The Defeat of America By Terrorists

“And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” - George Bush Sept 14, 2001 in NYC (video)

Crowd roars, chanting: “USA.  USA.  USA.”

Killing Americans

A decade ago on 9-11, foreigners on American soil killed thousands of civilians in four horrific commercial airplane crashes.   Three days later New Yorkers rallied around the President as he promised to strike back at “the people who knocked these buildings down” and dared spill American blood.

Within weeks, the US government retaliated by invading Afghanistan.  Before the decade had ended, the US government, already expert in killing foreign civilians, had invaded two foreign countries and killed thousands more Afghan, Iraqi, Pakistani, and Yemeni civilians.  US troops still occupy Afghanistan and Iraq today, regularly attacking Pakistan and Yemen with drones: all in the name of “fighting terrorism” and “protecting our freedoms.”

Or so the US government would have us think.

The Terrified States of America

“Americans are asking ‘Why do they hate us?’

“They hate what they see right here in this chamber: a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.” - Then-President Bush in an address to a joint session of Congress on September 20, 2001, explaining why terrorists attacked Americans. 

After 9-11, there was little talk of federal regulations that prevented airlines and citizens from defending themselves on airplanes and helped the attacks succeed.  Instead the federal government and the media terrorized citizens with public talk of WMD and mushroom clouds.  Playing on those fears, the US government justified limiting the very freedoms it pretends to defend with:

• the PATRIOT Act
• the TSA
• the Department of Homeland Security
• seemingly endless undeclared and therefore un-constitutional wars
• Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo
• torture
• extraordinary rendition
• assassination lists.

The federal government bureaucracy grew in response to 9-11 and most Americans sat back  as the federal government listened to their phone calls, opened their mail, frisked them in public places without probable cause of criminal activity, and forced them to show their identity papers while traveling.  Most Americans are still sitting back.

“Targeted Kill” Lists Under Bush

"I can assure you that no constitutional questions are raised here. There are authorities that the president can give to officials.  He's well within the balance of accepted practice and the letter of his constitutional authority." - Then-national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice November 2002, after Bush administration killed US citizen Kamal Derwish with a Predator drone.[1]

Less than a week after 9-11, on Sept. 17, 2001, President Bush signed a classified directive authorizing the CIA to kill or capture suspected al-Qaida members and create detention facilities where suspects could be interrogated and tortured.[2]  The directive didn’t distinguish between foreigners and US citizens.  If the US government thinks a US citizen is a “terrorist threat” to the US, the government will imprison or execute that person without due process, despite their precious freedoms Bush would outline three days later in his September 20th address to Congress.  Bush also authorized a “kill list” of terrorist leaders to be executed by the CIA.   

One year after 9-11 in November 2002, the US government killed American terror suspect Kamal Derwish with a Predator drone in Yemen as “collateral damage” when it was targeting another person on the “kill list.”  Most Americans let their government kill an American without due process and without complaint.

“Targeted Kill” Lists Under Obama

"And he repeatedly called on individuals in the United States and around the globe to kill innocent men, women and children to advance a murderous agenda." – President Obama on the assassination of American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki

Our “constitutional scholar,” President Obama is no better than Bush when it comes to killing US citizens without due process.  Obama’s Director of National Intelligence in 2010, Dennis Blair, acknowledged that the US government would execute US citizens without due process in court if they were involved in terrorism.

In June 2010, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel under the Obama administration wrote a secret 50-page memorandum to rationalize its planned execution of US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki.[3][4]  And on September 30, 2011, the Obama administration announced the US had killed two American citizens in Yemen: Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan.[5][6]  Unlike Derwish, a US citizen killed during the Bush administration, the Obama administration intended to execute Awlaki, also a US citizen. 

Obama’s Press Secretary, Jay Carney, speaking of Awlaki’s execution, assured Americans that it was all legal (video), but repeatedly refused to state whether the Obama administration would supply any evidence even after the fact:

Carney: He was obviously also an active recruiter of al Qaeda terrorists, so, I don’t think anybody in the field would dispute any of those assertions.

Tapper (reporter): You don’t think anybody else in the government would dispute those assertions…?

Carney: I wouldn’t know of any credible terrorist expert who would dispute the fact that he was a leader in al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula and that he was operationally involved in terrorist attacks against American interests and citizens.

Tapper: Do you plan on bringing before the public any proof of these charges?

…

Tapper: Can you show us or the American people?  Has a judge been shown?

Carney: Again, Jake, I’m not going to go any further than what I’ve said about the circumstances of his death.  And the case against him which you’re linking.

…

Tapper: Is there going to be any evidence presented?

Carney: I don’t have anything for you on that.

After their deaths, when the two men could not defend themselves against government accusations, anonymous government sources detailed the accusations against them which President Obama echoed.[9]

“Awlaki was the leader of external operations for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. In that role, he took the lead in planning and directing efforts to murder innocent Americans.” - President Obama [10]

According to Obama, Awlaki was an American “guilty of planning and directing efforts to murder innocent Americans.”  Doesn’t our system of government require that evidence must be given in a court of law before a final determination of guilt can be made? 

