Oh, go ahead. 
But I would like to point out that initally, we were bailing out the French. 
Surely you mean pretending to bail out the French (Domino Theory, anyone?).
P.S. They weren’t roundly trounced by the Viet Cong… they were roundly trounced by the Viet Minh.
Well matt, I usually respect your opinions but I have to say that I think you’re way off base here. If Fyo’s intent was to critisize the INS, why not mention it in the OP? Why simply say ‘US officials’ (including everyone from the Bureau of Agriculture to the folks studying penguin shit up in Antarctica) detained this guy and then follow it up with some snide aside about racism–i.e. mentioning his probable skin color? And all this in a thread which includes ‘Gestapo’ in the title, hardly a non-emotionally laden term. And then you chime in with your “don’t travel to the US if you’re brown” comment and–lookie here ma!–we’ve got ourselves a flamewar. At best y’all are heavily implying that ‘US officials’ are racist Gestapo-types who slaver over the opportunity to oppress brown-skinned people. And now, horror of horrors, zen responds to your nationalistic bullshit by bringing up his nationalistic bullshit and you act all shocked and appalled. And that, to put it bluntly, is horseshit. If you think the US government–and by extension the US people as we are, I believe, still a democracy–are a bunch of jack-booted thugs that’s fine; you’re entitled to your opinion. Just don’t be surprised when people react with similarly ill-thought-out generalities.
And anyone want to explain to me how the INS mistakenly detaining a guy who they think is a car thief has anything at all to do with our anti-terrorism domestic policies?
Right. If INS officials are being racist, you shouldn’t travel in the United States if you’re brown. Unfortunately for the country’s lovely other qualities, rest of the population, purple mountains’ majesty, etc., the INS by themselves have quite enough power to make the US experience a miserable one.