Friday, October 06, 2006

Guarding us against repeat offenders
Once again, the level of compitence exhibited by our government in keeping us safe from terrorists is in the news.
A US no-fly list used to try to prevent terror attacks includes the names of 14 of the long-dead 11 September hijackers, US news channel CBS reports.
Jailed former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein also features on the list, which has been seen by CBS's 60 Minutes programme.

The names of Bolivian president Evo Morales and Lebanon's parliamentary speaker, Nabih Berri, also appear.

A former FBI agent told the programme the list was assembled hastily.

The document lists 44,000 people banned from flying in the US, and was drawn up after the 2001 attacks on the US, the programme reports.

[...]

"They basically did a massive data dump and said: 'Okay, anybody that's got a nexus to terrorism, let's make sure they get on the list.'"

However, the names of the 11 British suspects recently accused of a plot to blow up airliners flying to the US were not included on the list.

Cathy Berrick, director of Homeland Security investigations for the General Accounting Office told CBS that this was due to concerns that the list could end up in the wrong hands.

I might be wrong, but I think most suicide bombers tend not to be repeat offenders.

No comments: