Are You On the Terror Watch List? Good Luck Getting Off It

[babylonsister]

Are You On the Terror Watch List? Good Luck Getting Off It

By Ivan Eland, Consortium News. Posted July 24, 2008.

The TSA's "no fly" terrorism watch list contains between 400,000 and 1,000,000 names. If you're on the list by mistake, good luck getting off of it.


After having begun a series of investigative stories criticizing the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in May 2008, CNN reporter Drew Griffin reports being placed with more than a million other names on TSA's swollen terrorism watch list.

Although TSA insists Griffin's name is not on the list and pooh-poohs any possibility of retaliation for Griffin's negative reporting, the reporter has been hassled by various airlines on 11 flights since May. The airlines insist that Griffin's name is on the list.

Congress has asked TSA to look into the tribulations of this prominent passenger.

In a recent op-ed in the Washington Post, probably responding to the controversy over Griffin, Leonard Boyle, the director of the Terrorist Screening Center, defended the watch list, claiming that because terrorists have multiple aliases, the names on the list boiled down to only about 400,000 actual people.

If there are 400,000 terrorists lying in wait to attack the United States, we are all in trouble.

But wait a minute. There has been no major terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11 -- almost seven years ago. Where are all these nefarious evildoers?

more...

http://www.alternet.org/story/92545/are_you_on_the_terror_watch_list_good_luck_getting_off_it/

[fasttense]

1. There are about 14 to 21 thousand Al Qadi members

and yet there are 400,000 to 1 million on this ridiculous list. The list in nothing more then a governmental political blacklist. It's maintained for the safety of the bushes political power.

[LSK]

8. I would be shocked if there were more than 1000 Al Queda members

[tsuki]

2. I love this paragraph-

"Similarly, the State Department's list of five state sponsors of terrorism has included Cuba and North Korea -- neither of which has actively participated in terrorist attacks in decades. These two countries continued to be on the list for other reasons -- namely U.S. government aversion to them."

Makes the TSA sound like the school yard bully.

[KharmaTrain]

3. Guilty Until Proven Otherwise

When I travel you always see that special area where people's bags are being searched with a fine tooth comb and people are being wand down...most having been pulled out of line in front of many others and marched off like they're some kind of criminal. And we're "safer" because of this?

On my last trip, I had to make a last minute change on a ticket...when I got to the airport, right before we were to board the flight we were told we had to wait for an "enhanced screening"...we were wand down at the gate...freaking out my wife. On the return trip we also had to go through "enhanced screening". I later found out that because we had made the switch so late, we were singled out and that there was an "R" on our boarding pass. I was also told this wasn't the "watch list"...that gets a different letter designation...and then the TSA agent shrugged his shoulders and said "we waste so much time with this stuff".

Air travel has become a major hassle and embarassment. If it's not this crap, it's the poor service by airlines, delays and added charges. I suspect I'm not alone in staying away from air travel while this regime remains in office....and I suspect by the fall we'll have the airlines back in Congress begging for yet another bail out.

[Clark2008]

6. When my son was THREE, he was yanked out and wanded.

I made them do me, too, so he thought it was normal.

Why would the TSA suspect a THREE year old? Ummm.. because he has an Arabic last name, I can only assume (my ex is Arabic).

[1776Forever]

4. Link for - How do I know if I am on a Government Watch List?

Like some others who are liberal leaning I wondered if there was a list someone could look at to see if your name was on it just for GP. I found this site that gave me the following info - or rather lack of it:

http://www.dhs.gov/xtrvlsec/programs/gc_1169673653081.shtm

How do I know if I am on a Government Watch List?

The U.S. government does not reveal whether a particular person is on the terrorist watch list, which is administered by the Terrorist Screening Center. If the government revealed who was on the terrorist watch list, terrorist organizations would be able to circumvent its purpose by determining in advance which of their members are likely to be questioned or detained.

More information on the Terrorist Screening Center http://www.fbi.gov/terrorinfo/counterrorism/faqs.htm

............

I truly hope when the next Obama Administration comes on board we can do something about this as it is truly a really unbelievable way of trying to find terrorists. My question is simply this - Why in the H would a terrorist use their real name to get on a plane to do harm? In other words how can 1 million terrorists be in our country at any time? And if and when the terrorists want to do harm and use another name how in the H would anyone know it????

[Danascot]

5. Them Terra-ists is Sneaky!

The B*sh Administration is surprised when anyone else turns out to be smarter than they are. (Not a very high bar is it?)

My question is simply this - Why in the H would a terrorist use their real name to get on a plane to do harm? In other words how can 1 million terrorists be in our country at any time? And if and when the terrorists want to do harm and use another name how in the H would anyone know it????

[kenny blankenship]

7. How do I know if I am on a Government Watch List?

There's no way to know and no one who'll tell you. But by clicking on this link to find out http://www.dhs.gov/xtrvlsec/programs/gc_1169673653081.shtm , you can rest assured that you are now somewhere on "that list", or else on the waiting list to get on "that list". Please be patient, the wait times can be long as the list grows monthly, and persons of interest will be arrested and their lives destroyed on a first-snitched, first-served basis.

Thank You, and have a Perfectly Orderly Day!

[1776Forever]

10. I have no fear - I am too old to worry - LOL This old granny is harmless except in the voting booth

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

[LSK]

9. try to fly somewhere

:shrug:

[cliffordu]

12. Over a thousand posts here?? I'd bet you are. Be proud.

[cliffordu]

11. I don't want off of it. In the chickeshit republican world we are forced to live with

right now, it's a badge of honor.

[Mind_your_head]

13. There was a thread in the last week or so that claimed 1 million

americans were on the terror watch list.

That would be one in every 300 people here in the US.

ONE IN EVERY 300 PEOPLE!









It just ain't so. This is sooooooo outrageous of an assumption that one doesn't even know where to begin to debunk it.

Peace, and honesty, and debate about where/what we disagree upon......trust in our shared values.....and HOPEFULLY A SHARED DISTRUST in any entity that wants to claim 'we are terrorists (look up the definition), just because 'we' disagree/challenge what they want us to believe.

[cliffordu]

14. One in 100 are in prison, so why not??