Assassination is not Due Process

“The precedent set by the killing of Awlaki establishes the frightening legal premise that any suspected enemy of the United States - even if they are a citizen - can be taken out on the President's say-so alone.  Part of the very concept of citizenship is the protection of due process and the rule of law.  The President wants to spread American values around the world but continues to do great damage to them here at home, appointing himself judge, jury, and executioner by presidential decree.” – Ron Paul writing in the NY Daily News, Oct 3, 2011

The fifth amendment was added to the US Constitution to protect individuals: no person shall “be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”  The fifth amendment is one of ten in the Bill of Rights added to the Constitution to protect Americans from a too-powerful government.  The purpose of the Bill of Rights was to explicitly limit the powers of the federal government.  Everything in the Constitution is based on a mistrust of government—an expectation that those in power will tend to abuse their power. 

Today the unrestrained executive branch fulfills the worst expectations of those who wrote the Constitution:

• It has created an assassination list, where individuals are executed without due process.[11]
• Moreover, the evidence against those on the list is classified—a case of the fox guarding the henhouse as the American people are forced to trust the government to determine whether the government is breaking the law.

Sadly, most Americans forgo their fifth amendment rights as they willingly relinquish their liberties and trust the government.  “This is war,” they tell themselves.  But how can this be war if no war has been declared per the Constitution?

If this really is war, why did the Obama administration go to the trouble to write a secret 50-page memorandum by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel to attempt to justify its planned execution of Awlaki?

Ron Paul labeled the killings an assassination, warning Americans to beware of accepting government executions without due process.[12]  You didn’t have to search very long on your radio (45 minutes into this podcast) to find mouths that roared about “crazy Ron Paul” and how Awlaki was an “enemy combatant” and didn’t deserve any of his rights.  Would those same “mouths that roared” be calling Ron Paul crazy if he defended their first amendment right to freedom of expression if the government decided to take it away?

It’s a short step from accepting an undeclared, un-constitutional war, concentration camps, and government executions of American citizens without due process, to accepting the execution of Americans for other seemingly good and expedient reasons.[13]

Evidence of America’s Defeat

 

The evidence:

• submissive citizens in porno-scanners, hands up high, legs spread like prisoners, waiting for their jailers’ permission to move
• submissive parents standing by and watching as their children are molested by TSA agents
• the “land of the Free” as a surveillance state—if US troops overseas truly were fighting for our freedoms—and they’re not—they’d be losing the war[14][15][16]
• Americans cheering the murder of other Americans who oppose US government invasions and ignoring the murder of foreigners for the lies of the US government.

Over ten years ago on the night of 9-11, then-President Bush addressed the nation and predicted the victory of justice and peace over terrorism:

“This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time.”[17]

Bush was wrong.  In America, the terrorists won.

_______________________

[1] “Killing Americans: On uncharted ground in attack,” Matt Apuzzo, AP, Sept 30 2011, (Accessed at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9873878 on Oct 1, 2011).

[2] “Timeline: History Of Harsh Interrogation Techniques,”Corey Flintoff, Apr 22, 2009, NPR, (Accessed at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103376537 on Oct 7, 2011).

The existence of this directive was discovered by an ACLU FOIA request.

[3] “Secret U.S. Memo Made Legal Case to Kill a Citizen,” By CHARLIE SAVAGE, NY Times, Oct 8, 2011, (Accessed at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/world/middleeast/secret-us-memo-made-legal-case-to-kill-a-citizen.html?pagewanted=all on Oct 9, 2011). 

[4] “Secret White House memo made case for legally killing Anwar al-Awlaki: Report,” BY Tina Moore, DAILY NEWS, Oct 8, 2011, (Accessed at http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/10/08/2011-10-08_secret_white_house_memo_made_case_for_legally_killing_anwar_alawlaki_report.html on Oct 9, 2011).

[5] “Anwar al-Aulaqi, U.S.-born cleric linked to al-Qaeda, killed in Yemen,” By Sudarsan Raghavan, Sept 30, 2011, Washington Post, (Accessed at http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/anwar-al-aulaqi-us-born-cleric-linked-to-al-qaeda-killed-yemen-says/2011/09/30/gIQAsoWO9K_story.html on Sept 30, 2011).

[6] “2nd American in Strike Waged Qaeda Media War,” By ROBBIE BROWN and KIM SEVERSON, NY Times, Sept 30, 2011, (Accessed at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/world/middleeast/samir-khan-killed-by-drone-spun-out-of-the-american-middle-class.html on Oct 5, 2011).

[7] “Al Qaeda's Anwar al-Awlaki killed in Yemen,” CBS/AP, Sept 30, 2011, (Accessed at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/30/501364/main20113732.shtml on Oct 7, 2011).

Government sources didn’t mention the Pentagon recruiting Awlaki when he dined at the Pentagon after 9-11 (video), nor his attendance at a prayer group for Muslims in Congress.[8][9]

[8] “EXCLUSIVE: Al Qaeda Leader Dined at the Pentagon Just Months After 9/11,” By Catherine Herridge, FoxNews, Oct 20, 2010, (Accessed at http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/20/al-qaeda-terror-leader-dined-pentagon-months/ on Oct 7, 2011).

[9] “Some Muslims Attending Capitol Hill Prayer Group Have Terror Ties, Probe Reveals,” By Jana Winter, FoxNews, Nov 11, 2010, (Accessed at http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/11/11/congressional-muslim-prayer-group-terror-ties/ on Oct 7, 2011).

