Note to Big Brother: He is Canadian and we are very peaceful people who pose no threat to the security of the US.
But how would they know this? He seems to be exempt from the fingerprinting and picture taking. Seems to me they are assuming that Europeans, Canadians and Mexicans pose no threat. Which may well be true, except that assuming the reality of a well-financed network then surely sleeper cells are possible? And sleeper agents can apply for new citizenships. So...
It seems to boil down to skin color. What struck me in the stories about the flight cancellations over the holidays -- apart from the five year old boy and the Welsh Insurance agent -- was the interrogation of a woman who "appeared to be" Middle Eastern, who was repeatedly asked why she was traveling without her husband. What an offensive question. Maybe - because she *can*???
But, you know. This all reminds me of Dec 31 1999. I was on the Mall in Washington DC. The president was going to speak, and there were concerns about terrorist attacks and Soviet missiles going haywire, etc etc. The Secret Service decided that everyone had to go through a metal detector. People in line were grumbling, but they were saying ok, I can see the reason for this. It may not stop missiles, but it might stop a gun. This was about my attitude. I was there with young children after all and was very much in favor of the thing being as safe as possible.
And then the music started and people said the heck with this and trampled down the orange net fencing that was keeping us all on the sidewalk along the Mall and waiting in line for the metal detectors. Did the Secret Service's precautions keep us safe? Who knows? Perhaps terrorists decided that it was too tough a target and did not come. It is however just as likely that someone in security saw the vulnerability and took a lot of precautions that turned out not to be needed. If the publicity given to them prevented an incident they were not wasted though. However however however.
If you are going to make what, a quarter million people, stand in line, you need to have better security than their respect for the law and orange net construction fencing. OK, so it would have cost thousands more to put a fence that could not be easily knocked down. It would have been a lot safer. The chosen course was both annoying and as it turned out, ineffective.
I don't pretend to have all the answers for national security. But improving intelligence would seem to be critical. Otherwise the US simply drowns in data about people who pose no threat at all and deserve to be left in peace.
Dana
> dana wrote:
> > First of all, it's a huge demeaning hassle for foreigners. That
> might be
> > somewhat ok if it were a huge demeaning but *effective* program....
>
> The program can easilty be circumvented. Just play by the rules, don't
> overstay your visa and you will be fine. I fail to see how that would
> catch anyone but the most careless person.
>
>
> > look, they have exempted Europeans. I do seem to recall al_Quaeda
> cells
> > being found in France and Germany...
>
> And Italy, Belgium and several other countries. And lets not forget
> the militia groups inside the US.
>
Jochem
[Todays Threads] [This Message] [Subscription] [Fast Unsubscribe] [User Settings]
