Jul 1, 2004

Terror Alert: Watch for evidence of rope-burns, noogie marks, and wedgies...

Digital Rotation:
Sounds of Summer '04: A Brownout Mix (ask really nice, and I'll send you one!)

You MUST be kidding. So now we're profiling under the guise of supposed evidence of terrorist camp hazing? Can you imagine? If someone gets roughed up in the process of being questioned at the airport, that in turn could be cited as adequate reason for suspicion. Are we getting closer and closer to the pre-crime unit portrayed in Spielberg's prophetic Minority Report?


U.S. Customs targeting Pakistanis
Wednesday, June 30, 2004 Posted: 7:27 AM EDT (1127 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A bulletin from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection department asks inspectors at the country's major airports to closely examine all passengers of Pakistani descent for injuries that may have been incurred in terrorist training camps, a U.S. official has confirmed to CNN.

A two-page "action" bulletin, dated June 17, says recent intelligence from Pakistan and elsewhere indicates that people of Pakistani descent "are increasingly being identified with" extremist activities, "including supporting [and] protecting the operations of terrorist training camps in Pakistan."

The document says U.S. officials believe "many of the individuals trained in the Pakistani camps are destined to commit illegal activities in the United States."

However, a U.S. official told CNN there is no specific information to suggest such individuals are headed to the United States.

The official also said that the department of Customs and Border Protection does "not target anyone based on race," but it does pay close attention to areas where terrorists are known to operate.

"We can't discuss intelligence operations or information," the official said.

In the bulletin, airport inspectors are advised to closely look at people of Pakistani descent who have taken short trips to Pakistan that were not related to family or business reasons and examine them for injuries like "rope burns ... unusual bruises ... [and] scars," -- injuries that may have come from training in terror camps.

"Officers should look for indications the individual engaged in rappelling activities (rope burns on arms/legs)," the bulletin said.

They should also examine people for "unusual bruises resulting from obstacle course activities."

-- CNN Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve contributed to this

1 comment:

Rage said...

Or NYPD.