Americans Banned from Syria

Michael J. Totten was denied entry to Syria. I presumed it was because they read his blog but, alas, it was just his passport:

The government has gone into hyper-paranoid mode, even more so than usual. They are stopping Americans at the border and kicking them back into Lebanon.

The fact that the U.S. has soldiers on the border killing terrorists flowing from Syria into Iraq may have something to do with this.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Orwa says:

    Hello there,

    I live in Damascus & I have 3 American friends here with me…

    The Syria authorities did put restrictions, but after many American ones… It was very clearly: no visas are to be given to US & UK citizens on arrival to Syria, they should be applied to at Syrian Embassies beforehand, and should be processed regularly. while yes, many other nationalities are granted visas just as they are entering Syria.

    I am against the Syrian regime, but this doesn’t mean that instead of looking to yourselves, your system, the way it treats the others, the way its media presents us, your election choices, the IQ of Mr Bush, the many many oppressive & humiliating restriction put by the US administration both on the others & on certain Americans… you are merely playing the boring American role of feeling happy to find out about the short-comings of the others.

    Shouldn’t you read a bit more… try to communicate a bit more… instead of discovering ancient restrictions and putting it as news???!!!

    I believe that the Syrian regime, the US administration & youselves are becoming hyper-paranoid all together…

  2. Barry says:

    Well, given the situation between the US and Syria, he’s lucky they didn’t take him to a basement, torture him savagely, and send the confessions to the Pentagon.

    Which would be hilarious, when the Feith-based intelligence guys were going through torture report #XXX, and realized that they knew the guy, and liked him.

    I wonder what they’d do? Demand his immediate return, or cover it up with a termination request to the Syrian government.