(Folks: This was written by my old buddy Bob. He's blind, so please forgive his typos. I didn't try to correct them. Anyhow, I thought this was interesting enough to post here...Cadd.)
I thought this would be an easy topic. It is not.
I have two friends, (Actually I have more than that but this was to be about just two of them.)
One is a Jew whose parents were survivors of the German death camps. He was born in Israel and spent his first ten or so years there. He then came to the States and became an U.S. Citizen. He was taught to hate Palestinians. He is a logical, intelligent and, generally, reasonable man. When it comes to the Middle East and Moslems he has a very narrow and biased viewpoint because of his background.
The other friend is a native of Egypt. He did some college in Iraq and is a Moslem. He came to the States when he was a bit over thirty, has been here over twenty years and is a citizen of the U.S. His believes are totally colored by his background too.
It is a fascinating thing to listen to the two of them in our
discussion group. The most interesting thing is to see that the Israeli likes the Moslem even though all his background tells him not to. Most of that has nothing to do with the subject except to point out how it came up.
They both told the group they had dual citizenship.
I was shocked as I thought that was illegal. I have since determined that almost everything we "know" about the subject is wrong. (See the site at the end of this.)
I was 100% adamantly against dual citizenship.
Jesus Christ said you can not serve two masters. While he did not say it for our purposes here it is still applicable.
As long as every thing is fine between the two involved countries it would seem that all would be OK. Not true. The mission of our Counter Intelligence Corps was to protect us, not from all enemy nations but from ALL nations. Nations spy on every one else. Smaller nation have "stringers" just like the media has to spy on many nations as they can not afford full timers. This is not as dumb as it sounds. No one trusts a person spying for ideology or conscience. There is a much higher level of trust for those doing it for money. The first two types can change their minds too easily. The one doing it for money does not want to ruin his reputation and therefore lose his income so he is a bit more likely to be reliable. The fact is you never trust any of them but you put more faith in the money man.
The problem with dual citizenship is that when there is a conflict
between the two nations the person is torn and has to do things against the interests of one of the nations.
I believe everyone should renounce one citizenship or the other. That is not only not easy, often it is impossible.
My friends are sure they hold dual citizenship.
Do they?
Maybe, maybe not.
ONE: When taking the oath to become a naturalized U.S. citizen you do renounce your original citizenship.
TWO: Often the original country does not recognize this so they are still a citizen of the original country.
THREE: The U.S. recognizes this fact and it holds a higher place than the renunciation.
FOUR: the people may carry two passports.
FIVE: If a person goes back to the country of origin he may be drafted.
SIX: Serving in a foreign army does NOT automatically cause you to lose U.S. citizenship except under certain conditions.
SEVEN: Holding dual citizenship makes you subject to the laws of both nations especially if you visit your original land. The U.S. can do nothing for you in that case.
EIGHT: In most cases it is impossible to automatically lose your U.S. citizenship.
NINE: It in many cases it is impossible to renounce a citizenship.
TEN: If their kids or grand children go back to the old country they
are often considered citizens of that country.
It is a much more complex emotional and practical problem then I
anticipated.
Go to the site below and you may be fascinated with the complexities of citizenship.
http://www.richw.org/dualcit/