TSA: Our Tax Dollars at Work; Protecting the Public From Flash Cards

The TSA recently defended air travelers from a grave danger: An American student named Nick George and the Arabic flash cards he carried in his backpack.

"...George said that Transportation Security Administration officers kept him in the screening area for what seemed like 45 minutes. Eventually a woman from the TSA arrived and began asking more questions, like how he felt about 9/11.

" 'Do you know who did 9/11?' he said that the woman asked.

"George said that he told her that it was Osama bin Laden, and that she responded smugly, 'Do you know what language Osama bin Laden spoke?'

"Soon after that a Philadelphia police officer arrived and told George to put his hands behind his back. Without explanation, he slapped handcuffs on him and led him away...."
(Philadeplphia Daily News, via philly.com)

Defending American Ignorance

In a way, the TSA's officers' and inquisitor's efforts are admirable.

In the face of a general awareness that foreigners are human beings, and easy communication with anyone on Earth through the Internet, they were valiantly striving to protect the air travelers from those who are so un-American as to actually learn something about those nasty Ay-rabs.

Nick George was a suspicious character, of course. Even though he looks like a "real American" (by, say, Timothy McVeigh's standards), Nick George had not only been in countries that weren't America, England, or (for the more tolerant "real Americans") France. George had been in Jordan, Egypt and Sudan.

And, Ay-rab words like "terrorist" and "explosion" were on his flash cards.

Nick George claimed that he had the flash cards so that he could learn to translate Al Jazeera - an Ay-rab news network.

What more proof did the TSA need? Here was someone who not only had been in places known to harbor Ay-rabs and other foreigners: he actually admitted to wanting to learn how to follow an Ay-rab television news network!

WASPs, "Real Americans," and the Rest of Us

Nick George is obviously not a "real American." Not by some standards.

For that matter, neither am I. By some standards.

Although I look 'Anglo,' and even have blue eyes, I'm no red, white, and blue-blooded WASP. Half my ancestors came from the British Isles - but they were Irish and Scots. One of them might have been deported from England - but that's another story. The rest of my forebears were from Norway - so by some standards, I'm simply not a "real American."

I can live with that.

Particularly since quite a substantial number of American citizens aren't WASPs - and don't even look the part. I'd like to think that the days when "White Anglo-Saxon Protestant" and "American" were considered as synonyms by more than a few isolated crackpots are past - but incidents like Nick George's run-in with the TSA keep happening.

All-American Ignorance, Dangerous Knowledge, and the TSA

As I wrote in a post about dangerous technologies like LP gas and computers, "Knowledge is Power: and I Like Power."

I'm quite willing to believe that an American citizen might be interesting in learning Arabic - and even travel to the Middle East - without being a danger to others. Not physically dangerous, anyway. There's always the chance that someone like that might let others know that Ay-rabs were as human as "real Americans" are, weren't all terrorists, and weren't all Muslims.

"They're All Muslims," Nipple Rings, Flash Cards, and Common Sense

My guess is that quite a few TSA officers don't think that the flying public needs to be protected from nipple rings and flash cards. Or from the people who carry them.

On the other hand, in common with quite a few other Americans, some don't seem to realize that

• Not all Arabs are Muslims
• Not all Muslims are terrorists
• Not all terrorists are
  • Arabs
  • Muslims

I realize that this isn't as easy to remember - or deal with - as the 'all foreigners are suspicious,' 'all Arabs are Muslims / all Muslims are terrorists,' and "they're all Muslims" belief system that some cherish.

It's a big, complex world out there. Cherishing ignorance isn't a viable option. Neither is hectoring people who try to expand their knowledge.

Related posts:

• "Muslim Family Talks Safety, Gets Booted From Flight"
  (January 2, 2009)
• "Monkey Pirates, Jews, and Zionists? Get a Grip!"
  (October 14, 2008)
• "Pro-Islamic Ads Coming to New York City Subways: There's a Real Danger Here, of Becoming Informed"
  (July 21, 2008)
• "DC Gun Ban, Online Censorship, Individual Rights, and Power to the People"
  (June 27, 2008) Particularly
  • Individual Freedom: a Treasure
  • Knowledge is Power: and I Like Power
• "Civil Rights Lynched in Seattle!! Racial Profiling Runs Amok!!"
  (May 6, 2008)
• "TSA: Our Tax Dollars at Work: Protecting the Flying Public from Nipple Rings"
  (March 27, 2008)
• " 'They’re all Muslims' - This Does Not Help"
  (December 29, 2007)
• "If You Hear Someone Speaking Arabic, GET A GRIP!"
  (September 1, 2007)
• "Beware Hate: From Any Side"
  (August 28, 2007)

In the news:

• "TSA Defends Holding Student With Arabic Flash Cards at Philadelphia Airport"
  FOXNews (September 12, 2009)
• "Dave Davies: Student air passenger handcuffed to echoes of 9/11 fears"
  (September 11, 2009)

U.S. Airlines Repaired Overseas, TSA Terror Report Overdue

Oh, Great: Business as usual in Washington.

