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Keeping the USA Safe

By TChris, Section War on Terror
Posted on Wed Apr 12, 2006 at 03:46:06 PM EST
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by TChris

A reservist, anxious to return to Minnesota after serving eight months in Iraq, was detained in Los Angeles for more than an hour because his name appeared on a "watch list" of suspected terrorists. Marine Staff Sgt. Daniel Brown's name was listed after TSA discovered gunpowder residue on his boots last June -- "likely left over from a previous two-month tour in Iraq."

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    Keeping the USA Safe | 18 comments (18 topical)
    Re: Keeping the USA Safe (none / 0) (#1)
    by kdog on Wed Apr 12, 2006 at 04:48:44 PM EST
    I'm sure this error will be corrected quickly for government p.r. purposes. Like when it happened to Ted Kennedy. But if it was your name or my name on the list...I'd think we'd have major headache trying to sort it out, if we didn't end up in Guantanamo. Pardon my french, but these lists suck.

    Re: Keeping the USA Safe (none / 0) (#2)
    by jen on Wed Apr 12, 2006 at 05:34:25 PM EST
    the lists are bad, and the people who are supposed to use "good judgement" and let - say, four year olds - fly and don't are worse.

    Re: Keeping the USA Safe (none / 0) (#3)
    by Dadler on Wed Apr 12, 2006 at 07:09:37 PM EST
    A soldier coming home from a war with GUN POWDER RESIDUE on their boots gets them on a watch list??? Comedy of the abusurd. What do they expect to find on his boots, fragments of the flowers Iraqis were supposed to toss at him in the streets when we invaded? I'd bet you could find gunpowder on a lot of soldiers coming back. Someone else seems to have had some other residue in their heads. I say everyone should have to go under anaesthesia for all flights, right to sleep. Then we do an entire body search on them while they're under, just to be sure. We need to start using those oxygen masks more anyway. They're all just sitting up there. Put 'em to work.

    Re: Keeping the USA Safe (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Apr 12, 2006 at 07:14:19 PM EST
    "Pop Will Eat Itself" We can only hope...

    Re: Keeping the USA Safe (none / 0) (#5)
    by scarshapedstar on Thu Apr 13, 2006 at 01:12:31 AM EST
    It would be funny if there weren't so many Republicans who'll tell you with a straight face that if it weren't for this list we'd have had a hundred terrorist attacks by now.

    Re: Keeping the USA Safe (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Apr 13, 2006 at 04:21:50 AM EST
    A Marine MP unit. That means he was guarding captured insurgents in the Anbar area. Dangerous stuff.

    Re: Keeping the USA Safe (none / 0) (#7)
    by HK on Thu Apr 13, 2006 at 06:48:09 AM EST
    Hmmm, could this be a clever ploy to prolong the presence of armed forces in Iraq? 'I know, lets refuse to let soldiers back into the US if they have gunpowder on their boots!' Genius. What will it be next week? Any soldier with gun oil under his fingernails? Or an Iraqi stamp in his passport? After all, I can hear them telling the media, their detailed knowledge of weaponry makes these soldiers very dangerous men...

    Re: Keeping the USA Safe (none / 0) (#8)
    by Edger on Thu Apr 13, 2006 at 06:59:07 AM EST
    I know, lets refuse to let soldiers back into the US if they know from firsthand experience what's really going on over there... what the real situation is?

    Re: Keeping the USA Safe (none / 0) (#9)
    by peacrevol on Thu Apr 13, 2006 at 07:15:38 AM EST
    I say everyone should have to go under anaesthesia for all flights, right to sleep.
    That's pretty much the best idea I've ever heard. I mean most people try to sleep on the plane anyway. AND no matter how long the flight is, it would seem like it only took a few seconds. BRILLIANT! Also, I disagree w/ talkleft on one thing. They said he was happy to return to Minnesota. I've been to Minnesota and I dont think anyone is ever happy to be there or glad to be back there. j/k (but for real though, it does get cold...)

    Re: Keeping the USA Safe (none / 0) (#10)
    by Peaches on Thu Apr 13, 2006 at 07:40:40 AM EST
    (but for real though, it does get cold...)
    Some of us don't mind the cold. In fact, we wish it would stay cold. When I was a kid we would get the ice house out on Lake Mille Lacs by Thanksgiving. Now we are lucky if the ice is thick enough at Christmas--most years it ain't. Now, We got to drive all the way to Lake of the Woods to find a spot cold enough.

    Re: Keeping the USA Safe (none / 0) (#11)
    by Jlvngstn on Thu Apr 13, 2006 at 07:52:27 AM EST
    Wasn't McVeigh a veteran?

    Re: Keeping the USA Safe (none / 0) (#12)
    by peacrevol on Thu Apr 13, 2006 at 08:04:08 AM EST
    Some of us don't mind the cold. In fact, we wish it would stay cold.
    You know, the same thing happens for some of us in TX. Some of us like the heat. It gets pretty hot here in the summer and extremely humid, and I love it b/c that's when go