A story about Mr. Mister, Western Union and a watch list

A friend of my husband (let's call him Mr. Mister) yesterday told my husband about a situation that includes his ill father, Western Union, and the crazy and well known watch list that anyone seems to risk ending up on.

Mr. Mister's father is ill and was in desperate need for money to be able to have surgery. All his savings was already spent on previous surgery and treatment.

Mr. Mister of course scrambled together the needed amount from himself and other relatives, made a transfer via Western Union, and then called his dad and said that he now could pick up the money.

The father went to Western Union, where he was told that he could not get any money. The father called Mr. Mister, who called Western Union and asked what was going on. At Western Union he was told in a pretty rude way that the name Mister is on an international watch list (you know, the kind of list that came about after the 11th of September 2001), and because of that the money had been frozen.

Mr. Mister of course was furious, but asked how the situation could be solved. He was told that the situation would be checked out, and if everything was in order the father could get the money in two weeks. Two weeks!! The father needed it now!

Mr. Mister, even more furious, made another phone call to someone higher up in the organization of Western Union. He told this person that he would not only speak to the media, make a documentary about the situation, and make a whole lot of problems. He would also make sure that no one with the name Mister would ever use Western Union again. And there are a lot of people in this world by the name Mister.

A bit later he gets an apologetic phone call from Western Union with the information that his father can now pick up the money. Great for Mr. Mister's father! But the situation still sucks!

How many innocent people, like Mr. Mister and his father, end up in this situation? I bet it's quite a few. I've read about some of them in the newspapers. Some guys has had their assets frozen forever. It's just not okay!

I understand the need to work against criminals (or against terrorism, like Mr. Bush would say), but the way it's being done needs to be examined. And I'm not just talking about this issue. This might be one of the least important ones.