The Invisible Hand

Strange Name for an Innocent Venezuelan

Like most people I was relieved to learn that the man arrested at Gatwick airport with a hand grenade was, in fact, Venezuelan. Thank goodness it wasn’t some Islamic martyr-wannabe. That would just feed into the unfair stereotype of Muslims being suicidal murderers.

I guessed the heightened alert status had simply swept this South American grenade guy into the net and I wondered how many other people must carry grenades and other personal explosive devices through international airports without arousing suspicion.

Well, now it turns out this innocent Latin American tourist’s name is Hasil Mohammed Rahaham-Alan.

Perhaps he was born Alan Rodriguez and then got the old time religion but I wonder if anyone else has noticed that Hasil Mohammed Rahaham-Alan has an oddly un-Venezuelan ring to it?

Wisely, the media has chosen to all but ignore this screamingly obvious news headline.