WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. watch list of terrorism suspects has passed 1 million records, corresponding to about 400,000 people, and a leading civil rights group said on Monday the number was far too high to be effective.
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President George W. Bush ordered in the current list in September 2003 as a way to wrap several growing terrorism watchlists into a single government database compiled and overseen by the FBI, through a Terrorist Screening Center.
Suspected terrorists or people believed to have links to terrorism are included on the list, which can be used by a wide range of government agencies in security screening. About 50,000 individuals are included on the Transportation Security Administration "no-fly" or "selectee" lists that subject them to travel bans, arrest or additional screening.
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Personally, I'm surprised Mrs. F and I aren't on the list. We leave the country twice a year for two weeks at a clip and our passports fill up with entry/exit stamps before they expire. Thank God for Republican ineptitude or we'd get jacked up constantly.
The 'War on Terra' and the birth of 'Homeland Security' are just two more ways the Republicans pay off their donors. The Rethugs have done a great job of turning the U.S. government into a vehicle to allow the rich to get richer. "Government contracts" and "federal funding" are merely different names for "food stamps" and "welfare checks" for the wealthy at the expense of those who really need it. The spectre of terrorism enables no-bid contracts and little oversight. An ongoing war, half a world away, allows them to do it with little to no scrutiny.
The Republicans rail against 'social programs' yet have built one for themselves. In the 21st Century, the U.S. government works for the rich. 'Terror' and 'Security' are merely phrases designed to force the rest of us into going along with it 'for our own good'. The Iraq Occupation makes certain we'll have enough enemies so they can keep up the illusion, same with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. It is not in the interest of Big Business to end them. Without the threat of Death looming around every corner, Americans wouldn't let them get away with it.
Without big, bad enemies, there would be no need for the 'military-industrial complex', no need for 'Homeland Security', no need for the fear and paranoia that allows the government to waste our money on programs that are wasteful at best and totally ineffective at worst.
As my commanding officer said to me a little over 25 years ago: "Son, pray we always have the Soviet Union and the Communists to demonize. I'd hate to see what they'd do if they had to find another enemy to justify their existence."
It meant little to a 20 year old kid at the time but today I can appreciate what the Colonel was trying to tell me. I find it very hard to believe that if the threat the Soviet Union (let us remember, the Soviets had thousands of nuclear warheads pointed at us that could reach the continental U.S. in minutes) posed did not force us into this postmodern nightmare at the height of the Cold War, a couple guys in a cave can do it today. I can't believe we could extract intelligence agents and operators from behind the Iron Curtain 30 years ago, yet can't seem to locate and kill Osama bin Laden and his posse.
I posit that it is not in Wealthy America's interest to do so.
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