[10] “Remarks by the President at the "Change of Office" Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Ceremony at Fort Myer, Virginia,” Sept 30, 2011, ” (Accessed at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/30/remarks-president-change-office-chairman-joint-chiefs-staff-ceremony on Oct 1, 2011).

[11] “THREATS AND RESPONSES: HUNT FOR AL QAEDA; BUSH HAS WIDENED AUTHORITY OF C.I.A. TO KILL TERRORISTS,” By JAMES RISEN and DAVID JOHNSTON, NY Times, Dec 15, 2002, (Accessed at http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/15/world/threats-responses-hunt-for-al-qaeda-bush-has-widened-authority-cia-kill.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm on Oct 11, 2011).

[12] “Ron Paul on Anwar al-Awlaki’s Demise: ‘I Think It’s Sad’,” The State Column, Oct 01, 2011, (Accessed at http://www.thestatecolumn.com/articles/ron-paul-on-anwar-al-awlakis-demise-i-think-its-sad/ on Oct 7, 2011).

[13] “Ron Paul: US could target journalists for killing,” By Philip Elliott, Associated Press, October 5, 2011, (Accessed at http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2011/10/05/ron_paul_us_could_target_journalists_for_killing/  on Oct 7, 2011).

[14] “Post-9/11, NSA 'enemies' include us,” By James Bamford, Sept 8, 2011, (Accessed at http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=CA0FDA14-61EA-4015-A80B-1F6D34C59183 on Oct 9, 2011).

[15] “Senate Approves Bill to Broaden Wiretap Powers,” By ERIC LICHTBLAU, NY Times, July 10, 2008, (Accessed at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/washington/10fisa.html?pagewanted=all on Oct 9, 2011).

[16] “Coming soon to a trash bin near you: The FBI,” By David Morgan, CBS, June 13, 2011, (Accessed at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/13/national/main20070845.shtml on Oct 9, 2011).

[17] “President Bush Speaks to the Nation,” PBS, Sept 11, 2001, (Accessed at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/terrorism/july-dec01/bush_speech.html on Oct 7, 2011).

Trading Freedom for Security

“The feudal system was one of hierarchy in which nobles, who were sovereign over the most valuable commodity of that time—land—ruled over peasants (serfs) who were tied permanently to the land.” – Feudalism at Encyclopedia.com

“Serfdom was the enforced labour of serfs on the fields of landowners, in return for protection and the right to work on their leased fields.” – Serfdom at Wikipedia

Serfs in the Middle Ages traded freedom for security.  In return for protection by the landlord, a serf worked a parcel of land and was legally bound to the land.  One can understand why serfs centuries ago made that trade—they were born into servitude and didn’t have a tradition of liberty as we do in the US.  What’s difficult to understand is why today you can see many Americans making the same trade.

"If it’s in the interest of safety, it’s alright." - Air traveler the day before Thanksgiving.

Different Rules for Serfs and Their Rulers

“With respect to the TSA, let me, first of all, make a confession. I don't go through security checks to get on planes these days, so I haven't personally experienced some of the procedures that have been put in place by TSA.”  - President Obama speaking at a NATO summit[1]

TSA procedures aren’t intended for our rulers—they’re a different class of people.  At a NATO summit, President Obama acknowledged that he has not had to be virtually strip-searched or groped by TSA goons.  But the President wants us to understand that it’s important that we be groped or virtually strip-searched in the “land of the free.”  According to Obama, it’s for our own good.

Our rulers travel in style and would not allow themselves to be treated as serfs.  When asked if she would submit to a pat-down, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton (D) replied:

“Not if I could avoid it. No. I mean, who would?”[2]

John Boehner (R), soon-t0-be second in the line of succession to the Presidency, pretends to be a man of the people by flying commercial airlines, yet he bypasses security screens that we cannot.[3]  The TSA identified other rulers exempt from airport screening:

“Cabinet secretaries, top congressional leaders and an exclusive group of senior U.S. officials are exempt from toughened new airport screening procedures when they fly commercially with government-approved federal security details.”[4]

Gropes and peeping under clothing at airports are for the little people.  They’re for:

• 61-year old Thomas Sawyer, a retired special education teacher and bladder cancer survivor, who wears a urostomy bag, and was humiliated and covered in urine after his TSA pat down.[5]
• Cathy Bossi, a breast cancer survivor, forced to remove her prosthetic breast and show it to a TSA screener after the screener felt her prosthetic breast.[6]
• The little boy in this video, who is frisked by a TSA agent.
• Grand Rapids air traveler Ella Swift, reduced to tears when a TSA screener ran a hand up her crotch because she was wearing a skirt.[7]
• Business traveler Penny Moroney, who considered the patting of her genitals by a TSA screener to be a sexual assault.[8]
• A 23-year old woman from Amarillo, Texas who had her top pulled down by TSA agent to expose her breasts in 2008.[9]
• Menstruating women with suspicious material lining their panties (aka panty liners) necessitating additional groping.[10]

TSA screeners in the “land of the free” poke and prod Americans as if they were examining slaves at a slave auction.[11]

Why do “free” Americans let them?

