America's Terrorist Watch List Hits 1 Million Names

The good news is that Nelson Mandela is no longer on the U.S.'s terrorist watch list. The bad news is that the list now has one million names, which leads one to question just how effective this list really is (from the ACLU):

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."

"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."

Comments

[RTIII]

Don't think for a second that they aren't actively looking for dissidents and adding them to the list. Anyone who is vocal about not liking this administration is a potential victim of this traitorous watch list.

Yes, that's right, the watch list itself is traitorous - it is so because it's giving up essential liberties, and we're not really even getting our temporary security Benjamin spoke of... Lists like this are antithetical to the values espoused in the Constitution of the United States...

The Constitution espouses values such as that the ends do not justify the means, we are all innocent until proven guilty, that we have inalienable rights, including the right to not be held without due cause - AND the right to unfettered interstate travel.
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[watcher269]

I bet there is not ONE Republican on the list.

[totalliberal]

Now that's narrowing it down. Guess that's why they get the big bucks.

[lvdragonlady]

Does anyone beside me think that 1 million sounds wrong, somehow?
How can we be winning the war on terror, if we have 1 million possible suspects on a watch list?
Sounds very much like looking for a needle in a haystack.

[jfor]

When the war started we were fighting a "handful of deadenders" now we have one million terrorists in America. Sounds like Bush's plan is a success.

[poco767b]

Nelson Mandela was on it.

[wolf58]

I have two more they can add to the list, Bush/Cheney

[Micaanab]

Very funny

[RTIII]

No, not funny; true.
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[Chillinout]

I am going to be traveling overseas soon. I guess I am going to find out if I am on that list. With all the protests that I attend and even orchestrate, and with all the anti-bush regime articles that I have written and posted online, I suspect that I might be on that list.

Actually, I would be surprised if I am NOT on the list. I would have to question their efficiency at data mining. LOL

[billu]

You're really just not interesting enough. I know how names get on that list and data mining really has nothing to do with it. It's a fairly rigirous set of criteria that gets you on that list. The problem comes with names not being unique. Then you need to verify that the person on the list is not the one at the gate. To do otherwise is irresponsible.

[Missmn]

I guess we're going to have to build a bigger Guantanamo.

[wadenelson1]

Hi, My name is Wade Nelson, and I'm probably on the list.

Plutonium.

Al-Zahari

Hussein

that ought to do it.

[WatchIt]

I, Joshua Hussein, am on the list.

[PerfectGent]

This is getting frightning already!!! How can people check to see if they are on the list?

[Chillinout]

You can't.

[Fotios]

Is Cat Stevens still on the list?

[Liam]

Hear hear! Especially since my Dad's name is "Robert Johnson". Seriously.

But this is just one example of many of how the Bush Administration has "saved" our great society by giving up the things that make it great.

You can't save a drowning person by first shooting them in the head, so they're easier to tow back to shore. Yes, they technically didn't drown, but what you end up having saved from drowning... isn't really worth saving.

Liam.