This Harrowing Tale of How Our Secret State Works to Crush Our Rights Will Chill You to the Bone

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/visions/harrowing-tale-how-our-secret-state-works-crush-our-rights-will-chill-you-bone



***SNIP

The No-Fly List

On September 10, 2001, there was no formal no-fly list. Among the many changes pressed on a scared population starting that September 12th were the creation of two such lists: the no-fly list and the selectee list for travelers who were to undergo additional scrutiny when they sought to fly. If you were on the no-fly list itself, as its name indicated, you could not board a flight within the U.S. or one heading out of or into the country. As a flight-ban plan, it would come to extend far beyond America's borders, since the list was shared with 22 other countries.

No one knows how many names are on it. According to one source, 21,000 people, including some 500 Americans, are blacklisted; another puts the figure at 44,000. The actual number is classified.

On January 2, 2005, unaware of her status as a threat to the United States, Ibrahim left Stanford for San Francisco International Airport to board a flight to Malaysia for an academic conference. A ticket agent saw her name flagged in the database and called the police.

Despite being wheelchair-bound due to complications from a medical procedure, Ibrahim was handcuffed, taken to a detention cell, and denied access to medication she had in hand. Without explanation, after extensive interrogation, she was allowed to board her flight. When she tried to return to America to resume her studies, however, she found herself banned as a terrorist.

[Heidi]

1. Kick!

[Enthusiast]

2. Kicked and recommended a whole bunch.

[Octafish]

3. If you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear.

The difficult part is defining "nothing." That's top secret.

Some are in the loop. Ask any traitor or war criminal. They're free to fly.