Serfdom Not Security

“But at this point, TSA, in consultation with our counterterrorism experts, have indicated to me that the procedures that they've been putting in place are the only ones right now that they consider to be effective against the kind of threat that we saw in the Christmas Day bombing.” - President Obama[12]

Obama and his family won’t go through the sexual assaults or privacy invasions that you and your family must endure.  Our constitutional law professor President tells us we must tolerate these invasions of our Fourth Amendment right to be secure in our persons while he jets off in Air Force One to yet another meeting of the G8 or a global warming conference, or the royal family takes a vacation trip to India.[13]

Pilots and flight attendants complained about being groped at airports and the TSA backed down.  Yet even as the federal government makes exceptions, the TSA still assumes it can violate our Fourth Amendment rights with impunity.  Why does that assumption go unchallenged? 

Despite what the President wants us to think, being treated like slaves will not keep us safe.  Acting like serfs brings serfdom, not security.

____________________________

[1] “Text of President Obama,” AP, (Accessed at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101120/ap_on_re_eu/eu_obama_summit_text_1 on Nov 21, 2010).

[2] “'I'd avoid them if I could': Hillary Clinton joins row over 'intimate' TSA airport pat-downs,” By Daily Mail Reporter, 22nd November 2010, (Accessed at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1331781/Hillary-Clinton-joins-intimate-TSA-pat-downs-row-Id-avoid-I-could.html on Nov 29, 2010).

[3] “No Security Pat-Downs for Boehner,” By Jeff Zelany, Nov 19, 2010, NY Times, (Accessed at http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/no-security-pat-downs-for-boehner/?partner=rss&emc=rss on Nov 24, 2010).

[4] “TSA: Some gov't officials to skip airport security,” By EILEEN SULLIVAN, AP News, Nov 23, 2010, (Accessed at http://apnews.myway.com/article/20101124/D9JM7I381.html on Nov 28, 2010).

[5] “TSA pat-down leaves traveler covered in urine,” By Harriet Baskas, MSNBC.com, 11/20/2010, (Accessed at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40291856/ns/travel-news on Nov 21, 2010).

[6] “Cancer surviving flight attendant forced to remove prosthetic breast during pat-down,” By Molly Grantham, Nov 19, 2010, WBTV, (Accessed at http://www.wbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13534628 on Nov 21, 2010).

[7] “Enhanced pat down leaves Grand Rapids airline passenger in tears,” by Phil Dawson and Christa Graban, 11/19/2010, Wzzm13.com, (Accessed at http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_story.aspx?storyid=140233&catid=14 on Nov 21, 2010).

[8] “Woman says her Lambert security screening was sexual assault,” kmov.com, Nov 18, 2010, (Accessed at  http://www.kmov.com/news/mobile/Woman-says-her-Lambert-security-screening-was-sexual-assault--109114934.html on Nov 21, 2010).

[9] “Airport staff 'exposed woman's breasts, laughed',” The Australian, November 18, 2010, (Accessed at http://www.theaustralian.com.au/travel/news/airport-staff-exposed-womans-breasts-laughed/story-e6frg8ro-1225955345734 on Nov 21, 2010).

[10] “Sanitary Towel Prompts TSA To Grope Sexual Assault Victim,” Steve Watson, Prisonplanet.com, Nov 25th, 2010, (Accessed at http://www.prisonplanet.com/sanitary-towel-prompts-tsa-to-grope-sexual-assault-victim.html on Nov 28, 2010).

[11] This gives more testimony to Jeffrey Rogers Hummel’s thesis in Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men.

[12] Text Of President Obama, Ibid.

[13] “Bomb-proof tunnel with air conditioning: Obama's security go to extraordinary measures for his tour of the Gandhi museum,” Daily Mail, Nov 6, 2010, (Accessed at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1326962/Obamas-India-visit-security-erect-bomb-proof-tunnel-Gandhi-museum.html on Nov 21, 2010).

What?  The Obamas weren’t vacationing in India?  Was the President helping outsource more jobs there instead?

Doublethink (Part 6)

“On each landing, opposite the lift-shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran.”  

Nineteen Eighty-Four  Part 1 Chapter 1, p. 5 by George Orwell.[1]

Millimeter wave body scanner images

“One by one they passed in front of me, teachers, friends, others, all those I had been afraid of, all those I once could have laughed at, all those I had lived with over the years.  They went by, fallen, dragging their packs, dragging their lives, deserting their homes, the years of their childhood, cringing like beaten dogs.

“They passed without a glance in my direction…

“‘When is our turn coming?’ I asked my father.”

Elie Wiesel describes the move of his Hungarian neighbors from a Jewish ghetto to a Nazi death camp in 1944.[2]

Our Turn Is Coming

During the Bush (R) administration we heard a lot about the prisoners at Guantanamo.  During the Obama (D) administration we hear little about overseas renderings of Islamic persons and the assassination of US citizens—they’re labeled Moslem fanatics, so it’s ok.  Most Americans today are preoccupied with Obamacare, home foreclosures, and their next paycheck, and don’t pay much attention.

The National Security Agency (NSA) goes overboard with warrantless searches, but most Americans rationalize that they’ve got nothing to hide and ignore the stories.  Besides, we have a Constitutional Law Professor for President and he agrees with the policy.  Three days after assuming office in 2009:

“The Obama administration fell in line with the Bush administration Thursday when it urged a federal judge to set aside a ruling in a closely watched spy case weighing whether a U.S. president may bypass Congress and establish a program of eavesdropping on Americans without warrants.”[3]

Something most Americans can’t ignore as easily are the intrusions of the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), the bureaucracy created in a knee jerk response to the 9/11 blowback of 2001.