Congress told the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) to write regulations about U.S. airliners being repaired overseas. Four years ago. The TSA was told to do a lot of other things, too, like figure out ways to protect against IEDs.

Now, with national elections just over a year away, our leaders in Congress are angry: very angry. How, they ask on camera, can this be?

Here's a reasonable guess: Congress is better at giving orders than giving resources to get the orders done; and the TSA is a bureaucracy, and so nearly incompetent at dealing with a new situation.

I don't think that who's right and who's wrong in Washington is anywhere near as important as American officials realizing that there's a war on.

"Another War-on-Terror Blog" isn't political, but politicos are inextricably tangled in decisions in all countries. And that means that, sooner or later, the issue of how - and whether - to keep religious loons from killing Americans and other infidels (1), will rub against the political world.

(1) Yes, I know that quite a number of Americans are Muslims. But I get the impression that outfits like the Taliban and Al Qaeda lump all Yankees together.

Oakland vs the Marines: When Denial Doesn't Work...

There's a little matter of over 200 U.S. soldiers and Marines ordered off their plane, 400 yards from the Oakland International Airport terminal last week.

Last Saturday, September 29, 2007, it was still possible to try hushing it up by claiming that an email detailing the incident was a fake. I don't doubt that fake emails were floating around. Fake facts are a sort of background noise in the blogosphere, and the Internet as a whole: like the 1995 near-attack by a USN ship on a Canadian lighthouse. The lighthouse incident was as factual as Orson Wells' 1938 Martian Invasion.

One of the emails, however, was real enough for two congressmen to append to a letter they sent to the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Now that it's fairly obvious that over 200 soldiers and Marines were left outside for two hours for no practical reason, the Oakland fellows are saying that they didn't have the proper paperwork.

That might be true.

However, I remember the Vietnam War, when soldiers returning to the Bay Area were spat on.

Come to think of it, things are improving.

To the great credit of Oakland, no one spat on the soldiers and Marines.

Hurray.

U.S. Marines Banned from Oakland Airport Terminal

This reeks.

One of the grotesque aspects of the war on terror is that quite a few Americans don't seem to realize who has their interests at heart, and who doesn't. For example:

Last Thursday, September 27, 2007, over two hundred soldiers and United States Marines, bound for Hawaii after a tour of duty in Iraq, landed in New York City. They passed through customs and security screening at JFK International Airport. They had already cleared security once before, in Germany.

Then, they proceeded to Oakland International Airport, a stopover on their way to their base in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The authorities at Oakland, leaning that over two hundred big, rough, people with guns were coming, had the charter plane stop 400 yards short of the terminal. The soldiers and Marines were told to get out of the plane, and stay on the grass between an active runway and a taxi ramp. There the people who have been defending America waited.

Over two hundred U.S. soldiers and Marines, following orders and staying on the grass.

Not allowed to go into the terminal.

Somewhat more to the point, not allowed to use the terminal's restrooms.

For about two hours.

They're U.S. military. They know how to follow orders. But this time, they didn't like it. As one Marine put it, in an email, "If felt like being spit on. Every Marine and soldier felt the message loud and clear. 'YOU ARE NOT WELCOME IN OAKLAND!'"

Now that Oakland International's little oopsie is an understated news item, the Oakland authorities are blaming the TSA and the charter company used by the soldiers and Marines. The TSA, at least, is disputing their claim.

Although there were weapons on the plane, "There was no ammunition on the plane and the bolts of the rifles had been removed."

Which brings up interesting points.

1. Do the people at Oakland realize that the United States Marines and other branches of the U.S. military are on their side?
2. Assuming that whoever is running Oakland International thought there was live ammunition on the plane, and that the passengers were hostile, did they honestly believe they could have stopped an armed force which included U.S. Marines, after that force had established a beachhead only 400 yards from the terminal? Granted, there's negligible cover out there, but these are U.S. soldiers and Marines.

I'm inclined to think that the Marine's interpretation of Oakland International's apparently lunatic behavior is correct.

Particularly since this isn't the first time it's happened. Oakland wouldn't let Marines in the terminal, back in 2006.

This could be some sort of honest, if stupid, mix-up. But I doubt it.

Granted, this seems to be a case of the TSA and two hundred soldiers and Marines saying one thing, and whoever runs Oakland International saying another.

However, if forced to choose, I'm less likely to take the word of bureaucrats being important a few miles south of Berkeley: and more likely to take the word of a United States Marine.

"American Marines & Soldiers Returning from Iraq Denied Entry to Oakland Airport Terminal"
Letter from two Congressmen, and an email from a Marine, to the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation