- Terror Alert High" appears just above the Fox News'
on-screen logo. Flights to the US from London, Mexico City and Paris have
been cancelled or diverted. Lurid warnings of imminent terrorist attacks
surpassing the 9/11 atrocities were put out by US Director of Homeland
Security Tom Ridge prior to the season of "goodwill to all men".
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- American fighter jets have escorted Air France flights
over US airspace fearing that terrorists might succeed in crashing them
on to cities. Air France flights were grounded because the names of six
passengers were phonetically similar to those of FBI terrorist suspects.
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- Suspected Travellers
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- In the event the suspected would-be travellers included
a toddler, an elderly Chinese woman and a respected Egyptian scientist.
According to The Observer, Al Qaida is making a determined effort to recruit
foreign nationals with American, European or British passports so, naturally,
nobody is above suspicion.
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- That five-year-old could have been carrying a suitcase
nuke instead of a plastic "back to school" bag. The Chinese woman
might have been Osama's right-hand man Ayman Zawahiri with his beard stuffed
under a mask and as for the Egyptian scientist he could have secreted a
mini weapons lab under his hat. One can't be too careful during this "War
on Terror".
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- British Airways flight 223 from London to Washington
was detained for hours at Dulles as the FBI interrogated passengers. The
airline's flight 216 from Washington to London was delayed while passengers
were re-screened.
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- Airlines with routes to the US are being lent on to fly
with armed air marshals and to provide personal details of all passengers
to the American authorities, going against the grain of most British and
European carriers.
-
- Aeromexico was forced to cancel two of its flights from
the Mexican capital to Los Angeles due to US security requirements, while
another was told to turn back in the air because passengers' sweaters hadn't
been scrutinised. Yes. Really.
-
- Those determined souls who finally make it to the "Land
of the Free" could be subjected to interrogation and fingerprinting
depending on their nationality. Most Middle-Easterners are already forced
to suffer this indignity upon arrival as, we mustn't forget - and we are
certainly not allowed to forget - 19 Arabs were involved in 9/11 .
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- Starting January 5, travellers requiring visas to enter
the US will be photographed and fingerprinted, including Brazilians, a
rule which has outraged a Brazilian judge.
-
- "I consider the act absolutely brutal, threatening
human rights, violating human dignity, xenophobic and worthy of the worst
horrors committed by the Nazis," said Federal Judge Julier Sebastiao
da Silva while demanding that retaliatory measures be implemented against
Americans entering Brazil.
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- A Worldwide Caution issued by the US government warns:
"Al Qaida will strive for new attacks designed to be more devastating
than the September 11, 2001, attacks, possibly involving non-conventional
weapons such as chemical or biological agents. We also cannot rule out
that Al Qaida will attempt a second catastrophic attack within the US."
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- A headline on the front page of the Italian daily Il
Giornale screamed: "Al Qaida: We will destroy New York within 35 days.
Threat on the Internet. Countdown begins."
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- That's it then. If I've left my heart in San Francisco,
it will just have to fend for itself. While the US issues travel advisories
like confetti urging Americans not to travel to just about everywhere on
the planet, by its own admission it is one of the most targeted countries
on earth. The US has the right to protect its citizens but the rest of
us have the right to cross it off our travel itineraries for 2004.
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- Why anyone who isn't obliged to visit the US would voluntarily
put up with uncertainty, hours or even days of airport lounges, invasion
of privacy and imposed indignities on arrival, let alone the possibility
that Ridge's warnings will materialise is beyond comprehension.
-
- According to General Tommy Franks, who led the invasion
of Iraq, if the US was attacked again suffering mega casualties, the Constitution
will likely be put aside in favour of a military government.
-
- In the December edition of a men's lifestyle magazine
entitled Cigar Aficionado, Franks warns: "If that happens, the western
world, the free world loses what it cherishes most and that is freedom
and liberty·". The travelling public might be forgiven for
believing it already has.
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- Blocked Routes
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- There is no possible way for all routes in to the US
to be blocked and every inch of every border to be policed. If terrorists
are determined enough they will eventually succeed. We were told that the
downfall of the Taliban would make the world safer; we were told the capture
of Saddam would increase our security.
-
- At the start of the New Year the fear factor has been
ratcheted even higher. Anti-Americanism is rife. Something is going badly
wrong. Bush and his War on Terror are like the man who painted his doorstep
orange saying it kept the elephants away.
-
- Until the US once again respects international laws and
treaties, refrains from threatening sovereign nations, closes the shutters
on Guantanamo, pulls out of Iraq and once again becomes an honest mediator
between Israelis and Palestinians, its enemies will multiply and its friends
might well decide to take a raincheck on Disneyland.
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- http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/Opinion.asp?ArticleID=107242
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