By mid-September 2004, during the Bush administration, the TSA put in place a policy of “physical frisking” of selected airline passengers before they boarded an airplane.  Immediately after the policy change there were complaints by women who had been “physically frisked” at the airport:

• Singer and actress Patty Lupone described an airline security screener who demanded that LuPone remove her shirt. After protesting, LuPone complied, “revealing a thin, see-through camisole.”  According to Lupone, the screener "was all over me with her hands," touching areas including her groin and breasts.
• Advertising executive Lu Chekowsky said, "routinely, my breasts are being cupped, my behind is being felt."
• “Nancy Jackson, president of a global company in New York that sells interior finishes…has also learned not to express her objections.  ‘If you do,’ she said, ‘They really feel you up, and then check every section of your wallet and every item in your carry-on, including your makeup and toiletries; it's disgusting.’"[4]

Backscatter X-ray Body Scanner Images

TSA Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) Program

By 2007 the TSA introduced two types of Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) airport body scanners at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport to use as a secondary screen on passengers arbitrarily selected for secondary screening: X-ray backscatter scanners and millimeter wave scanners.[5][6]  X-ray backscatter scanners use low-energy X-rays to snoop beneath passengers' clothing.  Millimeter wave scanners  produces images using radio waves, not X-rays.  A smiling TSA bureaucrat demonstrated the backscatter scanner and the virtues of a full body scan: no more groping frisks as the TSA keeps us all “safe.”

On Christmas Day 2009, after the "underwear bomber" intelligence failure, the Obama administration accelerated the deployment of new airport scanners to look beneath travelers' clothes to spot weapons or explosives.  A $215 million proposal by the Obama administration called for the purchase of 500 more machines in addition to the 450 already purchased.[7]  Half of the machines would be X-ray backscatter scanners and the other half would be millimeter wave scanners.

According to TSA plans, by late 2011, nearly 1000 body scanners will be looking under airline passengers' clothing in nearly half of US airport checkpoints.  Across the US, two out of every three passengers will be “asked” to step into one of the new machines for a six-second head-to-toe scan before boarding.

Safety Concerns about X-ray Backscatter Scanners

Most Americans willingly walk through airport scanners, trusting that the federal government has their best interests at heart.  Most air travelers don’t ask about safety and what testing has been done on the scanners—they trust Big Brother.  The state wouldn’t knowingly hurt civilians would it?[8]   

As body scanner usage becomes widespread at airport and public facilities, scientists at Columbia University question whether the risks of skin cancer have been adequately studied.  Scientists at the University of California also questioned “the extent to which the safety of this scanning device has been adequately demonstrated.”  They called for more study of the X-ray body scanners in an April 6, 2010 "Letter of Concern" (pdf) to John Holdren, the president's science adviser:

"The majority of their energy is delivered to the skin and the underlying tissue. Thus, while the dose would be safe if it were distributed throughout the volume of the entire body, the dose to the skin may be dangerously high.”[10]

The UC letter asked for a more thorough look at the risks of exposing millions of people to X-ray body scanners, and listed concerns about x-ray testing:

• increased risks to people over 65
• increased risks to fraction of females more likely to develop breast cancer
• increased risk for sperm mutagenesis
• increased risk of cancer to immune-compromised individuals
• risk to unborn when scanning pregnant women
• risk of radiation emission to children and adolescents
• unknown effects of the radiation on the cornea and thymus
• potential for equipment malfunction delivering increased radiation doses.

Don’t worry, Big Brother says the X-ray body scanners are safe: it meets the guidelines of the American National Standards Institute for the amount of radiation emitted.  What Big Brother doesn’t tell you:

“…guess who was on the committee that developed the guidelines for the X-ray scanners? Representatives from the companies that make the machines and the Department of Homeland Security, among others. In other words, the machines passed a test developed, in part, by the companies that manufacture them and the government agency that wants to use them.”[11]

Who Watches the Watchers?

“Millimeter wave uses electromagnetic waves to generate an image based on the energy reflected from the body. It passes harmless electromagnetic waves over the human body to create a robotic image...

“Passenger privacy is ensured through the anonymity of the image: The officer attending the passenger will not view the image, and as an additional precaution, the officer viewing the image will be remotely located and the image won't be stored, transmitted or printed, and deleted immediately once viewed. In fact, the machines have zero storage capability.”  TSA press release November 14, 2008[12]  

According to TSA pronouncements to the public, millimeter wave body scanners make unrecognizable “robotic images” of travelers.  According to the TSA, your privacy is protected because:

1. The “robotic images” aren’t recognizable because of a privacy filter.  The TSA doesn’t tell the public that they can change the settings of the privacy filter, but the TSA wouldn’t change the settings to show more detail would it?
2. And if the images were recognizable—which they aren’t of course, because the privacy filter makes them “robotic images,” and the TSA wouldn’t change the privacy filter settings—the TSA officer looking at them won’t be in the same room to see the person scanned.
3. And if the images were recognizable—which they aren’t because the TSA wouldn’t change the privacy filter settings after they demonstrated how “robotic” the image is to the news media—the image can’t be stored. 
4. And if the images were recognizable and stored—both of which, according to public announcements by the TSA, cannot happen—it’s only on one machine, and it’s a “robotic image”—the machines aren’t networked, so the images can’t be transmitted.
5. And if the images were recognizable, stored, and networked—which of course they aren’t and can’t be—remember, it’s only a “robotic image” because of the privacy filter.

