Ayaan Hirsi Ali Again!

[Abraham]

Originally Posted by The Avon Lady

Goodbye, Holland.

Abraham, take a hint.

Not so pessimistic Avon Lady. Holland has not drowned yet.
Ref: my next posting!

[Abraham]

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a very brave woman, who is not leaving Holland out of fear, but only because she can get a good position at a think tank in the US.
As she said on her press conference, she can live with threats and fear. But she also confirmed that since last year her plan was to leave Parliament at the next elections, sceduled for the spring of 2007, because the personal protection she needed made her work as a member of Parliament ineffective.
After the court order to leave her house, last April, she decided to speed things up and start her job in the US per September 1, 2006.

The remarks of the Minister of Integration Rita Verdonk that Ayaan Hirsi Ali had lied - she had given her mothers name "Ali" instead of her grandfathers name "Magan" to the Dutch authorities and mentioned 1967 as her year of birth instead of 1969 - when she came to Holland in 1992 and thus not received her Dutch nationality in 1997 triggered this whole affair. Since only Dutch citizens can be members of Parliament, Ayaan was forced to give up her position.
The action of Rita Verdonk - very tough on immigration and admired by no one less than Ayaan - was motivated by her attempt to win a leadership campaign of her party. She had already announced that she was willing (read: eager) to become the next - first female - prime minister.
Ayaan - controversial within her own party and about to leave anyway - was the perfect case in a growing list to set an example how "straight" (her benchmark) and dominant Rita Verdonk was.

The whole plot has backfired big time on Rita, who succeeded in unifying almost the whole Parliament, including her own party in a motion against her, deeply dividing her own party, annoying the prime minister big time, totally isolating herself within the Cabinet, getting Holland a bad reputation abroad and Ayaan an extra shot of world wide publicity and sympathy.

After firmly announcing (actually she announces everything firmly) that the law is the law and that she could do nothing for Ayaan on Wednesday, she announced in a political debate with her opponent that Ayaan would "of course" get the Dutch nationality 'pronto' if it turned out that there were procedurel problems in the past.
This statement left many of her party members wondering what the fuss was all about then, and others contemplating how on earth a person like Rita with a talent to mess things up and alienate collegues could ever become the leader of a major political party, let alone this country...

In order to clarify her straight 180 degrees change of course I have to say that Rita Verdonk has very little leeway left, since prime minister Balkenende made a unique public statement that he would "personally supervise" this matter, placing Rita more or less under 'wardship'.

This week Rita's husband was complaining on T.V. that he did not she her enough lately.
He's probably the only one in Holland...

[Abraham]

Originally Posted by Skybird

... I wonder why noone talks of the shame, that certain people thankfully take the fact that she lied (to escape her former home and find a new one in the Netherlands) as a foul excuse to remove her, practically, and spread the impression that peace and tolerance, and law and order as well, have won over an evil that threatened to disrupt the silence of the European idyll. Now she is leaving, problem solved, one more Islam-critical voice successfully silenced and moved out.

Skybird, EVERYBODY in Holland discusses ALL aspects of this political tornado. It seems she lied when she came in 1992 in order to escape the wrath of her family if she would be sent back. After all a distant cousin had come over from Canada and had asked her father one of his daughters as a bride, after which her father pointed her out. As you know, escaping an arranged marriage is seen as disgracing a family and should be "revenged" by death, in some Muslim countries.
Later, in her publications and on T.V., she mentioned the name of her father and her proper year of birth.
As she said on her press conference: "I will leave, but the questions for Holland and Europe remain." She also said that she would be happy to remain a Dutch national and that she would continue to participate in the debate...
So Skybird: No Fear!

Originally Posted by Skybird

Who knows - it would be ironic if in twenty years or so I find myself, too, begging America for political asylum in order to escape Islam.

I'm relieved YOU count on twenty more years!