GLENN: This country is out of control. A nationwide alert has been issued for 17 members of the Afghan military who have gone AWOL from an Air Force base in Texas (update). I believe it's Lakeland Air Force base. They are pilots that we have been training and we have been teaching them to speak English. We brought them over here. 17 of them have gone AWOL. Here's the best part. These enlisted men have security badges that give them access to secure U.S. defense installations all across the country. They're missing this morning.
PAT: That seems like a smart move, bring them over here, give them access to whatever they want to have access to.
GLENN: Yeah, you'd think.
PAT: And then, you know, not even keep an eye on them really. Yeah, whatever. Let's just teach them English. That's the inclusive, diverse thing to do. That's a good idea.
GLENN: Chief of public affairs — oh, it's Lackland Air Force base. "I can confirm that 17 have gone missing from the Defense Language Institute. They disappeared over the course of the last..." are you ready?
PAT: Is it even worse?
STU: Uh oh.
GLENN: Are you ready?
PAT: Yeah.
GLENN: They have disappeared over the course of the last two years.
PAT: Oh, and we're just finding out about it now.
GLENN: We're just finding out about this now.
PAT: So we bring them, somebody disappears. We bring more, they disappear.
GLENN: So we have 17 of them, yes.
PAT: Oh, my gosh.
STU: It does go on to say towards the end, the official further said that an unspecified number of the 17 have been caught, which could be zero because it's unspecified, but it is an unspecified number. So don't worry.
GLENN: Visa issued to these personnel have been revoked or are in the process of being revoked.
PAT: That's a little hasty.
GLENN: Oh, if they're in the process.
PAT: That's a little hasty. We don't know that there's anything wrong going on.
STU: I hope we didn't ask them for their identification when they come.
PAT: No, because that would be profiling.
STU: Because that would be terrible. Profiling.
PAT: That would be evil.
STU: Profiling Afghanis for no reason. They are just here to work.
PAT: That's exactly right.
STU: They are just here to learn the language and work.
PAT: What kind of country are we?
GLENN: The real intention is to get these people to the U.S. and help them start a new life.
PAT: Oh, good.
GLENN: It's not completely rare for this kind of thing to happen. Excuse me? Although we are vigilant, need to work towards not allowing this to happen, it should not necessarily, not necessarily described as a national security threat, more of a, "Hey, these guys violated our laws and we need to find them," end quote.
PAT: What law did they violate?
STU: Not one that we enforce.
PAT: No. I mean, if it's just that they're here or their visa expired or they're here without papers, so what.
GLENN: So what.
PAT: That's not illegal. I mean, in Arizona they just made that illegal and they're racist, you know, xenophobes. So I wonder what the problem is with them wondering around the country ?
STU: It's just Afghan military members.
PAT: Whatever.
STU: Just trying to work hard for their families.
PAT: That's all. Look, family values —
GLENN: Can I tell you something? I just want to see you on 8/28. I just, I just want to be around a lot of sane people. I just, I want to be around a lot of people that understand how much trouble we're in and understand that there's going to be a core of people that fix it. Yesterday I spent some time with a historian and we were talking and she said, Glenn, you're right on the money on so much of what you talk about and the fact that we cannot be expected to survive, especially with added pressure, if we don't know our own history, if we don't know who we are.
June 18, 2010 // BMW
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