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Airport Gestapo: How Bush’s No Fly List is Making Americans Unsafe
PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
CounterPunch
Thursday, July 17, 2008
The Bush Regime’s “terrorist” protection schemes have reached the height of total incompetence and utter absurdity. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, a private organization that defends the US Constitution that inattentive Americans neglect, there are now one million names on the “terrorist” watch list.
One of them is that of former Assistant US Attorney General Jim Robinson, whose top security clearances are current. Every time Mr.Robinson flies away on business, he is delayed by a totally incompetent “terrorist” protection racket that cannot tell a person named Jim Robinson, who served in the highest echelons of the US government, from a Muslim terrorist.
What confidence can we have in a regime that is incapable of differentiating an Assistant US Attorney General from a terrorist?
(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)
Mr. Robinson said: “If I were convinced that America is a safer place because I get hassled at the airport, I might put up with it, but I doubt it. I expect my story is similar to hundreds of thousands of people who are on this list and find themselves inconvenienced.”
“Hundreds of thousands of people” on a watch list that they have no business being on?
Yes. “Members of Congress, nuns, war heroes and other ‘suspicious characters,’ with names like Robert Johnson and Gary Smith, have become trapped in the Kafkaesque clutches of this list, with little hope of escape,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.
And this is America, not Nazi Germany?
How can Airport “Security” possibly protect anyone when the idiots cannot differentiate a high level American government official from a terrorist?
Do you really believe there are one million terrorists and nothing has blown up in the US since September 11, 2001 (assuming you believe the government’s account of that episode)?
How can there possibly be 1,000,000 terrorists and America still be in one piece? If there were 1,000,000 terrorists, America would be in ruins. According to the Bush Regime’s line, it only took a handful of terrorists to destroy America’s tallest skyscrapers and a section of the Pentagon and to send the President of the United States scurrying to a hiding place.
One million terrorists could bring America to its knees, and they wouldn’t need to fly on airplanes to accomplish this.
What we are witnessing with the one million person “watch list” is bureaucracy run amok. One Million Terrorists makes the danger seem overwhelming. Such overwhelming danger rationalizes the aggressive behavior of the bullies and thugs attracted by the power of confiscating your toothpaste and bottled water and riffling your belongings in your luggage.
Show your ID.
Take off your shoes.
Take off your belt.
Take off your jacket.
Empty your pockets.
Don’t complain about being searched without a warrant or you will miss your flight. You might be arrested, handcuffed, kicked and otherwise abused–the fate of many American citizens.
The morons who comprise the US government call the “watch list” one of the government’s “most effective tools in the fight against terrorism.”
What an effective tool it is! It cannot tell the difference between Jim Robinson and a Muslim terrorist.
The “watch list” has not apprehended a single terrorist, but thousands of American citizens have been inconvenienced and arrested.
The ACLU says that “putting a million names on a watch list is a guarantee that the list will do more harm than good by interfering with the travel of innocent people and wasting huge amounts of our limited security resources on bureaucratic wheel-spinning.”
It is worse than that. What the “watch list” or “no-fly list” is doing is training Americans to submit to warrantless searches, to abandon their constitutional rights, and to submit to humiliation by thugs and bullies. A Gestapo is being trained to have no qualms about searching and intimidating fellow citizens, using any excuse to delay or arrest them. Americans are being taught to use arbitrary power and to submit to arbitrary power. In the false name of “safety from terrorists,” Americans are being made the least safe people on earth.
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22 Responses to “Airport Gestapo: How Bush’s No Fly List is Making Americans Unsafe”
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July 17th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
…and still the borders remain wide open.
July 17th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
This is why I do not fly and submit myself or my family to such abuse. A person should be able to find out fhrough the Freedom of Information Act if he or his family members are on the “terrorist list” and there must be a method for being removed from such list. I’m sure we’ve all heard the ACLU lambasted for this or that – but we must support them in their defense of the Constitution for just these type scenarios. Speaking of the Consitution, there is another thing, that the mention of the supreme law of the land gets one tarred with the terrorist brush these days – that’s what is being taught to law enforcement agencies – if you’re caught with a copy of the Consitution or books discussing it, you are automatically suspect. What’s next? The Bible? How much are we willing to put up with? Where do we draw the line? What will it take for us all to take to the streets, en masse, to take back what is ours by law? I’m ready when you all are – one p-o’d dude can’t do anything. If everybody who frequents this site would take action, it would be most effective.
July 17th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
.
How is this any different than the way the brown shirt moderators at the Prison Planet forum conduct themselves ?
On a forum of supposed Truthers .. Truth is not tollerated !
That is why I am no longer a PP TV subscriber
People that say one thing and act another have always pissed me off .
.
July 17th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Do you notice that many of those who are most gungho to pushing this nonsense through are dual Israeli-American citizens?
Why are there Israeli citizens in the highest government posts of the USA. Isn’t that more than a little bit of conflict of interest?
What Israel wants, goes, and then our Constitution and the Bill of Rights go in the garbage can.
The Israeli tail wags the American dog.
