Locked Down

I see that Glenn Greenwald and I had the exact same reaction to the news that Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) wants to extend the "no fly" list to trains now that it has been reported that information obtained from the alleged Bin Laden compound indicated that Al Qaeda had considered a terrorist attack on the rails.

Here's what Greenwald had to say:

Trains can obviously be attacked without boarding them (indeed, these documents apparently discussed tampering with the rails, which wouldn't require boarding the trains at all). And if there's a "no-ride" list for Amtrak, why not for subways and buses, too? If Al Qaeda is found to have discussed targeting restaurants, will we have a no-eat list? If Al Qaeda is found to have discussed targeting large intersections or landmarks, will we have a no-walk list? How about a no-shop list in response to the targeting of malls?

But this, more or less, encapsulates the U.S. response to Terrorism since 9/11: the minute Al Qaeda utters a peep about anything, the political class collectively jumps to restrict our freedoms, empower the Government, and bankrupt ourselves in self-destructive pursuit of the ultimate illusion: Absolute Security. Al Qaeda has caused us to do more harm to ourselves than it could have ever dreamed of imposing on its own. And even in death, Osama bin Laden continues to serve as the pretext for all of this...

In my mind's eye, this is a whole big vat of subterfuge! One must figure that terrorist groups have discussed every possible way to attack their targets. I am sure they have brainstormed about every mode of transportation and looked at every place where large numbers of people frequently congregate.

As Greenwald pointedly underscores, if we want to be as safe as humanly possible, we would have to create thousands of no-no lists and we still wouldn't be half as safe as we think we are!!

This is nothing more than a pretense by the ruling oligarchs both to frighten and hassle the populace. It has nothing to do with so-called homeland security.