Thus “passenger privacy is ensured” by the TSA.

At least that’s what the TSA wants you to think.  They want you to ignore the evidence that body scans are “virtual strip-searches” as AIT scanners record full-frontal nudity (video).  Introduction of the scanners in Great Britain raised concerns that the scanners violated child pornography laws there by making images of naked children.[13]

In America, Big Brother lies about privacy concerns to willing double-thinkers.  Introducing the AIT scanners at JFK airport on October 21, 2010, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declined to demonstrate a “robotic image” of her package in one of the devices, and you can be sure she wasn’t frisked either.  That didn’t stop her from chanting the TSA litany for all the robots who would be stepping through the machines:

"Those who read the images are not actually physically at the gate, so they cannot associate an image with an individual person at all…

"And the machines are set so that no image is retained."[14]

In the Daily News video embedded with the online article about Napolitano at JFK, TSA Assistant Administrator for Security Operations Lee Kair regurgitated the other part of the TSA litany by noting that the image is “more like a chalk etching, not like a photograph,” because of the privacy filters built in to the scanner.

The TSA has repeatedly claimed that the scanners are incapable of storing or transmitting the naked images of scanned travelers.  The TSA website on Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) states:

“Advanced imaging technology cannot store, print, transmit or save the image, and the image is automatically deleted from the system after it is cleared by the remotely located security officer.” 

Why would an image need to be “automatically deleted” from the system if the system can’t store the image?

What the TSA Doesn’t Tell You

According to TSA public announcements, the millimeter wave body scanners create a “robotic image” and have zero storage capability for that image.  The US Marshall service uses the same device and admits it stored 35,000 images on a body scanner used at a Florida courthouse checkpoint.[15]  A letter from the TSA to the Congressional chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security also contradicts the “zero storage capability” public statement:

“AIT has the ability to store and transmit data; however, the only locations where the functionalities of storage and data transmission are enabled are at the testing and development sites: TSIF, TSL, and TML.” - February 24, 2010 letter (pdf)  from the Acting Administrator of the TSA to the Congressional chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security.

Page 5 of the 70-page TSA procurement specification (pdf) for the scanners states that the scanner must "allow exporting of image data in real time" and provide a mechanism for "high-speed transfer of image data (raw and reconstructed)" over the network.

Page 5 of the specification (pdf) also states that the scanners shall have “a means to multiplex images, allowing up to 64 IOCPs (Image Operator Control Panels) to receive images from up to 64 WBI (Whole Body Imager) systems utilizing the network requirements set forth in section 3.1.1.3.6.”  Section 3.1.1.3.6 is titled “Network Interface.”  Does any of that sound like the scanners can be networked to you?

Page 5 of the specification (pdf) also says that the scanner will have "image filters to protect the identity, modesty, and privacy of the passenger."  These filters create the “robotic image” or the “chalklike etchings.”  The specification also states that “Enabling and disabling of image filtering shall be modifiable.”  Why does the TSA tell the public about the privacy filter, but neglect to mention they can change it?

But don’t worry about all of those details.  They’re Big Brother’s concern.  What the TSA wants you to remember is:

“…all full-body scanners have ‘strong privacy protections in place’ and are delivered to airports ‘without the capability to store, print or transmit images.’"  Anonymous TSA official[16]

What they do not want you to notice is that Janet Napolitano wouldn’t step into one of the new AIT scanners to demonstrate it.

The US Constitution Doesn’t Apply

Worried about your 4th Amendment protections from unreasonable search and seizures?  Relax, according to the Big Brother there’s no need to concern yourself.  The federal government maintains that body scanning is perfectly constitutional:

“Such searches are prophylactic in nature and designed to advance the vital goal of protecting the public, rather than being focused on criminal law enforcement and directed at apprehending specific suspects; they do not require either a warrant or individualized suspicion.” – Pp. 5-6 of DOJ response (pdf) to a case brought against TSA by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).[17]

According to Big Brother, your 4th Amendment protections don’t apply.  The TSA is searching everyone indiscriminately—"prophylactically.”  If they violate everyone’s rights, they’re not discriminating.  It’s ok!  And don’t forget, the TSA performs a “crucial function”:

"The program is designed to respect individual sensibilities regarding privacy, modesty and personal autonomy to the maximum extent possible, while still performing its crucial function of protecting all members of the public from potentially catastrophic events." – P. 9 of DOJ response (pdf) to a case brought against TSA by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).

To further reassure yourself, keep in mind that the “TSA respects the fundamental values of individual autonomy and privacy” and will “allow” you to have your crotch groped by a TSA official if you don’t want to walk through a body scanner when asked:

“Furthermore, TSA respects the fundamental values of individual autonomy and privacy by allowing individuals to request an alternative method of screening (a pat down search) if they choose to do so, and by ensuring – contrary to petitioners’ assertion – that AIT images will not be stored, transmitted or otherwise misused.” – P. 6 of DOJ response (pdf) to a case brought against TSA by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).

