Why Are There So Many Names on the U.S. Government's Terrorist List?

[Zeno Swijtink]

Why Are There So Many Names on the U.S. Government's Terrorist List?
ACLU https://www.aclu.org/privacy/spying/...istcounter.htm


In September 2007, the Inspector General of the Justice Department reported that the Terrorist Screening Center (the FBI-administered organization that consolidates terrorist watch list information in the United States) had over 700,000 names in its database as of April 2007 - and that the list was growing by an average of over 20,000 records per month.1

At that rate, our list will have a million names on it by July. If there were really that many terrorists running around, we'd all be dead.

Terrorist watch lists must be tightly focused on true terrorists who pose a genuine threat. Bloated lists are bad because

* they ensnare many innocent travelers as suspected terrorists, and
* because they waste screeners' time and divert their energies from looking for true terrorists.

Small, focused watch lists are better for civil liberties and for security.

The uncontroversial contention that Osama Bin Laden and a handful of other known terrorists should not be allowed on an aircraft is being used to create a monster that goes far beyond what ordinary Americans think of when they think about a "terrorist watch list."

This is not just a problem of numbers. The numbers are merely a symptom. What's needed is fairness. If the government is going to rely on these kinds of lists, they need checks and balances to ensure that innocent people are protected. (See ACLU Backgrounder on Watch Lists for more)

SOURCE: "Follow-up Audit of the Terrorist Screening Center," Audit Report 07-41, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Audit Division, September 2007, p. iii; online at https://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/FBI/a0741/final.pdf.

[handy]

Because government is terrified the people might wake up?

[Sabrina]

Wow, they already took the counter thing down, says URL not found. Well, I know the ACLU is also under surveillance itself...I wanted to see what it looked like (the counter thing)

Why Are There So Many Names on the U.S. Government's Terrorist List?
ACLU https://www.aclu.org/privacy/spying/...istcounter.htm


In September 2007, the Inspector General of the Justice Department reported that the Terrorist Screening Center (the FBI-administered organization that consolidates terrorist watch list information in the United States) had over 700,000 names in its database as of April 2007 - and that the list was growing by an average of over 20,000 records per month.1

At that rate, ...

[Zeno Swijtink]

Wow, they already took the counter thing down, says URL not found. Well, I know the ACLU is also under surveillance itself...I wanted to see what it looked like (the counter thing)

No it's still up. It's at https://www.aclu.org/privacy/spying/...stcounter.html

(I hadn't included the last letter in this url!!)

[Lenny]

I figure the government does all that to keep me safe. No? I mean I read what Osama and those folks want: to kill me. They say loud and proud and fairly often. Now as for the 70,000, and growing, well, I can't account for that number. That seems a lot. Of course watching the issue on the boarder, there certainly seems to be a large number of people coming over. And I personally have seen a larger number of Middle Eastern folks here and in S.F., when I go there. Don't know why there is an exponential increase in this group, from what I observe, but I would imagine the numbers are on their side. I mean the more folks from "over there" that are here, the greater the number of folks-that-would-kill-me would come with them. As that is what they want to do, come here and disrupt, no? All too difficult for me and my

[Braggi]

...
Seeing Nelson Mandela on it and Edward Kennedy? Suspected terrorists? My gosh there must be a terrorist hiding behind every BUSH, if you know what I mean, eh?

Well, I'll know within a few weeks if I'm on it. I just applied for a passport.

Let's see how this works: Earth First! is considered in that bunch by some people (how wrong they are). I have email addresses of some of "those people" in my AOL address book: AOL cooperates with the Government and allows searching of everyone's address book (which now resides on the AOL computers instead of on each user's machine; as a "convenience"): 2 + 2 and I'm on the watch list!!!

I hope that's all wrong!

-Jeff

PS. Lenny, you missed a zero: it's 700,000. That's a lot of people on watch lists. And they're not necessarily doing that to protect you. You've got to be kidding. Right?

[Braggi]

... Don't know why there is an exponential increase in this group, from what I observe, but I would imagine the numbers are on their side. I mean the more folks from "over there" that are here, the greater the number of folks-that-would-kill-me would come with them. As that is what they want to do, come here and disrupt, no? ...

That sounds like the perspective of someone who's allowing their paranoia to get the better of them. The 9/11 terrorists did their job. If there was more they needed to do, it would be happening. It doesn't take 700,000 people to do what they did. It only takes a few.

Lenny, the reason you're seeing more people over that look like "them" is that we are at war in Iraq. A whole lot of people who look like "them" have moved to northern California recently in hopes of not getting beaten or lynched in other parts of the country. Add that to the fact that a whole lot of people from Iraq are emigrating here to escape the horrors we've created in their homeland. Did you know that five million Iraqis are displaced right now? Can you even imagine 5,000,000 people? They are leaving if they can. Some are coming here. Some are going to other countries in hope of coming here eventually. You'll see a whole lot more before this is all over.

