Infants have been stopped from boarding planes at airports throughout the U.S. because their names are the same as or similar to those of possible terrorists on the government's "no-fly list."
...
Sarah Zapolsky and her husband had a similar experience last month while departing from Dulles International Airport outside Washington. An airline ticket agent told them their 11-month-old son was on the government list.
They were able to board their flight after ticket agents took a half-hour to fax her son's passport and fill out paperwork.
"I understand that security is important," Zapolsky said. "But if they're just guessing, and we have to give up our passport to prove that our 11-month-old is not a terrorist, it's a waste of their time."
Can anyone point me to an instance of the no-fly list actually catching, you know, a terrorist?
(Via Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing.)
well, the folks on the Right would probably call catching Ted Kennedy as a successful terrorist catch.
Posted by: albert | August 16, 2005 at 09:37 AM
The fact that we haven't been hit again is proof enough.
Posted by: iocaste | August 16, 2005 at 10:37 AM
If they disclosed the capture of the terrorists to the public, it would do untold damage. It would reveal to the enemy our methods of successfully flagging terrorists, as well as alert other terrorists that their colleague is in custody, being tortured until he or she names names. In short, terrorist captures MUST be kept secret...except right after a Democratic National Convention. Then it's even okay to out a mole and blow an ongoing British counterterrorism operation, because it's for Republican political gain.
Hey, don't knock it, it works, because we haven't been hit again. By "we" I no longer mean Britain, of course.
Posted by: mds | August 16, 2005 at 11:54 AM
Also, al Qaeda has been recruiting in kindergarten madrassas.
Posted by: Mithras | August 16, 2005 at 12:05 PM
you ever LOOKED in a diaper?
that's WMD, biohazard, AND a gas attack all at once.
Posted by: mdhatter | August 16, 2005 at 12:38 PM
"Hey, don't knock it, it works"
Okay.
When it DOES fail, when we ARE hit again, and we will be, THEN will you join my call for the repeal of the Patriot Act? Will that prove you wrong and me right?
Didn't think so, but thanks for wasting that air.
Your paranoia gives the enemy great comfort.
Posted by: mdhatter | August 16, 2005 at 12:41 PM
Your paranoia gives the enemy great comfort.
Your inability to recognize sarcasm makes me chuckle.
Posted by: Mithras | August 16, 2005 at 12:44 PM