Three Islamic medical students driving to Florida to begin a training program at a Miami hospital were stopped by authorities after a Georgia nurse claimed to have overheard them speaking “alarmingly” about Sept. 11 and Sept. 13. Interstate 75 was shut down, and the students’ two cars were searched thoroughly for explosives, or any incriminating evidence. The bomb squad blew up a student’s backpack. The students were released after 17 hours of custody. The hospital then received threatening e-mails and decided to find another place for the students to train.
I am disappointed, annoyed and furious all at the same time.
I do not know what to make of the nurse, Eunice Stone. She started the whole ordeal, but it is fairly easy to understand why. With last year’s attacks on everyone’s minds, a predisposition to cry wolf is understandable. However, I feel she owes the three men an apology.
I am disappointed with the way the students and their families responded to the incident. Immediately following the crisis, one student cried “injustice,” while another’s parent claimed that Stone must “have had some kind of prejudice…and the authorities treat you like a criminal.”
Being treated like a suspect, not a criminal, is hardly injustice so long as due process is upheld. Stone’s testimony provided evidence, though it was weak. They are not being held or charged with anything now, though they should be compensated for damages. Stone’s actions may have been driven by prejudice, but her claim was not fabrication, just misunderstanding.
To their credit, the students, speaking through their lawyers, later said that they bore no ill will and simply wanted their reputations cleansed of the incident. However, their initial behavior and accusations were still unjustified.
The hospital’s response annoyed me. The students will not be able to train at the hospital because of the threatening e-mails. While I understand the safety and treatment of patients is of prime importance, demands in the form of threats should not be granted. That is the definition of terrorism-attempting to force will on someone through threat or use of force. In a nation scarred by Sept. 11, these criminals (e-mailing threats is a crime) use terror themselves. Ironically, they probably justified their actions as being patriotic.
I have mixed emotions concerning the entire incident. Stone owes the three students an apology. The students and their families should have been more temperate in their response, and the hospital should have stood its ground against the terror threats.
My emotions are not mixed about the real terrorists flushed out by Stone’s call. The hateful, ignorant people who threatened the students and the hospital are no better than any other criminal or terrorist. They are a disgrace to the nation.
Nathan Alday is a junior aerospace engineering major.