July 17th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
There cannot be a million terrorists and the ‘terror mongers’ understand this. There can be a million people or more that do not subscribe to Bush/Cheney war politics. I wonder where the ‘Courts’ are with this? If a person goes to fly on a plane and has ordinary clothes and carry-on baggage, easily checked, very easily checked, where is the bomb? And why would a ‘terrorist’ want to blow up a plane with ordinary people on it in the first place, what does that achieve for a ‘terrorist?’ Does a ‘terrorist’ think that if he blows up a plane that will scare Bush/Cheney et al. out of the Middle East? Planes as targets make no sense for terrorists, it doesn’t amount to much of anything for them, blowing up a plane serves no cause for them.
July 17th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
On 15 April, 2008 Tax Day, I was accosted by the TSA in a corridor of the ABIA airport that is only used by airline or airport employees to get to and from work on the ramp. I was told I was being ’screened’ and to place all my belongings onto a rolling cart before me. Facing the cart in the narrow hallway as I unshouldered my book bag and began to empty my pockets as instructed, in utter frustration I muttered under my breath, “This is Bullshit and my tax dollars are paying for this”.
That set off the TSA hag-in-charge. She immediately used her radio to request police backup, stating:
“We have a disruptive employee, who is cursing us and throwing things”. What?
It had been a terrible three days. I had spent them packing up a lady friend and driving a huge U Haul to Houston and unloading before rushing back to Austin on Southwest to work on my and my 87 year old mother’s taxes until midnight. Four hours sleep and I was back at the airport after almost running out of fuel and barely clocking in on time. I still wasn’t actually in my work area when I was ambushed by TSA.
I am being charged with Interference With Screening a class C misdomeanor.
I will not plead guilty or cop a nolo contendere plea.
I think what I said was protected 1st Amendment speech, although it may have failed the ‘civility test’ it was not a crime.
I joined the Austin branch of ACLU last week and appealed via email to them to take my case. I have heard no response. I went on line to request someone from lawyer referal service to get in touch with me. No response.
If I must defend myself, I am going to prepare myself and I visited the Texas Law Library today to study the Voire Dire process where I get to question the potential jury pool. I am going to Brave New Books and get at least 12 ‘Citizens Rule Books’ and have the pages noted and the passages highlighted that I am going to read to the jury pool and jury to teach them their duties and responsibilities as jurors.
The fine for the offense was $252. A lawyer I consulted wanted $1500 to defend me. To pay either amount is to conceed defeat to these bastards. I am innocent.
This monster agency with The Department of Homeland Security with dual citizenship Chertoff as it’s head, seems to be lining me up for a screwing. To my knowledge, there have been no employee screenings similar to mine since my incident. I think they are investing in setting a president to start multiple screening of employees often as a job security action for the TSA. We have all seen the horrible treatment they are meting out to citizens far and wide and it seems to be getting worse.
Since Osama and al Zawahiri aren’t vacationing via the airlines, I guess we will see them turn on the citizens and employees to justify their existance.
Did I mention that I received a Warning Notice letter from the TSA stating that they considered this “adequate for this incident”. I assumed the thing was over. Yet at my ‘Appearance Docket’ when I presented the city prosecutor with my Union lawyer letter and the TSA letter and let him copy them, he comes back with “Maybe there is more to consider here”. I told him I couldn’t believe he would waste the city’s money or inconvenience a jury pool purseuing this case. Then why is the City of Austin Municipal Court pursueing this thing further. Are the feds paying them? Is there more in play than meets the eye.
As a Vietnam Vet and combat aviator that flew the Ashau Valley and the DMZ in the ‘nam, these people can kiss my ass if they think I’ll be intimidated by some wench of a TSA hag that looks like she might hate men (if you catch my drift) or is totally pissed at her last three husbands and hellbent on revenge.
They picked the wrong citizen to put through this wringer. I’m not folding!
I wish I could find legal counsel in this community that is as committed as I am to Ron Paul and his ideals and to defending our rights from these monsters. Perhaps you or some of your listeners could suggest ones to contact.
July 17th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Stand in Line… Take your Shoes off, Get Stared at, Walk through the detector, Lose all your drinks, food, etc for your baby (and yourself)and Unbuckle your shorts so the can look inside and make sure your not packing… Lift up your shirt so the can see if your flabby or not and all this while a long line of people think the worst things about you with your shorts about to fall down. Its all really just a mind screw to make you feel like somehow your freedoms are being protected if only your willing to buy it. And all you wanted to do was keep living in a free country… next please…
July 17th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Dear Douglas M. Scherer,
Keep up the fight. But don’t expect any help.
Maybe once they take away internet somebody will then
have time to really get involved in the revolution. But,
for now, you’re on your own. I’m on my own. Look up Greg Grisham in google. I’ve been twice thrown in jail under false arrest. I am poor and must defend myself. This eventhough there are thousands who know about what i am fighting for and appreciate my efforts but, there is never any help, at all. From Spain, Greg
July 17th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Dear Fellow American Terrorists,
Please do not stand for this crap any longer!! Come on…let us take our lives back, shall we??
It’s time to start preparing, people. Time to wake up to the REAL devastations coming down.
