"Today the United States moved closer at last to removing the great shame of dishonouring this great leader by including him on our government's terror watch list," said Senator John Kerry.
The bill now heads to the White House, where it is expected to be signed by President George W. Bush in time for the anti-apartheid leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner's 90th birthday on July 18.
"Nelson Mandela does not belong on a terrorist watch list - period," said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. "The Senate's vote today will help fix a problem that has caused injustice to South African leaders and embarrassment to the United States."
In April, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged a Senate committee to remove the restrictions on the ANC party, calling it a "rather embarrassing matter that I still have to waive in my own counterpart, the foreign minister of South Africa, not to mention the great leader Nelson Mandela." (source)
11 comments:
Good deal. Also, this news comes just as Nelson Mandela is set to celebrate his 90th bday on July 18th.
Why was he put on there in the first place?? I guess I could do a Wikipedia search...
Wow, 90??! Amazing!
@ randi:
according to hayibo.com...
"Mandela was placed on the US's terror watch list in 1965, after an investigation by the State Department confirmed that the ANC veteran had been observed "making eye-contact with white people, flaunting his good looks, and smiling in a deliberately provocative way at white girls..."
His name is remove on my my b-day 7.18.08 Im turning 30yrs old. Now if only I can find a man who wants a single no-kids, with a job, got her own place etc., who wants me nobody? LOL!! Okay Im off topic.
I didnt know that they were that racist in Africa. Its a damn shame to put on a list because you were flirting at some white girls. How old where these girls? Maybe that should have been my first question
I believe the reason Mandella initially was placed on that watch list was due to the ANC's Marxist leanings.
Like the rest of the globe, South Africa had long been a pawn in the USSR-USA gambit and the ANC had voiced pro-Soviet sympathies.
Of course, the U.S. has backed its own tyrants so long as they voiced anti-Soviet viewpoints...tyrannical thugs like Robert Mugabe.
A long standing policy within the U.S. Intelligence network has been that any socialist economy is a threat to Capitalism (a/k/a "economic freedom") and the U.S. has actively undermined many socialist regimes based on that policy, including Allende's ill-fated regime in Chile, until U.S.-backed Pinochet took power.
I don't know whay Mandella would still be on such a list, especially at 90 y/o, so it's a good thing that the Senate is finally acting on this.
Wow...
interesting
SMH @ "making eye-contact with white people, flaunting his good looks, and smiling in a deliberately provocative way at white girls..."
That makes someone a terrorist???
It is a day late and a dollar short.
they probably have micky and minnie mouse on that list!
i love mandela--for what he has given his life to work for ... it is an honor to serve God as he is doing...
thanks for lettting us know about this don,
thank you
@ wisdomteachesme: you're welcome
Post a Comment