Nelson Mandela unable to travel to US because he is on US Terrorist Watch List.

[Ichingcarpenter]

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has asked for "embarrassing" travel restrictions on Nelson Mandela and South African leaders to be lifted.

A bill has been introduced in the US Congress to remove from databases any reference to South Africa's governing party and its leaders as terrorists.

The African National Congress (ANC) was designated as a terrorist organisation by South Africa's old apartheid regime.

At present a waiver is needed for any ANC leaders to enter the country.

"It is frankly a rather embarrassing matter that I still have to waive in my own counterparts - the foreign minister of South Africa, not to mention the great leader, Nelson Mandela," Ms Rice told lawmakers in Washington.

Last week, Howard Berman, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, who introduced the bill said it was "shameful" that the United States still treated the ANC this way.

"Amazingly, Nelson Mandela still needs to get a special waiver to enter the United States based on his courageous leadership of the ANC. What an indignity. This legislation will wipe it away," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7340248.stm

[madrchsod]

1. how many democrats and republicans will vote against it?

[Hissyspit]

2. The new American century turns out to be

a great big clusterfuck of stupidity, corruption and incompetence.

Oh, well.

[marmar]

3. So a corrupt, racist regime declares a group a "terrorist" organization and BushCo agrees?

Pure projection.

[sakabatou]

4. The list is so fucked up...

I wonder how many children had to be escorted because their names were on the list...

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most.

We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?'
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people
won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest
the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us;

it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously
give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.”

Used by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 inaugural speech

[Virginia Dare]

6. When told, President Shitstain said..

"I thought he was dead."

[Wizard777]

7. Yet they allow Benedict XVI to enter America in violation of diplomatic law.

He has exercized diplomatic immunity to law suites from the sex scandal. That means he must be deported and may not reenter the USA.

[opihimoimoi]

8. This tells us how Up To Date them PUBs are....NOT VERY

[PetraPooh]

9. What's amazing and shameful is that it takes legislation to correct such an error.

Just imagine how hard it must be for the average Joe with the wrong name to get off the list.

[struggle4progress]

10. Congressman Wants to End U.S. Travel Restrictions Against Mandela and the ANC

Thursday , 10 April 2008

... Democratic Congressman Howard L. Berman, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced a bill to lift the travel restriction ...

http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=54316

Rice leapin t'take credit for other folks' work

[Better Believe It]

11. It's About Time!

But exactly what legislation led to Mandela and other ANC leaders appearing on some "terrorist" watch list?

Just take their names off! What's the problem?

[struggle4progress]

13. Here, you can read the bill:

110th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5690

A BILL

To exempt the African National Congress from treatment as a terrorist organization for certain acts or events, provide relief for certain members of the African National Congress regarding admissibility, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:

(1) Present-day South Africa was colonized by English and Dutch settlers beginning in the 17th century. In 1909, the English and Dutch formed the Union of South Africa, a settler government that marginalized the African population and imposed harsh taxes on every nonwhite person, forcing nonwhites into a cruel wage-labor system that undermined the cohesion of their societies.

(2) The African National Congress (ANC) was created in 1912 to advocate for the rights of black South Africans.

(3) In 1948, the Afrikaner Nationalist Party took control of the government and imposed the apartheid system, a harsh system of racial segregation, white economic privilege, and total disenfranchisement of non-white African inhabitants.

(4) The ANC joined with other groups and engaged in mass civil disobedience against apartheid in the 1940s and 1950s.

(5) The ANC was banned in 1960 by the South African Government, and the ANC leadership was forced to go underground or into exile.

(6) In 1964, Nelson Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Andrew Mlangeni, Raymond Mhlaba, Elias Motsoaledi, and Denis Goldberg were convicted and imprisoned for life for their leadership in opposing apartheid.

(7) Although it was outlawed, the ANC led the resistance effort against apartheid in the late 1970s and 1980s. During this time, the ANC was classified as a terrorist organization by the apartheid South African Government and many western countries.

(8) The South African ban on the ANC was lifted in 1990, and Nelson Mandela was released from prison on February 11, 1990.

(9) Between 1990 and 1994, the ANC negotiated with the South African Government for black enfranchisement and an end to apartheid, the results of which were the birth of a multiracial, multiparty democracy in South Africa.

(10) The ANC became a registered political party in 1994. Winning more than 60 percent of the presidential vote, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as president on May 10, 1994.

(11) In 2002, Tokyo Sexwale, former premier of Gauteng Province and chairman of the ANC, was refused a visa to enter the United States on the basis that he, along with other prominent South African anti-apartheid figures such as Nelson Mandela and Sidney Mufamadi, were still considered to be inadmissible to the United States based on section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182).

(12) In 2007, Barbara Masekela, former South African Ambassador to the United States from 2003 to 2006, was denied a visa to enter the United States to visit her ill cousin due to her membership in the African National Congress, and she was unable to obtain a waiver before her cousin's death.

(13) The ANC-led Government of South Africa is a strategic partner with the United States in the fight against terrorism and has adopted concrete counterterrorism policies and measures, including information exchange, law enforcement cooperation, and anti-money laundering to deny terrorists a haven in South Africa.

(14) In the past, the Department of State provided waivers to ANC leaders to enter the United States, but this remedy is not appropriate for ANC leaders such as Mr. Mandela.

SEC. 2. REMOVAL OF CERTAIN AFFECTED INDIVIDUALS FROM CERTAIN UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT DATABASES.

The Secretary of State, in coordination with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Director of National Intelligence, shall take all necessary steps to ensure that databases used to determine admissibility to the United States are updated so that they are consistent with the exemptions required under section 4.

SEC. 3. EXEMPTION OF AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS FROM TREATMENT AS TERRORIST ORGANIZATION FOR CERTAIN ACTS OR EVENTS.

(a) In General- For purposes of section 212(a)(3)(B)(vi) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)(vi)), the African National Congress shall not be treated as a terrorist organization on the basis of any act or event occurring on or before the date of the enactment of this Act.

(b) Rule of Construction- Nothing in this section may be construed to alter or limit the authority of the Secretary of State or Secretary of Homeland Security to exercise discretionary authority pursuant to section 212(d)(3)(B)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(d)(3)(B)(i)).

SEC. 4. RELIEF FOR CERTAIN MEMBERS OF THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS REGARDING ADMISSIBILITY.

(a) In General- For purposes of paragraphs (2)(A), (2)(B), and (3)(B) of section 212(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)), present and former members of the African National Congress shall not be determined to be inadmissible on the basis of--

(1) their membership in or affiliation with such organization; or

(2) anti-apartheid activities undertaken during the period of apartheid rule in South Africa during the period from 1948 to 1990.

(b) Rule of Construction- Nothing in this subsection may be construed to alter or limit the authority of the Secretary of State or Secretary of Homeland Security to exercise discretionary authority pursuant to section 212(d)(3)(B)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(d)(3)(B)(i)).

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.5690:

Here's 8 U.S.C. 1182: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/8/usc_sec_08_00001182----000-.html

[bdamomma]

12. it just never stops, we are a nation of paranoid ignorant people.

(not all of us)

[EFerrari]

14. Our whole government is a DUZY.

How will they embarrass us next? :blush:

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. Saddam Hussain is STILL on the no fly list

Saw his name when Talkingpointsmemo linked to the list a few weeks back.

[galaxy21]

16. That evil Mandela! Of course he as some dastardly plan for the US!

Oh, he may look like a nice old man but don't be fooled!

But, yeah, that is ridiculous.