I was injured thanks to the government’s ridiculous airport security program last week on a US Air flight from Chicago to Philadelphia. I also saw how pointless the whole thing is, if the supposed goal is really to prevent airline hijackings.
First, my injury. Because of a silly fear that I might blow up a plane with explosives tucked into my running shoes, I, along with everyone else in the security checkpoint line at O’Hare, including two-month-old babies wearing little booties, had to doff my footwear. Clad in just socks, I tried to maneuver my way around a metal counter that held those plastic trays carrying my laptop, my shoes, my belt and change and keys, and my carry-on bag, and in the process my unprotected big toe hit a sharp piece of metal protruding from the table.
The metal sliced right under my toenail, making a painful and bloody cut into the soft tissue under the nail. Cursing and bleeding, I made my way through the metal detector, and collected my goods.
Now, inside my bag, unbeknownst to the Transportation Security Administration inspectors, was a bottle of mouthwash. It was larger than the approved 2-oz size, and it was not in an approved sealed plastic bag. But TSA inspectors looking into their video screens at the X-Ray machine didn’t see it, because I made sure that it was vertical as it passed through. All they saw was a little circle of plastic. Likewise, on an earlier flight, I had made my way aboard with a Swiss Army knife. By standing it in my carry-on bag so that it would be vertical for the X-Ray, I was able to slip it through and onto the plane.
Now clearly I’m not a terrorist (though for a time, thanks to my anti-Bush, anti-war journalism, and an expose about the TSA’s “no-fly” list abuses, I was on the watch list, and would get a circled “S” written on my boarding passes that ensured that I would be pulled aside to have my carry-on luggage hand searched). But if I were a terrorist, I sure wouldn’t try to commandeer a plane with a jackknife. I’d want something bigger. But that would be simple. One could easily carry on a 10-inch blade the same way. If one were nervous about doing that, it could be a ceramic or better, a Plexiglas blade—plenty dangerous, but invisible to X-rays and metal detectors.
For that matter, if I were into suicide bombing and wanted to manufacture a liquid explosive, why on earth would I try to do it by smuggling on two large jars of ingredients, when I could just put them in plastic baggies and carry them aboard in my pockets? Unless you happen to be singled out for special handling, nobody at the security checkpoints pats you down. They just have you walk through the metal detectors while TSA inspectors are busy patting down randomly selected elderly nuns and racially profiled people, like unfortunate Sikh men wearing turbans.
Any dedicated terrorist hijacker could figure out numerous ways to get explosives and weapons onto a plane past these security arrangements.
And that’s not even counting having the weapons smuggled into an airport gate area along with all the goods that are offered for sale there, where they could be picked up after a hijacker had already cleared security. There is no way that all the newspapers, magazines, clothing, trinkets, bottles of booze and personal hygiene products, etc., are screened adequately as they are brought in each day to fill the concession stands for the day’s business. First of all, one would have to open and check every bottle and box offered for sale.
If you were genuinely worried about protecting against hijackers, you would have those inspections at the entrance to each plane, not at the entrance to the terminal, and you wouldn’t have all that commerce inside the security zone. Ah! But what a roar of outrage we’d hear from the business community if that lucrative business venue were eliminated!
Which brings me to the real question: Why do we have all this pointless and easily breached security, not to mention a list that contains an astonishing one million names of suspected “terrorists”?
Clearly, the security program is not about protecting the flying public, or the nation’s tall buildings. That could be done much more cheaply by putting air marshals on all flights, the way they do at El Al, the Israeli airline that has never had a successful hijacking.
No, this is all about heightening the fear level of the American people, to routinize us to living in a police state.
The truth is, nobody is really interested in trying to hijack planes anymore. First of all, the “crash into buildings” tactic is dead. Pilots are now flying armed in armored cockpits that cannot be easily entered, and would not accede to a terrorist’s demands any longer, knowing what happened last time. And passengers would not sit passively in a cabin takeover attempt, either. As a result, we don’t have to worry about such things any longer.
The ease with which security could be breached, and the fact that it hasn’t happened now for seven years, is evidence enough that nobody is even trying to do it.
So let’s do away with all this time-consuming, costly, and politically motivated nonsense before I injure my other big toe. _______________ DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based investigative journalist and columnist. His latest book is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006 and now available in paperback). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net
Dave Lindorff, a columnist for Counterpunch, is author of several recent books ("This Can't Be Happening! Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy" and "Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Penalty Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal"). His latest book, coauthored with Barbara Olshanshky, is "The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office (St. Martin's Press, May 2006). His writing is available at http://www.thiscantbehappening.net
I flew from Orange County from Dallas last week and was able to sneak a peek at the x-ray machine at DFW - it is computerized and the scanner was able to ROTATE THE IMAGE IN ANY DIRECTION 360 degrees and on any axis in order to identify what was in the suitcase! I thought it was really high-tech. Careful Mr. Lindorff - they might have one of those where you fly next.
by
daveys (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 15 diaries, 169 comments)
on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 11:03:09 AM
And the fact that you are a journalist, David, makes for an even stronger case.
Having served on the Board of my local County ACLU Chapter, I can tell you first-hand that it's very helpful to have cases like this reported to the ACLU, for several reasons:
Statistics help make a legal case when fighting the so-called War of Terror
Your local ACLU Chapter would want to (with your permission) post your case to their website as a local person who was thus affected. This helps to wake the masses up, who still don't "get it" and think the War on Terror really is chasing after terrorists. Nothing could be further from the truth.
