copyright 2004, 2024 Jay J.P. Scott
<jay@satirist.org>
Maybe they’re not so good at guns and bombs, but airport security has those names down cold. It’s an impressive information processing feat: The list has a hundred thousand names, and many of them are Arabic and have different possible transliterations, so that any similar name must also be considered suspect. Yet even a guy who has repeatedly changed his name gets nailed, bam, before he places one innocent foot on the ground. It seems impossible. But they’ve also accomplished something even more amazing: Surely, with a hundred thousand names, nearly everybody’s name must be similar to one that’s on the list, and yet many people fly successfully.
Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens and several other names, was deported from the U.S. shortly after landing there because he was named on a terrorist watch list. While some are wondering how an esteemed philanthropist and well-known peace campaigner can be even remotely suspected of terrorism, security officials are saying the system needs to be tightened up: He shouldn’t have been allowed on the plane in the first place.
the Daily Whale
copyright 2004, 2024 Jay J.P. Scott
<jay@satirist.org>