What are the watchers up to while they’re watching over you?  Among other things, they’re robbing you as they rifle your luggage, ogling you if you have large breasts or a small penis, and otherwise sexually and physically harassing you.[18]

But Big Brother wants to put your mind at ease.  The TSA is keeping you safe from all of those terrorists who hate your freedoms.

Freedom is Slavery

Some people, insufficiently cowed, refuse to be virtually strip-searched.  Some “voluntarily comply” by “choosing to be frisked,” so the TSA has responded with a new palms-down policy for frisking to discourage anyone from refusing a body scan before boarding an airplane.

One victim of the groping described it this way:

“It was extremely invasive. This was a very probing-type touching - not just patting over all your areas, but actually probing and pushing and seeing if I was concealing something in my genital area.”[19]

Now air travelers can “freely choose” to stand in front of X-ray backscatter scanners of questionable safety, or millimeter wave scanners to be virtually strip searched, or instead have their privates fondled with the new palms-down frisking policy, all in the name of keeping us safe.

The state prosecutes sexual assaults by subway gropers and peeping toms for violating the rights of individuals.  But we’re supposed to thank the state as it sexually assaults air travelers and says it’s for the traveler’s own good.[20]  Drone-like, Americans say, “Yes, fondle my wife’s breasts—or take a picture of my daughter’s.  And thank-you for protecting the hive.”

This constant monitoring isn’t unique to airports.  Our Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches are violated practically every time we leave our homes.  It’s happening with scanners at bus stations (video), metal detectors at government buildings and public events, and cameras on street corners.  Unfortunately, frightened Americans now think it’s reasonable to empty their pockets when they walk into buildings, and to be groped or virtually strip-searched at the airport by any federal agent in a uniform.

What’s particularly intrusive about body scanners and frisking is both practices push the limits of state control to the point where the state owns even our right to be clothed to protect the privacy of our own bodies.  What do we own if not our own bodies?  With body scanners, the state arrogates the right to strip and grope you whenever it wants.

There’s no hiding when Big Brother is watching you.

What’s Next?

“If it keeps us safe, I’m all for it.” – An American sheep responding to questions about the latest federal incursion (pick one) on his/her liberties.

Secretary of Homeland Security Napolitano wants air travelers watched around the world.  At a Montreal meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), she urged other countries “to move to the next stage of screening”:

The U.S. Homeland Security chief will urge 190 nations today to improve aviation security with body scanners and other innovations to stop terrorists from carrying plastic and powdered explosives onto airplanes.[21]

What other innovations does Napolitano refer to?  Plastic gloves for checking rectums now that terrorists carry explosives there?

Americans already willingly spread their legs, raise their arms in surrender, and submit to virtual strip searches and real gropes.  When Big Brother asks, most double-thinking “free” Americans won’t give it a second thought before they bend over.

________________________________

[1] Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell, New American Library, N.Y., 1949, p. 5.

[2] Night, Elie Wiesel, Bantam Books, Inc., 1982, pp. 14-15.

[3] “Obama Sides With Bush in Spy Case,” By David Kravets, Wired, January 22, 2009, (Accessed at http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/01/obama-sides-wit/ on Oct. 19, 2010).

[4] “Many Women Say Airport Pat-Downs Are a Humiliation,” By JOE SHARKEY, NY Times, November 23, 2004, (Accessed at http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/business/23grope.html?pagewanted=print&position= on Sept. 27, 2010).

[5] “Revealing X-ray machine set to scan Sky Harbor fliers,” Ginger D. Richardson, Arizona Republic, Feb. 23, 2007, (Accessed at http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0223backscatter0223.html on Oct. 22, 2010).

[6] “Full-Body Scanner Begins Tests at Phoenix Airport,” October 11, 2007, AP, (Accessed at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,301160,00.html on Oct. 21, 2010).

[7] “Airport-security plan calls for 500 body scanners in '11,” By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY, 2/3/2010, (Accessed at http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2010-02-02-body-scanner_N.htm on Oct. 4, 2010).

[8] Would the federal government knowingly hurt people?  They’re not like the Nazis who experimented on concentration camp prisoners are they?

Consider:

• Tuskegee experiments
• Unethical human experimentation in the US
• Syphilis experiments in Guatemala by US[9]
• Collateral damage in any war.

[9] “U.S. Apologizes for Syphilis Tests in Guatemala,” By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr., NY Times, October 1, 2010, (Accessed at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/02/health/research/02infect.html?_r=1&th&emc=th on Oct. 2, 2010).

[10] “Scientists Question Safety Of New Airport Scanners,” by Richard Knox, May 17, 2010, (Accessed at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126833083 on July 21, 2010).

[11] “Are Scanners Worth the Risk?” By SUSAN STELLIN, NY Times, September 7, 2010, (Accessed at http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/travel/12prac.html on Oct. 3, 2010).

[12] “TSA Launches Millimeter Wave Technology in Richmond,” TSA Press Release, Nov. 14, 2008, (Accessed at http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/2008/1114.shtm on Oct. 24, 2010).

[13] “New scanners break child porn laws,” Alan Travis, Guardian, 4 January 2010, (Accessed at http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jan/04/new-scanners-child-porn-laws on Oct. 24, 2010).

