2002 Bull Crap

In case you have not turned on a TV or read a newspaper - I think I should inform you that there is a big hoo-ha going on over some sort of domestic spy program. Alberto Gonzalez has said that it was perfectly legal to ignore the FISA law, because the wartime powers granted to Bush by the congress authorized it. Whatever.

And the White House has said that the program is needed to keep us safe. They say over and over and over that democrats "have a pre-September 11" view of the world - whatever that means. Apparently, government controls and individual rights is not exactly a post 9-11 view. I did hear a good comeback to this while listening to the hearings. Some senator said "the problem is not that democrats have a pre 9-11 view of the world, the problem is that the president has a pre-1776 view of the world". Pretty good comeback if you ask me.

And now the White House has released that because of the domestic wire taps, a plot was foiled in 2002 to breech the cockpit door of an aircraft and crash it into a building in Los Angeles. Except the President mentioned a different building from the original press release. OOPS! An honest mistake - or yet another lie????

And there is ANOTHER problem with the statement. I used to work for TSA. I started with TSA in October of 2002. Here is why I simply DO NOT believe that there was any plot stopped in 2002.

When I started as a screener, we WERE NOT LOOKING AT SHOES! People were not asked to remove their shoes at the checkpoint, unless the shoes sounded the walk in metal detector. If your shoes did not "beep" the walk-through machine, you were clear. It was in NOVEMBER of 2002 that the first directive to require shoes to come off came down - and it was quickly canceled. Then it was restored. This is a fact. Ask anyone who flew frequently in 2002 if they had to remove their shoes every time. They will say no.

So you can believe the President - that he KNEW in early 2002 that there were more shoe bomb plots planned - but airport screeners were told to NOT REQUIRE people to put their shoes into the x-ray machine, or you can weigh the evidence and make your own conclusions.

The only conclusion that can be drawn is that the "2002 plot" is being made up. A lie, to justify violating the fisa law. Or you can conclude that the government knew about a shoe bomb plot and then trained the first waves of airport screeners to NOT SCREEN SHOES.

Of course, now all shoes are acreened. Even if your shoes do not set off the metal detector. All shoes are put into the x-ray machine. But not in 2002. I know that because I was working for TSA.

I do not believe the "2002 plot" story the White House let out. Not a single word of it. My only other option is to believe the plot story is true, and in spite of that I was told in the TSA training class - and during the first few weeks on the job - that I could not require people to remove their shoes before the walk-in metal detector. Either the story is another in a long series of lies (along with the "the people of Iraq will throw rose petals before the troops") or the government KNEW about a dangerous plot - and did little to nothing to prevent it. AFTER 9-11, not before.

Think for yourself. Try to remember 2002, when TSA was new. Did you fly? Did you have to remove your shoes? Did you fly frequently, or only during the last two months of the year? Do you know someone who flew frequently in 2002? Ask them what they had to remove at the checkpoint. Draw your own conclusions.