Recently stopped a 7 year-old boy 3 Times because he shared his name with a Pakistani man who was on the "watch" list. Full Article is all up on THIS LINK.
Mind you, I'm all for keeping kids off of planes, but the problem runs much deeper here. Like Rosie O'Donnell back-fat deep.
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EXCERPT!
For seven-year-old Javaid Iqbal, the holiday to Florida was a dream trip to reward him for doing well at school.
But he was left in tears after he was stopped repeatedly at airports on suspicion of being a terrorist.
The security alerts were triggered because Javaid shares his name with a Pakistani man deported from the US, prompting staff at three airports to question his family about his identity.
The family even missed their flight home from the U.S. after officials cancelled their tickets in the confusion. And Javaid's passport now contains a sticker saying he has undergone highlevel security checks.
(the boy's mother) Dr Nadeem said: "The system should cross reference the name, then a date of birth or some other information."
The name Javaid Iqbal was blocked and flagged up as a security alert on each airport's computer system set up by Homeland Security, a US organisation.
A 39-year-old Pakistani man of that name was arrested in New York two months after the terror attack on the World Trade Centre in 2001.
He was never charged with any terrorism offences, although he was convicted of fraud for having false papers and deported.
================To think that I am being soft on terror or softer on children, BITE YOUR TONGUE. I dislike them equally. But eventually there must be a scaling back of the situations so as not to burn images like this into the minds of children from nations filled with people looking for reasons to hate America, Americans, and E! Television.
Javaid Iqbal is 7 years old. I somehow doubt he was leaving New York a few weeks after 9/11/01 with a passport unless, you know, he was freakishly overdeveloped for a one year-old. That would be highly suspicious, and I'd probably Shiite myself.
As somebody who is stopped at Airport Security every single time I go through, (Thank You Nic Frisk and your wayward Harley Sportster, pre-9/11!!!), I can tell you it sucks. And it sucks so much that I plan to make sure that I will always arrive at the airport with enough time to get through security, and have a drink before getting to my gate.
Because when I get to security and they ask me "Would you like a private room?" My answer will always be "Yes." And I will take as much time as is needed to make sure that I am not getting on a plane with any dignity or way to defend myself against a 7 year old.
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