CHERTOFF: America's Biggest Fear Should Be "CLEAN SKIN" Terrorists

[kpete]

Briton 'could stage another September 11'
By Toby Harnden
Last Updated: 1:58am BST 05/04/2007

Interview: America's new homeland security chief tells Toby Harnden of his fears of 'clean skin' terrorists

The United States fears that the next September 11-style attack on America could be launched by Muslims from Britain or Europe who feel "second-class citizens" and alienated by a "colonial legacy", according to the US Homeland Security chief.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Michael Chertoff, who arrives in Britain tomorrow for talks with John Reid, the Home Secretary, said the US was determined to build extra defences against so-called "clean skin" terrorists from Europe.

"We need to build layers of protection, and I don't think we totally want to rely upon the fact that a foreign government is going to know that one of their citizens is suspicious and is going to be coming here," he said.

more at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/04/wterr04.xml

[marmar]

1. Clean skin?

:wtf:

[blogslut]

2. Who the hell thought that one up?

What a messed up term.

[Bake]

3. Are they "articulate" too?

Just askin' ...

Bake

[HereSince1628]

4. Now THAT _would_ be scary!

:rofl:

[Ecumenist]

5. "CLEAN SKIN!!??"

WTF is that supposed to mean? Is that code for white or Caucasian? These creeps are showing their true colours, BIGTIME!! Do they think that people are going to just sit back and allow them to imposed an openly fascist racist nazi style socialist system here without an epic fight? BULLSHIT!!

I know that if these idiots tried that they'd find themselves fighting so-called "Clean Skin" types doing more than a little damage and tarnishing their wet dream, their version of "A Handmaid's Tale". In fact, alot of their "base" would present them with a huge surprise.

[MidwestTransplant]

6. I think it means people who are not on the grid. That is they may be acting alone

and can't be linked to any terrorist group through name or past communications, etc.

[Ecumenist]

7. Anyone who has the IQ of ambient room temperature

would know that that is the way to "attack". Frankly, I believe that this is may be a setup to send up ANOTHER false flag attack to try to hold onto power.

[Donnachaidh]

21. or to tamp down unrest by the people who are waking up.

After all, they've flown the fear flag so long they must realize that flag is turning regular americans into raging bulls looking at a red flag.

What better way to be able to disappear people with no records?

[malaise]

13. The fugger wasn't even subtle

Frightening indeed!

[Kelly Rupert]

15. You know, you could read the article instead n/t

[Ecumenist]

29. You know what? I did and this is the perception that not just I got...

but so did the vast majority of the posters. Some people need to leave well enough alone.

[Kelly Rupert]

34. "Leave well enough alone?"

So your argument here is: "Most people in this audience of hardcore partisans had the same knee-jerk reaction I did, so you need to shut up."

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly :eyes:

If you read the article, you'll see he explicitly outlines what the phrase means--someone who has legit documents, as opposed to someone with a forged passport/visa. If you read it, why were you wondering what he meant by the phrase? He told you precisely what it meant in the very same sentence.

[Chovexani]

37. You know what

I read the article, and there are a million other turns of phrase he could have used to describe what he was talking about that aren't potentially racially loaded.

I question it. It sounds like code to the good ol' boy set to me, but then again as a black woman in America I happen to be very attuned to how language is used. I can't afford not to be.

[Kelly Rupert]

38. It's an *extremely* common phrase.

This isn't a turn of phrase he came up with off the top of his head. This is the appropriate term, and it is a term with absolutely no racist history to it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleanskin

[Chovexani]

40. From your wiki link

The word cleanskin originally comes from Australia, and refers to an unbranded cattle.

I realize language evolves, but I take issue with how a word originally meant to refer to cattle is being applied to human beings. :shrug: But that's beside the point, all that does is reinforce my knee-jerk hatred of obnoxious cop mentality (I distinguish between obnoxious cop mentality and law enforcement, as the two are not necessarily synoymous).

