David Barsamian (the pioneer media broadaster/producer/writer) was visiting the Middle East. I took his permission to cite this passage from an email he sent me upon his return:
""Would you mind stepping over here?" said the customs official at Denver's airport on Tuesday afternoon Uh-oh. I thought I might have trouble returning to the States. In Beirut I appeared on a TV program talking about US policy in the Middle East. The next day someone from the US embassy called up the station to make inquires about me. And in my 3-week trip I had given a series of public talks in Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. So being held up wasn't totally unexpected.
"Where have you been," he asks. He's looking at my customs declaration and passport that clearly show I've been to Lebanon, Syria and Egypt.
He said rather sneeringly, "Don't you know those are anti-American countries?"
"I only met friendly and generous people," I told him.
"Weren't you afraid? Don't you know it's dangerous over there?"
I repeated my first answer.
"Open you bags," he said in a mild bark. He again asserted that those countries are anti-American. "Why did you go there?" I was tempted to ask him what he meant by "anti-American." He continued to use the term. It may be part of his training. But with my friend waiting to pick me up outside and I was tired after flying from Cairo, I wanted to get out of there ASAP. But one tape in my brain is cursing him out. Prudence dictated playing another tape.
He starts sorting through my things. Stared at some of my notes and quickly went through some business cards. Fortunately he did not notice the ones from Hizbullah officials.
"What do you do in Boulder?
"I'm a radio producer."
"Oh yeah, what do you produce?" And I tell him. He looked at bit bewildered and doesn't follow up.
He looked at my al-Jazeera DVD box-set on the "War of Lebanon." Then he found something that caught his attention. My book w/ Eqbal Ahmad-"Terrorism: Theirs and Ours." I had taken a bunch of copies to distribute and had some left over. The cover has a photo of Reagan sitting in the White House with Afghan mujahideen. Right away I thought of Tariq Ali who
told me he was held up in the Munich airport because he had a book on suicide.
"Our terrorism?"
"Yes, that's the title of the book."
"Is this book available on the Internet," he asked.
"Of course, on the Internet and at bookstores," I respond. I think to say,I'd be happy to sell you a copy right now, but think better of it.
He then writes down info about the book on my customs declaration form."