-Jeff

[Lenny]

Thanks. I didn't know it was that many leaving there nor coming here.
But then that 700K is a fair number then, no? I mean if there are that many more here, then there are that many more folks that want to kill me just because of my way of life, no?
Ah, but you are right, I do have a paranoid personality trait, and I know that it's not worth , but that's just me.

That sounds like the perspective of someone who's allowing their paranoia to get the better of them. The 9/11 terrorists did their job. If there was more they needed to do, it would be happening. It doesn't take 700,000 people to do what they did. It only takes a few.

Lenny, the reason you're seeing more people over that look like "them" is that we are at war in Iraq. A whole lot of people who look like "them" have moved to northern California recently in hopes of not getting beaten or lynched in other parts of the country. Add that to the fact that a whole lot of people from Iraq are emigrating here to escape the horrors we've created in their homeland. Did you know that five million Iraqis are displaced right now? Can you even imagine 5,000,000 people? They are leaving if they can. Some are coming here. Some are going to other countries in hope of coming here eventually. You'll see a whole lot more before this is all over.

-Jeff

[Braggi]

Thanks. I didn't know it was that many leaving there nor coming here.
...

Lenny, it's like this: two million Iraqis are in Jordan, many in refugee camps, not having fun. Most of the other three million are displaced within Iraq. They're not all coming here. But as many as can get away are getting away. Some of them are coming here. That's what happens when we want more immigrants. We go to war and we get a whole lot of Koreans, or Viet Namese or Iraqis. Got it? We're so smart!

No, they don't want to kill you for the way you live. They want to do whatever it takes for them and their families to stay alive. If that means taking money from the CIA to kill people, that might be what they do. Especially if it keeps them out of US sponsored torture camps; but it might not.

Imperialistic terrorism is as much your enemy as Islamic terrorism. Maybe more so. Stop focusing on "them" so much and start looking at what "we" are doing wrong. It helps to have that perspective.

-Jeff

PS. Why did we invade Iraq and Afghanistan when most of the 9/11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia?

[Braggi]

...
Ah, but you are right, I do have a paranoid personality trait, and I know that it's not worth , but that's just me.

Ah, but it's worth a whole lot! Bush and Cheney are throwing trillions of our children's and grandchildren's dollars at it in hopes of ... enriching their friends?!?

Yup. That "trait" has been exploited since the beginning of His-story.

-Jeff

[MsTerry]

PS. Why did we invade Iraq and Afghanistan when most of the 9/11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia?

As if you didn't know the Bush and Bin Laden are one big family?

[Braggi]

This should help:

[Lenny]

Lenny, it's like this: two million Iraqis are in Jordan, many in refugee camps, not having fun. Most of the other three million are displaced within Iraq. They're not all coming here. But as many as can get away are getting away. Some of them are coming here. That's what happens when we want more immigrants. We go to war and we get a whole lot of Koreans, or Viet Namese or Iraqis. Got it? We're so smart!
No, they don't want to kill you for the way you live. They want to do whatever it takes for them and their families to stay alive. If that means taking money from the CIA to kill people, that might be what they do. Especially if it keeps them out of US sponsored torture camps; but it might not.
Imperialistic terrorism is as much your enemy as Islamic terrorism. Maybe more so. Stop focusing on "them" so much and start looking at what "we" are doing wrong. It helps to have that perspective.-Jeff

PS. Why did we invade Iraq and Afghanistan when most of the 9/11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia?

I appreciate your schooling me, and I've learned new things from you, but I still can't quite agree totally with your view to the situation. Read what Osama and folks send to US: they want to kill or convert us. Of course that is nothing new, as that was Islam has been clear on for about 1400 years, as history shows. The fact that Canada takes in about 6M persons per year as immigrants and 50% are from the Middle East and places that mandate Islam to be THE religion, I shall remain cautious, if not paranoid about folks hanging around our part of the world.
And we agree that our government going to other countries to mind their business is damnable (vote for Ron Paul) and when we get our clocked clean (but not the innocents) we may have it coming, however to do nothing would also be an error.
Now, from your Saudi post, it sounds like you wish to change the atmospheric temperature there as well? Possibly a 4K ton fat boy over Mecca would certainly slow them down, no? Or is that too much Cheney for one post? You do realize that IS what keeps some of those guys in check, no?
But we are mixed up as we THINK in a static fashion, that is, if the bombers are Saudis, then that COUNTRY could possibly pay. But that is not the world view of Osama. He is a RELIGIONIST in that sense. He didn't like Saddam, or the Egyptian leaders, or any SECULARIST gov't leader. There are no state boundaries with him and as he uses their ignorant masses as cannon fodder, we've got to keep our eyes peeled.
https://www.nationmaster.com/red/country/ca-canada