[14] “Body scanners unveiled at JFK Airport; Homeland Security Sect. Janet Napolitano doesn't volunteer,” BY Christina Boyle, DAILY NEWS, October 22nd 2010, (Accessed at http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/10/22/2010-10-22_body_scanners_unveiled_at_jfk_airport_homeland_security_sect_janet_napolitano_do.html on Oct. 27, 2010).

At 1:50 in the Daily News video, the woman Image Operator (IO) operating the scanner inadvertently shows the ability of the machine to show more resolution when she scans over the left foot of the scanned image for an instant.  (This capability is more apparent in this video.)  She immediately moves the cursor as this capability contradicts Asst. Administrator Kair’s statements.

[15] “Feds admit they stored body scanner images, despite TSA claim the images cannot be saved,” NY Daily News, BY Aliyah Shahid, August 4th 2010, (Accessed at http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/08/04/2010-08-04_feds_admit_they_stored_body_scanner_images_despite_tsa_claim_the_images_cannot_b.html?obref=obnetwork on Oct. 22, 2010).

[16] “Body scanners can store, send images, group says,” By Jeanne Meserve and Mike M. Ahlers, CNN, January 11, 2010, (Accessed at http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/01/11/body.scanners/  on Oct. 24, 2010).

[17] “Feds admit storing checkpoint body scan images,” by Declan McCullagh, CNET, August 4, 2010, (Accessed at http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20012583-281.html on Oct. 3, 2010).

[18] In Florida: “TSA Screener Cited "Torture" In Scanner Case; Arrestee's genitalia was exposed by "full body" device,” Smoking Gun, (Accessed at http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/bizarre/tsa-screener-cited-torture-scanner-case on Sept. 24, 2010).

In Philadelphia: “Another flier's run-in with the TSA,” by Daniel Rubin, The Inquirer, June 14, 2010, (Accessed at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/96273368.html?&subscribe=y&listID=1782 on Oct. 22, 2010).

In Seattle: “Former TSA supervisor admits stealing luggage,” Aug. 16, 2010, Huffington Post, (Accessed at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20100816/us-tsa-supervisor-theft/ on Oct. 22, 2010).

In Great Britain: “Airport Worker Pervs Over Woman In Body Scanner: ‘I Love Those Gigantic Tits’,” Paul Joseph Watson, Prison Planet.com, March 24, 2010, (Accessed at http://www.prisonplanet.com/airport-worker-pervs-over-woman-in-body-scanner-look-at-those-gigantic-tits.html on July 21, 2010).

In Nigeria: “Now showing at MMIA: Nude images of passengers; Security officials gather and giggle at naked travelers in body scanner,” By Chinedu Eze , 09.20.2010, (Accessed at http://odili.net/news/source/2010/sep/21/232.html on Sept. 30, 2010).

“They use the machines, installed in the wake of the Farouk AbdulMutallab affair, to watch the naked images of female passengers for fun.

“The controversial body scanners have been dubbed "e-stripping" in advanced countries because of the way they expose the nakedness of those being screened.

“THISDAY discovered that during off-peak periods, the aviation security officials, who are trained on the use of the scanners, usually stroll from the cubicle located in a hidden corner on the right side of the screening area where the 3D full-body scanner monitors are located.

“They do so to catch a glimpse of some of the passengers entering the machine and immediately go back to view the naked images, in order to match the faces with the images since the faces are blurred on the monitors while passengers are inside the machine.

“The face that appears on the scanner's monitor is usually blurred so that the operator viewing the full body will not recognise who passes through the machine.

“But by coming out to see the passenger in person and then going back to see his or her image, the objective of protecting the privacy of the passenger has been defeated.”

[19] “New Logan searches blasted TSA tests frisky frisking policy,” By Donna Goodison, Boston Herald, August 21, 2010, (Accessed at http://bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1276131 on Oct. 20, 2010).

“Passengers shocked by new touchy-feely TSA screening,” By Donna Goodison, Boston Herald, August 24, 2010, (Accessed at http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view/20100823passengers_shocked_by_new_touchy-feely_tsa_screening/srvc=business&position=also on Oct. 21, 2010).

“Airline passengers from coast to coast are decrying the Transportation Security Administration’s more aggressive body searches, calling screeners’ new front-of-the-hand, slide-down technique not only invasive but an example of Big Brother run amok.
"Rob Webster said he was subjected to a head-to-toe body search that ‘did not miss an inch’ and even included a “probing and pushing” of his genital area when flying home from Las Vegas to Seattle last week.
“’If anybody ever groped me like that in real life, I would have punched them in their nose,’ the 50-year-old said. ‘It was extremely invasive. This was a very probing-type touching - not just patting over all your areas, but actually probing and pushing and seeing if I was concealing something in my genital area.’”

[20] “Breast Exams at the Airport: Do the New Security Measures Go Too Far?” By SHERRY F. COLB, Findlaw, Dec. 01, 2004, (Accessed at http://writ.news.findlaw.com/colb/20041201.html on Sept. 27, 2010).

“The hunches of security personnel (the reliability of whose hunches is nowhere evident) are now enough to subject people to what would otherwise constitute a sexual assault, that is, a nonconsensual touching of breasts and/or groin, as a condition for innocent non-suspects traveling freely around the country and internationally. ”

[21] “Napolitano pitches plan for air security to 190 nations,” By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY, 28 Sept. 2010, (Accessed at http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-09-28-1Anapolitano28_ST_N.htm on Sept. 30, 2010).