Terrorist Watch List Hits One Million Names

[tekisui]

Source: ACLU

WASHINGTON, DC - The nation's terrorist watch list has hit one million names, according to a tally maintained by the American Civil Liberties Union based upon the government's own reported numbers for the size of the list.

"Members of Congress, nuns, war heroes and other 'suspicious characters,' with names like Robert Johnson and Gary Smith, have become trapped in the Kafkaesque clutches of this list, with little hope of escape," said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "Congress needs to fix it, the Terrorist Screening Center needs to fix it, or the next president needs to fix it, but it has to be done soon."

Fredrickson and Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Program, spoke today along with two victims of the watch list: Jim Robinson, former assistant attorney general for the Civil Division who flies frequently and is often delayed for hours despite possessing a governmental security clearance and Akif Rahman, an American citizen who has been detained and interrogated extensively at the U.S.-Canada border when traveling for business.

"America's new million record watch list is a perfect symbol for what's wrong with this administration's approach to security: it's unfair, out-of-control, a waste of resources, treats the rights of the innocent as an afterthought, and is a very real impediment in the lives of millions of travelers in this country," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU Technology and Liberty Program. "It must be fixed without delay."

"Putting a million names on a watch list is a guarantee that the list will do more harm than good by interfering with the travel of innocent people and wasting huge amounts of our limited security resources on bureaucratic wheel-spinning," said Steinhardt. "I doubt this thing would even be effective at catching a real terrorist."


link: http://www.aclu.org/privacy/35968prs20080714.html

[LiberalEsto]

1. This reminds me of Nixon's "Enemies List"

only exponentially worse.

[whistle]

2. Where can the list be viewed

[tekisui]

4. see below.

[tekisui]

3. Here is a counter, and just a few well-known names on the list.

I don't think the list is public. And, I've heard, if you ask if you are on the list, you are put on the list.

http://www.aclu.org/privacy/spying/watchlistcounter.html

[Crazy Dave]

11. We gotta watch out for that six year old

Good work DHS :sarcasm:

[lpbk2713]

15. OK. Ya got me.

My name is Rush Limbaugh.

No, it's Newt Gingrich

No, it's Bill O'Reilly

No, it's Ann Coulter

No, it's Sean Hannity

No, it's Glenn Beck

No, it's Joe Lieberman

No, it's ... uh, gimmee a minute.

[Crazy Dave]

5. "We don't have to prove that you're guilty, we can just say you are"

And it's up to you to prove that your innocent, except you cannot hear the charges against you, you cannot have counsel, you cannot question witnesses and you don't even have to be in the courtroom.

[Kutjara]

6. YOU MEAN WE HAVE A MILLION TERRARISTS LIVIN' RIGHT HERE!?!?!

OMG OMG OMG SOMEBODY DOOOO SOMETHING!!! A MILLION TERRISTS!!!! OMG! OMG!

That's like one out of every 300 people!!!! There are at least two thousand people in the mall across the street from my house right now, which means there are at least...wait a sec, multiply by 4, carry the 3, no wait, add the 3, hang on... er, six terrarists right there!!!!! Quick, arrest everyone in the mall!!!!! It's worth locking up a few thousand people if it will save brazillions of lives!!!!

Shit, I just thought: There are more than 300 people in my apartment complex!!!! I'm dooooooooooomed!!!!!!!

[kimmerspixelated]

7. Wouldn't it be interesting to find out if some of us innocent DU'ers are on it,

just cause we're not one of them!

[jobycom]

8. That's what, 1 in every 300 men, women and children in the US?

What meaning does such a list have at that point, except to keep people afraid to speak?

[tekisui]

12. That is the whole point.

Surveillance leads to fear, fear leads to silence. Silence is Undemocratic.

[Kutjara]

17. Exactly. And fear also leads to complicity.

Won't be much longer before the "Is your neighbor a terrorist? Let us know!" posters start appearing on walls near you. I wonder if there'll be cash prizes for successful informants, or maybe "frequent collaborator" points you can collect.

[Mnemosyne]

21. In existence already, though not as elaborate as the one you are imagining, yet:

http://www.citizencorps.gov/tips.html

[aquart]

9. Is Flood on the list? Tornado? Hurricane? Fire? Famine? Inflation?

Is there anything on that list that I am really afraid of?

When the new administration comes in, what will be the status of that list? Has anyone asked?

[lpbk2713]

10. Makes me wonder who the other 900,000 are.

We have a little over 100,000 DU members. Some are dupes, some are TSers.

So that leaves about 900K.

[tekisui]

13. One terrorist fist bump for ya.

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

14. Congratulations, Bushies!

You managed to bury the terrorist needle in a haystack of innocent names! I feel MUCH safer now!!!!

[redirish28]

16. Amazing... Wasn't that purpose of the list to narrow down the dangers?

Sounds to me it is a list of anyone who speaks out against Bush and company

[ColbertWatcher]

18. Just out of curiosity...

...how many possible names can there be?

The name "William" can be "Bill" "Billy" "Will" "Willy", etc. The name "Elizabeth" can be "Liza" "Beth" "Liz" "Elza", etc.

When will the terror scare list simply contain every permutation of every possible name?

[lpbk2713]

19. And probably everyone named Mohammed, Mohamet, etc ..

who attempts to buy a ticket goes on the list.

[Oak2004]

20. If there were one million terrorists on this planet, we'd be screwed

If there were one million terrorists in this country, we'd be a smoldering hole in the ground.

Well, hey, this administration's foreign policies are made by old Trotskyites. It only makes sense that it's domestic policies would be made by old Stalinists.