It also would be good to contact your local newspapers (I said "Local", didn't I?) who might do a human interest story about this. The town in which I live gave the true testimony of a resident who was not allowed to fly back home based on false allegations that she had a bomb in her purse, a purse which they also refused to search for verification. They had no reason to accuse her in this way. It was, in fact, the very first day that Transportation Security Administration personnel went to work. So they were "feeling their oats", obviously, overstepping the bounds.
Just as they have continued to do. It's "interesting" that mostly activists appear on no-fly lists.
FYI a truly very nice policeman from my town is on the no-fly list too. Policeman=terrorist? Now that's the last place you would ever expect to see someone on "the right side of the street", isn't it. Plus he's a really nice guy. The kind who says that come the day he no longer enjoys the job, he is quitting. Because he is there to be of service to people, and that' s his attitude. He spends much time consulting you off his clock. What a man. And...on the no-fly list!
Apparently, everybody who loves peace, the COnstitution and a clean environment are "terrorists". Because that is what the statistics bear out. Even Rep. Lynn Woolsey's auto-response to Patriot Act inquiries says that peace ,anti-war, and environmental groups are the ones being targeted as terrorists.
Time to unseat this fascist Congress who voted for this, and no kidding around about it! No excuses, no exceptions, no "reasons" for whatever they have done. Just get them out.
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Kathryn Smith (93 articles, 2 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 361 comments)
on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 3:47:33 PM
Diane Kleinman, former US Customs worker at JFK airport, blew the whistle:
Apparently, while searching airline passengers for fluids and even searching their bodies, the doors to the hallways accessing hte planes directly were left unlocked. Those which were locked also were accessible to airline personnel who hold the keys, including illegal immigrants who themselves have criminal records. In fact, this is how hijacking easily could occur. Unlock hte door, and....mission accomplished!
You can google Diane Kleinman to read her entire story. She was clamped down on and gagged, etc what a saga. Whew. So much for America, the Land of the Free. And so much for the game of charades which masquerades as airport security.
I want to know from chemists here: Is it really true that explosives can be implanted in water bottles? Are we just being "had" and gullible as stupid animals, or is this for real? Is this a big joke wiht some bigwhigs laughing up their sleeves? I would really like to know if toothpaste, lipstick and water bottles (and our own body fluids, anyone?) are really that dangerous? Please let us know! THank you.
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Kathryn Smith (93 articles, 2 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 361 comments)
on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 11:48:09 PM
In the summer of 2002, my family spent a week at a "dude ranch." Traveling home, we took a short flight from Idaho Falls to Salt Lake City.
I went through the metal detector fine, but my 8-year-old daughter apparently was of great to concern to them and they stopped her. My husband who was behind her was pulled aside to take off his shoes.
An out of control female security guard started to take my daughter away from the area and put her against a wall I guess in an attempt to locate a gun, box cutter or explosive with her magical hand-held metal detector.
I naturally started to rush to my daughter when another guard physically restrained me to prevent me all the while running her detector on me. My daughter started to cry. She's up against a wall, her dad's on the floor with his shoes off and her mom is being kept from her. It was insane.
The mother bear in me came out and I got in the guard's face and don't remember exactly what I said - something about them being so sick with power that they would traumatize a child and I imagine I threatened them with something. They relented and let me go to her.
Turns out there was a thin metal wire running through the cowgirl hat she was wearing from her fabulous week riding horses near the Grand Tetons.
We were already running very late so I just grabbed her and we ran to catch the flight. I will forever regret not following up with a formal complaint. I can only guess that perhaps I was not aware how bad things would get in this country and who knows maybe in some way I was still coming out of the 9/11 spell. Maybe...I was...shock doctrined!
Thanks for the memories homeland security.
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Cheryl Biren-Wright (19 articles, 23 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 351 comments)
on Saturday, July 19, 2008 at 6:22:13 AM
My toe throbbed reading this entire article. Ouch!
Hey, ppl, it's never "too late" to report to the ACLU. Report now. Don't hesitate just because "it happened a while back". Report now.
Liquids?? Well there is one coming soon to you. It is called the Asian Flu Pandemic vaccine. One can ask if no such pandemic exists to MAKE the vaccine, then how can they make the vaccine. They can't. It is being "manufactured" and will be mandatory. Don't take it!!!
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shirley reese (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 316 comments)
on Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 11:28:10 AM
It isn't just the Feds that are out of control; it's made it's way down to the local level as well. Try defending yourself from armed home invading thugs with a legal weapon. You hit one, and if the police don't like you or they know the guy, or he is a police informant, you get charged with a felony. The gangster, meanwhile gets victim's assistance at the taxpayers expense, social security and can sue you for everything you have. I know, it happened in my family.
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macdon1 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 99 comments)
on Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 7:44:44 PM
I still don’t understand why these rich airlines get high dollar government security. I want a missile defense system for my house and I want everyone that enters my neighborhood to take off their shoes and be screed for weapons before they can enter.
Damn it I pay taxes too!!!!!!!!!
by
Gallaher (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 608 comments)
on Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 9:52:01 PM
8 comments
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