I'll give you that it's not racist (and thanks for the education, I totally didn't know that), it's just typical obnoxious cop mentality (which is so much better).

[Kelly Rupert]

42. I don't think it's surprising that

ranchers would use the same terms for unmarked cattle as for unmarked people--and it's been generations since it lost any trace of that same meaning. That's digging pretty deep to find outrage.

I understand that the word might sound bad, but it has absolutely no reference to race in it whatsoever. It's not even applied to people of certain races. A Sudanese immigrant with a visa is cleanskin. A Russian mobster with a fake passport is not.

I'd understand the thought that we should find a nicer-sounding word, but it's not really a word designed for public consumption, so to speak. It's a trade term, and it sounded like he was speaking off the cuff. I'm sure that in their PR departments, you won't find any trace of the phrase.

[Ecumenist]

44. Actually, that statement "leave well enough alone" was in reply

to your judgement of my comments on why I felt immediately angered. I actually replied to your other response first so I should add to my answer to your other comment that in addition to the reasons I outlined there, I remember all of the flowery comments that came out of this man's mouth and the rest of his cabal for during Katrina when it came to light that not only was what they were saying BULLSHIT but that they never meant to give any relief to those folks. There were scads of newspaper accounts of comments seemingly as bureaucratic and official as this one that meant exactly the opposite,( Clear Skies Act, NO Child Left Behind)... These creeps are legendary for their double entendres. So, as one who has lived a life rife with comments with doulbe meaning and a family member of someone who still is missing in New Orleans, you'll forgive my feelings about terms like these. Finally, I read it clearly AND completely and still came away with my impression, Thank you VERY much.

[Parche]

8. Chertoff

The only thing I fear is a Skeletar............

[wryter2000]

9. Holy fucking shit

Did that rat bastard actually say "clean skin"? Fucking sonofabitch racist. I hope he gets smacked down for this 24/7 for about a month or more.

[mmonk]

10. Idiots say the darndest things.

[underseasurveyor]

11. yup, in 5 words

you said all.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

12. Asshat.

Make that Nazi Asshat.

[Kelly Rupert]

14. That isn't remotely racist; calm down.

"The fear has always been the so-called 'clean skin' - that's a person whose documents are completely legitimate, are not forged."

Their 'skin'--that is, their appearance to the system--is totally 'clean,' or legitimate. An ethnic Briton with a forged passport is not clean-skin. An ethnic Egyptian with a valid study visa is.

[shance]

16. Are you kidding?

n/t

[Kelly Rupert]

22. No, I am not.

[Ecumenist]

30. Amen, Shance...That's exactly what I thought about Kelly Rupert's position...

I guess that it couldn't mean what it it seems to the vast majority of folks that can read AND have critical thinking.:eyes:

[Kelly Rupert]

33. And what, pray tell, is incorrect about my assertion?

Since you are blessed with the power of critical thought and I am not, I believe enlightenment is in order. (BTW: "well, it's obvious what he meant" is not critical thinking. It is, rather, the opposite.)

[Ecumenist]

43. Really? Hmmm...

Rather judgemental for someone who knows NOTHING about me. Perception is 99% of any communication. I guess the little piece hit me in the wrong place and sounded a bit too familiar...Pesky being the a woman of mixed African American descent and half of an interracial marriage, (hubby's Czech).
When you grow up hearing "code words" which are used to surreptiously call me nasty names, (often sloppily cleanned up with a half assed joke when called on it: most racists are inherently cowards and won't openly face me when called on their stupidity), I know it when I see, hear and read about it.

Clean Skin or any inplication of degrees of cleanliness is what has often and is still used to refer to folks like me. If, as you stated, "clean skin" was meant to refer to documentation in chertoff's definition, it's a poor one indeed. After all, more than a couple of the hijackers on September 11 had clean documents.

