WTF?! Hubby got unsolicited mail from Riyadh today!

[knitter4democracy]

He got home and showed me a package he had in his in-box at the office today. It's a plastic mailing envelope from Riyadh with no return address full of pro-Islam evangelistic materials. There's a tape and several small books and pamphlets.

He's only been at this office for less than a year. Most websites for doctors don't even have his new office on them (and it was addressed to him personally with MD after his name).

I left a message with the local FBI office because this is downright creepy. It's not like he e-mailed anyone asking for this or even has very many Muslim patients. The other doctors know he's Eastern Orthodox, and so do most of his patients (small area). This is seriously creeping me out--unsolicited junk mail from Saudi Arabia?!

What should we do?

[mtnester]

1. If you were not on the watch list before

you are now.

Not funny...trust me, I know

[knitter4democracy]

6. That's what I was thinking!

I'm really trying not to freak out right now.

[Richard Steele]

2. Weird. nm

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Why would you call the FBI?

[knitter4democracy]

7. Hubby and I were thinking of it as a pre-emptive strike, so to speak.

This way, they can't say we were hiding anything.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Huh? Pre-emptive strike?

What the fuck are you talking about?

[knitter4democracy]

12. Call them so they don't think we're hiding anything.

That way, they can't build a case that we're ordering materials from Saudi Arabia and hiding them.

[Squatch]

19. It's probably a good thing going to the FBI.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

20. Jee-sus.

Now I've heard everything.

[hlthe2b]

22. I know it sounds like we are walking towards Freeper level

hysteria and part of me agrees. Certainly, I hate to think we are going to start second guessing everything that comes in the mail, particularly just for the reason that it reflects something "culturally" foreign to us. How do we remain "free" if we become the "self-terrorists," and the "self-censors," after all.

On the other hand, I can understand wanting to document that these were not solicited materials, given the level of surveillance going on now. That amount of paranoia does not seem unwarranted.

[hlthe2b]

4. Sounds like a nasty prank...

Any friends with a very rude sense of humor, pissed off or "jealous" colleagues or patients?

As we all know, the materials themselves may be (and probably are) very benign, but the opportunity for misunderstandings nowadays, is just too great...

[knitter4democracy]

9. I can't think of anyone.

I asked Hubby if he had any patients or fellow doctors who would think he'd want these materials, and he couldn't think of any. That, and then why wouldn't they be sent locally and not from Saudi Arabia?

[Whisp]

5. is hubby a thorn to the establishment in any way?

does he speak too freely?
just blue skying here. but as paranoid as I am, and everyone should be, maybe someone is sending him this to make a 'case' of some sort.

??

[knitter4democracy]

11. Well . . . a bit. That's why I'm worried.

Everyone in the area knows he's for a national health care plan and is a Dem. He used to wear a Dean pin on his lab coat (but doesn't wear a lab coat at his new office). This is just so weird.

[SharkSquid]

16. Seriously

Not a set up, dont worry you did all the right things...

[Whisp]

17. record.

make a journal or something. I worry for you.

[Squatch]

10. Your husband actually opened it?

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Damn, that's stupid.

[knitter4democracy]

13. Yeah, I told him that, too.

*sigh*

[SharkSquid]

14. I used to get that stuff all the time in VA

They targeted Military Officers..
wierd

[SharkSquid]

15. Its not a setup

Wahabists are very evangelical about their faith...

[knitter4democracy]

18. So, how did they get his address?

It's not like it's out there much. I could see sending it to his old office, but the new one still isn't out there a whole lot, from what I've seen on-line.

[SharkSquid]

21. Might be through his company

You would be suprised, they do it at random from what I understand to western nationals.

[matt819]

23. You should do nothing

And the strident, call the FBI response is uncalled for. Anyone can buy a mailing list. Lists are compiled from all sorts of databases, and if some Saudi group is sending you stuff, so what. Looks like all fear all the time is working. . . even here.

[knitter4democracy]

24. Update: I talked with an FBI agent this morning. He's not worried.

He told me to have Hubby ask around at work to see if anyone asked for them to be sent, though he doubts it. He personally had never heard of this kind of thing, but he said that the materials aren't illegal at all from the sound of it and just to see if someone had asked for them to be mailed to the office. If not, he wants me to drop the package off when I'm over in K'Zoo next week so he can take a look at it and see if he can find out where it came from. He didn't seem worried at all. He asked me questions about Islam and then wanted to know how I knew the answers (I told him I used to be a high school English teacher who taught World Lit, which is true).

I know it's probably an over-reaction, but considering we're probably already on a list somewhere (we're Dems, I hang out here, we've been to protests, we've given money to various candidates and groups, etc.), I wanted to make sure we were okay. The last thing we need is the FBI finding out and then wondering why we didn't report it.