Hound Dog
This story recalls for me an old Elvis Presley hit, “You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog, cryin’ all the time.” Elvis could have been singing about the villain of our piece – an Iraqi interpreter gone bad.
The news usually reports on how Afghan and Iraqi interpreters deserve to come to America – after all, didn’t they help our military in two wars? The U.S. Government though doesn’t seem so gung ho on bringing all of them here; it makes them wait up to four years.
Interpreters are becoming impatient – a group of them staged a protest in front of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul a few months ago. Why the foot dragging? Do Government officials understand something that the ever-trusting American public does not? Although the Government’s reason for the holdup on visas is ostensibly security concerns, there has to be more to it.
Afghanistan and Iraq are traditional, Islamic, and mostly tribal societies. Their people have values, ideals and a way of life that are vastly different from ours. Some of the interpreters were uneducated bazaar boys or vendors who sold wares on the streets – all they understand is their traditional society.
The specter of Bacha Bazi is a concern. Will they respect our laws is another. And how about our women – will they respect them? Per author Diana West who is an expert on Muslim immigration, a horrific rape case, known as “one of the worst in Colorado history”, involved five men who brought with them from Iraq a “new” form of violence.
The final question – relevant to our piece – will they harm our children? Certainly some of the interpreters can bridge the enormous cultural gap and become productive and law-abiding U.S. citizens. But others will do us harm – today’s story is about one of them.
Bowling Green Discovers A Publicity Hound With A Dramatic Flair
An Iraqi interpreter named “Ayoob” received a special interpreter visa and settled in pleasant Bowling Green, Kentucky. This man – who also calls himself “Joe” – shows a narcissistic pride in his appearance. Not shy in front of the press, he has appeared in the Bowling Green Daily News at least three times. You can take a look at his publicity photo here. He’s wearing his trademark head-topper tuft.
Something about Ayoob – or Joe – doesn’t seem quite right. Prone to exaggeration, he resembles a male “Drama Queen”.
In June 2013, Ayoob was featured in one of the Bowling Green Daily News‘s golly gee diversity pieces. The article touted that Bowling Green’s Muslim population comes from more than 20 different countries. By and large, the Muslims interviewed for the piece said they felt at ease in Bowling Green. There was a dissenting voice – that of Ayoob Joe:
Ayoob Akteyarlee worked as an Iraqi interpreter for the U.S. military and is now living in Bowling Green through a Special Immigrant Visa, which was granted to him after he received a number of death threats and several assassination attempts from terrorist groups in Iraq.
Akteyarlee told the Daily News in April he has been the target of racial slurs since coming to the U.S.
“Some people say ‘Go back to your country, you terrorist,’ ” he said. “We served the United States for five years, why are they telling me to go back to my country?”
“I hate that word,” Akteyarlee said about being called a terrorist. “It feels so bad.”
What he alleges, may have happened. Two Iraqi terrorists were, after all, found to be living in Bowling Green, and maybe he ran across a Kentuckian with a grudge. Or perhaps, those Iraqi guys when they hang out together look sort of strange to the locals. I’m sorry his feelings were so badly hurt. But I wonder whether – like a well-known news anchor we’ve been hearing about – Ayoob Joe exaggerated?
In a prior press appearance, on February 2, 2013, Ayoob Joe made the lead in a story about immigrants struggling to pass the driver’s exam:
He has been driving a car since he was 13 years old in Iraq but never had to get a driver’s license.
Iraqi laws didn’t require drivers to have a license until about two years ago, when new laws were implemented, Iraqi immigrant Ayoob Akteyarlee, 24, said.
Akteyarlee has failed his permit test six times since he’s been in Bowling Green, having taken the test four times in Arabic and twice in English.
On Friday, Akteyarlee and 11 other participants got to review U.S. driving laws, including how to identify traffic signals and traffic signs, right-of-way laws and proper use of lanes, at the National Corvette Museum.
Ayoob Joe couldn’t pass on six tries?! He doesn’t sound very smart. Or, seeking sympathy again, perhaps he exaggerated a bit?
The way Ayoob tells his age is puzzling and gives insight as to his character. For the early February 2013 piece, he told the Daily News he was 24. In an April interview, he said he was 25. That makes sense if someone is born on February 12 – in 1988. However, two unrelated sources give Ayoob’s year of birth as one year earlier – 1987.[Here’s one – link here to ICE hold PDF]
Arabs usually say they are older than they are, because they count the year they are entering (e.g., his “26th year”). Ayoob did the opposite. Maybe he fudged his age. Not a big deal, women do it all of the time. But coming on top of his other odd quirks, I get the uneasy feeling this guy is not to be trusted.
The Fall: “They said you was high classed, well, that was just a lie”
Ayoob enjoyed cruising around Kentucky. He got around enough to find himself a wife. Maybe the bride got “lucky” in that the whole marriage thing blew up so quickly, before Ayoob could do more damage.
The couple married in Warren County, Kentucky, in January 2014. A few months later they were in Austin, Texas. Maybe I’m too suspicious, but did Ayoob find out Texas is a community property state? At any rate, Texas is where Ayoob Joe’s first known mugshot appeared.
He was booked on 4/8/14 for “ASSAULT CAUSES BODILY INJURY FAMILY MEMBER”. That means domestic violence.
A few months later, Ayoob was back in Kentucky. We know this because on 8/1/14 he got himself a new mugshot.
He was picked up as a fugitive from justice and enjoyed a taxpayer-paid stay in the Warren County jail.
A few weeks later, Ayoob made an encore presentation on the Texas mugshot list.
On 8/19/14 he was charged with “AGG SEXUAL ASSAULT OF A CHILD”. “AGG” stands for “aggravated”. That’s only part of it. On the Travis County, Texas, criminal case log, it’s described as “continuous”. Per Texas code Sec. 21.02, I take that to mean he is accused of assaulting the victim at least twice, and the child is younger than 14.
According to the case log, his next court date, in Austin, for the two separate cases – domestic assault and sexual assault – will be on February 17. Ayoob Akteyarlee will be 28 – for real.
Will the Bowling Green Daily News report on how Ayoob turned out? They might. Bowling Green has had a stew of diversity crime cases of late.
That hound dog, he “ain’t no friend of mine”!
Editor: For youngsters, click here. And for oldsters—smile!