I'm sorry, I don't buy this at all, especially in light of the epidemic of blatant racist commments by people like Imus et al, ad nauseam, who often go on to say that they refuse to apologise or retract their statements, I think it's a stretch to say that better choice of wording could have been used IF INDEED all that was meant by that statement was legal and clear documentation.

[Bronyraurus]

39. Relax, bubba

Not everything ever said is about race.

[bowens43]

18. That's what they will claim that it means

but you know as well as I do that Chertoff knew that bushes base would take it as a statement against Muslims

[Kelly Rupert]

23. But even in its application, it has nothing to do with race.

It's not like we're calling white guys clean-skinned or Muslims dirty-skinned or anything like that, and then justifying it. We're calling people with valid docs "clean." That's pretty common.

[Taverner]

19. Richard Reid had a "clean skin"

so this is nothing new

[Kelly Rupert]

24. Yes, he did have a valid British passport,

and so had a "clean skin."

[brer cat]

17. Hi kpete. I've missed you recently!

hmmm ... just what's in those "layers of protection?"

[WinkyDink]

20. So exactly HOW does MC propose to PREVENT a visit by someone with

legitimate documentation??
Oh, that's right: Know their e-mail addresses, plus "Soon, passengers will have to give all 10 fingerprints, rather than just two."

More paranoid sickness from bushco.

IRONY: Chertoff is scarier-looking than anyone I know in my RL.

[Kelly Rupert]

26. He's claiming that you can't really.

You can block people with forged docs by ramping up counterfeit detection, but there's no real way to block people with legit docs unless you have them on specific lists. If you want to spin this "scary," say he's calling for increased intelligence gathering (which he probably is.)

Collecting extra fingerprints and e-mail addys wouldn't really do anything at all, so no worries there. My best bet for his proposed fix would be the standard "increased cooperation and information sharing with our allies."

[WinkyDink]

31. Well, I no longer fly anywhere, so good luck to those who do. I won't BE on those lists.

[Kelly Rupert]

36. For a while, I thought I must be, since I got SSSS four or five times in a row.

Last three or four flights, however, I went through no problem.

[EstimatedProphet]

25. I wonder if Tim McVeigh had clean skin

I always picture him with zits.

[kiahzero]

27. The etymology of it is about unbranded cattle

Put this one in the "niggardly" category.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleanskin

Within the vernacular of counter-terrorism agents and police officers, a cleanskin is an undercover operative whose identity is not known to the forces he or she is tasked to infiltrate. This is usually because such an agent has not conducted any prior undercover activity.

The phrase entered wide currency with a slightly different meaning in the United Kingdom following the London bombings of 7 July 2005. The four bombers involved in those bombings were reported in the press to be "cleanskins", according to police sources, meaning that their profiles did not fit the expected profile of bombers.

Terrorist organizations, smugglers, and others performing secretive activities prefer to subvert cleanskins as there is less chance that they will arouse suspicion. For example, a person with previous convictions for importing drugs is more likely to be detained than a person never convicted.

The word cleanskin originally comes from Australia, and refers to an unbranded cattle. The earliest references being around the 1860s. The word then evolved to mean a person whom has had no conviction recorded against them, a person who was 'clean'.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

28. EEK! WTF does that mean, coming from this powdered-skinny man?

I swear, the members of this administration creep me out!!!! :scared:

[ddeclue]

32. Translation... he's a blatant racist...

What he is saying is caucasian Muslims if you were to put it in less racist terms.

:puke:

Doug D.
Orlando, FL

[Kelly Rupert]

35. Or, rather, what he was saying was

"Foreigners who have legitimate passports and visas, as opposed to those who forged theirs or bought black-market counterfeits," as you would have seen had you read the article.

[Bronyraurus]

41. No he's not.

[camero]

45. Translation: That means us.

Or any American who disagrees with this Admin.

[Azathoth]

46. self-delete

[Azathoth]

47. When you're this low in the polls, I guess it doesn't hurt to court the neo-Nazi vote n/t