Come share your views here at our new, private, secure DISCUSSION FORUM, where your input is vital; sharing is greatly encouraged; learning the truth is KEY:
https://www.intl-alliance.com/forum/index.php
We need to hear from you!
July 17th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
dude you’re wasting your time screwing with the ACLU, they’re just a pack of bullshitters. You need a lawyer, my man, they’re going to fuck with you. Sorry, and glad you lipped off.
July 17th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
That’s my sentiment exactly we don’t need fear based security when we can’t believe our Governments account of 9/11/01 !
We are heading toward a Police State steeped in fear and completely out of control! Airports had good security, Police had the right balance of power, now the IRS is sniffing our Bank Accounts, the NSA is listening to our phone calls, and our rights granted by our Constitution are being eroded each and every minute by an out of control Zealot in the White House! We’re doomed! – RIch
July 17th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
This article misses the point completely… It still assumes that muslims are the terrorists… Still pushing the divisionist propaganda to a different side of the division… making the division further divided… and then we die.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
It makes me so mad I wish everyone working in any part of the Executive Branch of our federal government and any agency directly answerable to Bush and Cheney would spontaneously combust. Unless my Biblical understanding of the afterlife is highly flawed (which it is not), most of them will sooner or later (and I’d bet on sooner), but only God knows the day and the hour when He will return.
July 17th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Phil:
More importantly than finding out “if your name is on the list and getting it off the list”, is finding out why it was put there in the first place, and punishing those who did so.
Where are all the court cases?!
July 17th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Not a bad article. We all know that DUI check-points are training us in the same way. Instead of fighting, I suggest we look these employees in the eyes and befriend them and educate them during our brief encounters. See the people standing in front of us at such moments and not just the wrongdoing. Win them over. Cops are people too.
July 18th, 2008 at 12:52 am
Well, when people going to get it through their thick heads that Homeland Security is not even here to protect us. Scanning planes and passengers for bombs, when the so-called 9/11 hijackers didn’t have bombs to begin with is not going to protect everybody.
Plus, even before 9/11, airlines with the same amount and level of sophistication of terrorist threats that they are presented now. The war on terror is a farce. They pretty much got everyone looking over their soilder or paying for more security, for stuff that we faced since FTA was created.
July 18th, 2008 at 1:14 am
I am so sick of airport security. Next comes the rubber gloves.
July 18th, 2008 at 4:35 am
The new cell phone laws in California are doing the same. The police can now pull you over because they saw you on your phone. This is just an excuse they can now use to pull you over anytime they want. All they have to say is they thought they saw you on the phone. I know a girl that got pulled over the first day. She tucked her hair behind her ear and got pulled over. When the cop said why he pulled her over she said she wasnt on her phone. He said he knows she was and to let him see her phone. He told her to go to her phone call list and it proved she hadnt been on it for over an hour. Instead of admitting he was wrong, bacon boy says he will let her off with a warning. Then I hear that they will not allow phone bills to be allowed as proof that you werent on the phone at the time of the said offence. What a great money maker for the state and every city in CA.
July 18th, 2008 at 4:38 am
I hope and pray that 10 million more names are added to the list before the next false flag horror occurs. Because when the average brainwashed, NWO-denying, flouride and GMO guzzling zombie gets the boot in their face, the tyranny will become personal. At that time light will “dawn on Marblehead”. That’s why it is IMPERATIVE that all of us who are awake never give up in injecting bits of truth into the mass conciousness because these hired thugs will act stupidly and reveal the real intent of their handlers. Then those who are asleep will begin to awaken to the lie. When the lie is revealed, its power crumbles. These people know what they are doing is criminal. They want to be exposed because no matter how much they have seared their consciences, they can’t get past the fact that universal law is attacking their spirit and demanding that the debts they incur be repaid, and they will. It is inevitable. As inevitable as summer following spring and day following night.
July 18th, 2008 at 5:58 am
The people aren’t going to do anything about this situation. They will continue to use the airlines and will put up with the inconveniences and hassles and invasions of privacy because revolution and change is inconvenient for Americans. This website might as well just stop printing articles like this, because all the information in the world isn’t going to change the American people. They LIKE their lives; if they DIDN’T, they would not put up with it. As I have said in the comments sections of many a Prison Planet article, if the American people WANTED change, they would have fought for it a long time ago. You might as well not even think about “revolution” or “change”, because neither of these things is going to happen.
July 18th, 2008 at 6:54 am
I am so sad for the country that used to be, How much moooooore are WE going to tolerate. In my name none of this is needed, right, of any use,or perform any type of safty
function. WE dont need to talk any more about it. Things must be changed back, and to allow anything but the constitution is treason at best.I am now thinking of my recently deceased brother and what he would said about our race to crazy planet.
“The one difference between Hitler and Bush , Hitler was elected.”WAKE UP WAKE UP
July 18th, 2008 at 8:02 am
As long as people put up with this nonsense, it will continue to escalate. I have quit flying and urge my fellow citizens to do the same. After a couple of weeks, or perhaps, months of empty airports, there would be some changes made. Airlines would demand change to protect their bottom line. Corporations run this country, and the only way to fight back (since our government is uninterested in our welfare) is to use the power of the purse.