Expatica: MPs order Verdonk to reconsider Hirsi Ali's status

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MPs order Verdonk to reconsider Hirsi Ali's status

AMSTERDAM — Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk was compelled in the early hours of Wednesday morning to reconsider whether Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Dutch citizen. A majority of the political parties in parliament backed two motions on the issue. One calls on Verdonk to reconsider within six weeks whether Hirsi Ali is a Dutch citizen. The second instructs the Minister to grant Hirsi Ali accelerated naturalisation if she finds she is not a citizen of the Netherlands. During almost seven hours of debate on Thursday, Verdonk parried criticism from parties on both the left and right of the political spectrum about her treatment of former Liberal (Conservative) MP Hirsi Ali.Hirsi Ali has long admitted she used a false name and birth date to get asylum. During the debate it was reported she told the VVD (Conservative) leadership this in 2002 and subsequently said the same on television and in print. Note EU-Digest: Whatever the merits of Hirsi Ali, the fact remains that the VVD, which has instituted stringent immigration laws in the Netherlands accepted Ms. Ali to join their party and become a member of parliament, while they were aware that she had told lies to become a citizen of the Netherlands. The VVD should have seen this as a major reason for not accepting Ms. Ali to join the party and represent them in parliament. Instead they deliberately decided not do so, because they saw Ms. Ali as a prize capture for the conservatives, since Ms. Ali had switched her alliance from the Labor PVDA party to the Conservative VVD, a key member of the present Dutch Government coalition. Ms. Ali's constant attacks against Muslims and her participation in the slanderous Theo van Gogh movie has been one of the major reasons for the recent destructive polarization of Dutch politics. To make matters worse it also appears that this campaign against Muslim's in the Netherlands has been supported by conservative forces in the US, who have now employed Ms. Ali in the neo-con stronghold - the American Enterprise Institute.