To Laugh And To Love
T
Atlanta
ears. They seem to stand out
most when I think about my
father's murder.
Not my tears or those of
my family, but my dad's tears. After
five days of lying unconscious with a
bullet in his head, the doctors took
him off life support.
We sat at his bedside, and all we
could do as he began slipping away
was wipe the tears from his eyes.
Because he couldn't even blink on his
own anymore.
Whoever shot Jack Louis Beck on
Feb. 25, 2000, in Detroit knew my
father carried a gun and understood
how to use it. The killer made sure he
didn't stand a chance, shooting him
while his back was turned in a robbery
at my father's business.
It's impossible not to think of how
my father died, but I want to remem-
ber his life. He embodied the kind of
man I am striving to become, compas-
sionate and caring, selfless and strong.
Robert Beck, a native Detroiter, is a
writer and copy editor for CNN
Headline News. The 1989 graduate of
Michigan State University previously
worked at CNN Radio.
He was a war hero, a radio personality
and a theater actor.
But he excelled most as a husband, a
father and a friend.
A short time after I graduated from
Michigan State University, I got my
first break. I had never been on the air
before, but a tiny radio station in
Lapeer needed someone to fill in as a
news anchor. As I grabbed the door-
knob in the dark around 3 a.m., I felt
a note attached. It read, "You're good,
and don't you forget that."
That was the kind of dad he was.
After dining one night at Carl's.
Chop House in downtown Detroit,
we headed north on the Lodge
Freeway, home to Southfield. About
30 seconds from our driveway, my dad
suddenly turned the car around.
"What are you doing?" we asked in
unison.
"I forgot to leave the waitress a tip,"
he said.
That was the kind of man he was.
My dad lit up a room when he
walked in. He was a ham, and a few
local productions in the early 1960s
weren't enough to satisfy the per-
former in him.
A few years ago, he flew to New
York as one of five finalists in a Dave
Thomas look-alike contest. He
was one hour and 51 min-
didn't win, but he loved playing
utes of pure torture. Sitting
along when someone asked him
on a plane between two com-
if he "really was that Wendy's
plete strangers, I didn't know
guy." For years, he used to tell
whether my dad would be
the same corny jokes and utter
alive when I got to him. He
the same corny phrases. I
died on March 2, 2000. His
would give anything to hear
killers remain free.
one of them right now.
RO BERT
I don't think now about
In December 1999, my
not getting the chance to say
B ECK
father was finally ready to retire
goodbye or clear the air. Our
Sp ecial
from his scrap metal business of Com mentary
relationship was rock-solid,
25 years.
so that wasn't necessary. That
"Just a few more months to
doesn't mean I'll ever accept
tie up loose ends and that's it," he told
losing him so soon.
me.
This time of year is especially tough
This was very welcome news. That
for us. My dad would have turned 78.
business can be physically demanding,
He would have gone to High Holiday
and at age 75, the strains, cuts and
services and joked about how rusty his
bruises didn't heal as quickly as they
Hebrew was. He would have held
used to.. But my dad was stubborn
court at my brother's wedding in
[about retiring].
November. He and my mother would
"What do you want me to do?" he'd
have celebrated their 39th wedding
ask. "Move to Florida so I can play
anniversary in the spring.
shuffleboard and catch the senior early-
Despite my lingering sadness and
bird special at five o'clock every night?
bitterness, I can hear him saying,
"Never!"
"Stop crying about me. Be a man and
I can still hear the flat, hollow scream
live your life."
I let out when I first heard my father
That's what I am trying to do, to
had been shot. It was a surreal moment,
laugh and to love, just like my dad
my worst nightmare come true.
would want me to. I now realize that's
My flight from Atlanta to Detroit
the best way to honor him.
❑
Terrorists: Welcome To The USA
Philadelphia
es, anyone can become a ter-
rorist. But so far nearly all
deaths at the hands of mili-
tant Islam on U.S. soil have
been perpetrated by 50 foreign-born
Arab men.
This means that the very first line of
defense for the U.S. homeland consists
of those who issue visas (the consular
division of the State Department) and
those who control the borders (the
Immigration and Naturalization
Service, or INS). Trouble is, neither of
those agencies has understood its secu-
rity role, favoring instead a "courtesy
culture" that approves for entry as
many applicants as possible.
The disastrous mistakes they made
became painfully evident with two
revelations last week. Had the State
Department properly applied its own
rules — as Joel Mowbray showed in
y
Daniel Pipes is director Of the Middle
East Forum and author of Militant
Islam Reaches America.
E-mail: Pipes@MEForum.org
National Review -- not one of the 15
Sept. 11 hijackers whose visa forms he
inspected could have legally entered
the United States. Those applicants
failed almost all the tests required for
admission (information about address-
es, means of support) but nonetheless
were allowed in.
As for the INS, U.S. Rep. George
W. Gekas, R-Penn., chairman of the
Judiciary's Immigration, Border
Security and Claims Subcommittee,
finally overcame INS stonewalling to
learn the disheartening saga how one
immigrant terrorist, the Egyptian
Hesham Mohamed Ali Hedayet,
stayed in the United States.
In a hearing last week, it came out
that Hedayet entered the United States
as a tourist in 1992, then applied for
asylum claiming discrimination on
account of his "religious beliefs." To
support this claim, Hedayet told the
INS that the Egyptian government
had coerced him into signing two doc-
uments, acknowledging his member-
ship in al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya ("the
Islamic Group") and his intentions to
overthroW the government
was allowed to disappear into
Egypt.
the vastness of American life.
Hedayet denied the validity
His possible membership in
of these confessions, but —
al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya went
given the nature of al-Gama'a
unremarked and no govern-
al-Islamiyya, a group engaged
ment agency tried to find
in terrorism going back to the
him.
assassination of Anwar el-
More appalling yet, the INS
Sadat in October 1981 —
authorized Hedayat to work
DAN IEL
their very existence should
in June 1996, on the same day
PIP ES
have raised red flags.
it issued a deportation memo-
Spe cial
For example, the 1992 edi-
Comm entary randum.
tion of Patterns of Global
In July 1996, Hedayet's wife
Terrorism, the U.S. govern-
won a visa from the State
ment's most authoritative source on
Department's annual lottery. Again,
terrorism, reported that "Most of the
the possible connection to terrorism
attacks [in Egypt] in 1992 were perpe- went unheeded, permitting him to
trated by the al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
take advantage of this to become a
extremist group ... This group seeks
lawful, permanent resident.
the violent overthrow of the Egyptian
Six years later, on July 4, 2002, the
Government."
full extent of the INS's error became
The INS, however, treated Hedayet's evident when Hedayet launched a
case as routine. It did rule against his
shooting spree against the El Al count-
asylum application in March 1995
er at Los Angeles International
(unconvinced by his claims of religious Airport, killing two before being shot
persecution) and formally began the
dead himself.
deportation procedures, but like
One might think this atrocity would
countless other failed applicants, he
PIPES on page 44
10/1S
2002
43