Over the past month, I saw a lot of press about how the U.S. government has Nelson Mandela on the list of terrorists not allowed to enter the United States. On April 9, BBC reported Congressman Howard Berman introduced a bill in Congress to remove Mandela from the list. And soon thereafter, Dr. Condoleezza Rice spoke out about the injustice. It's been a month and I'm still waiting for the announcement - Nelson Mandela is free to travel in and out of the U.S.

What is going on here? I am outraged at how we treat heros such as Nelson Mandela!

And why do we need to wait for the Congress to pass a law? Can't President Bush make a simple request to the State Department, removing Nelson Mandela's name from the travel ban list? Or better yet, if Dr. Rice is really embarrassed by this, why doesn't she just take action and fix the situation?

James Michener, author of "The World Is My Home" would be disgusted with this travel ban. And so should every citizen of the world!

I dream of a world without borders, just like Yusef Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens). In 2004, Islam was barred from entering the United States, after U.S. security officials said his name was on list of banned people.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive