Newsmakers - Love

[TonyG]

This Sunday on TV will be a movie (Princess and the Marine) about a true life story. Mariam Al Khalifa, part of the royal family of Bahrain, met Marine Lance Cpl. Jason Johnson last year during his tour of duty in Bahrain. They fell in love but had to hide it because she is Muslim. When it was time for him to leave he forged documents for her and brought her to the US. INS officials found her so she pleaded for asylum. The Marines demoted him to Private and forced him to take an honorable discharge. They have married but she can never go back to Bahrain without retribution.

Was he wrong to bring her away from her family? Did the marines go too far? Should she be granted asylum?

 

[Countess DeWinter]

Maybe in a perfect world, her family would welcome him with open arms and he'd get a promotion. But this isn't a perfect world (unless I just missed the memo).
I don't agree with the Muslim culture, but I'm certainly not going to cast stones. I'm happy for the two of them...that they found each other and are together, but sometimes you just have to pay the piper.

 

[Nobody Special's wife]

The real Question is ..

What does she want ??? I can't answer the question with out know what she wants ...

 

[teresafannin]

I do think that she should be allowed to stay here. I don't agree with breaking the law, but had they stayed in her country, both could have come to harm. I don't know a lot about the Muslim culture, but I do know that women have very few rights. She has received death threats while here in the states, what would happen to her if she were made to go back. I think she wants to live as normal a life as possible, with her husband. They are both very young & should be given a chance. The US has granted asylum to all kinds of people, this young woman isn't going to hurt anyone, she wants to live her own life with the man she loves.

 

[Jake2001]

Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

In the "real life is stranger than fiction" category, this movie ought to be interesting. I had an interesting experience from that same category in the early days of my career as an electrical engineer.

My company had sent me to Spain where one of the first big semi-submersible drilling rigs was being built. The man that headed the project for the company that owned the drilling rig was a maverick (for lack of a better word). I just saw him as a guy who was trying to push living life to the fullest and I didn't judge him past that. He and I became good friends and I learned he was having an affair with a Spanish princess (she was a little doll). Her father found out about them and, in order to keep the ruckus to a minimum, arranged to have him deported. The Spanish government, our State Department, and Bunker Hunt fought it out behind closed doors for months and I understand there was a significant transfer of money to the girl's father.

I met him for lunch in Dallas a year or so later and when I asked him about it, his response was simply, "Damn she was hot!"

 

[Juliangel]

They will be on The View in a few minutes. So I have the TV on waiting to watch the interview. Will let you know what I think after I see it.