Thursday, December 31, 2009

War on Peace

You know, I've been trying to avoid politics here lately.

Not so much for your sake, but because my poor little brain may just explode if I begin worrying about the whole world's problems.

But about this Christmas Day bombing attempt...

So I've been standing barefoot on cold, dirty linoleum, shuffling strollers, bags, laptops and babies in arms, measuring liquids into 3 oz bottles before securely ziplocing them into a TSA-approved baggie, waiting around for hours before flights and getting questioned like a terrorist at every checkpoint...but some Nigerian who was on watch lists, whose father warned us he was crazy, who paid cash for his ticket, didn't check bags, had his Visa denied in UK and studied in Yemen...he goes right through? Wearing women's underwear stuffed with explosives?

After a decade, 2 wars, trillions of dollars, tens of thousands of lives lost, Americans terrorized (by the TSA, not the terrorists) here at home--THIS IS WHERE WE ARE AT WITH THE WAR ON TERROR?

Fuck!

I'm starting to think we are our own terror. We are going to get ourselves killed through our own rampant stupidity and misplaced priorities. Our own people are literally going hungry and dying and we're chasing this rag-tag group of idiots around the world (and we apparently suck at it) wasting more money we don't have while barely bothering to protect those here at home?

And you know, flying is bad enough. What used to be somewhat of a luxurious treat is now akin to riding a Greyhound bus. I don't want to go through a full body scanner that will show me naked. I don't want to remain seated with no entertainment for an hour before landing. The thought that flying is most likely going to get even worse, as a result of our own inability to manage the rules put in place after the last attack attempt, is truly unbearable. I see road trips in my future.

Anyway, I think it is safe to say that the war on terror is going just about as well as the war on drugs.

18 comments:

Jen said...

I agree with you, especially about our own people going hungry, we're missing our own priorities whilst worrying about so many other countries. But I think truthfully, the government wants our attention focused on something else other than the situation here at home, and that is why the "war on terror" goes on. I don't think our government wants to catch Osama Bin Laden, because it will end the diversion.

I hope we can change it, but I'm not holding my breath.

Lin said...

You took the words right out of my mouth! Great post :)

Cara said...

I totally and completely agree with you!

smarti said...

The last time I flew, I had to take off my sweater and got a pat down for wearing wide leg pants...where were those agents when that guy got on board?

I went to the Middle East a few years ago (before 9/11). I traveled from Syria to Jordan to Lebanon to Egypt to Israel. When we left Israel to fly to Greece, our bags were thoroughly inspected (b/c we'd been to Syria). Everything in my bag was pointed at and I had to tell the inspectors what each thing was: camera, film, notebook, shoes. It got rather ridiculous when they got to my dirty underware bag! Maybe we should have Israeli soldiers as TSA agents across the world!

Unknown said...

Jen, crazy paranoid Ashley (who may be the smartest of all the Ashleys truthfully) secretly fears that the war on terror fear mongering is a cover to take more of our privacy and rights as citizens away.

I mean, I believe these guys are out there--I just don't know if the level of alarm, expense and concessions we're asked to make are worthy of the risk present.

Let's just bring our troops home and let them fly around with us and shoot anyone who tries to get out of line.

(That being said, I'm not exactly privy to top secret confidential info, so maybe it's not as easy as it all seems...but still).

Mommy Wishdom said...

Well said! Scary how little improvements we've actually made.

Unknown said...

Ohh, Slack, how was Egypt? That's on my life list. Where did you go in Greece? We did Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, Crete, Rhodes and Ephessus in Turkey and I will probably spend the rest of my life trying to get back to Santorini. Your travels sound interesting (although slightly invasive, lol).

Lindsey said...

awesome post! I flew into Detroit yesterday and I didn't notice any type of 'different' security.... what is it we pay our 9/11 security fee for?

Gail Dixon said...

Well said. And amen!!! You managed to state every thought I have about our air travel system. Well, it's not really a system, it's a joke.

Anonymous said...

AMEN!!!! Right on!

Anonymous said...

Bravo!!! I couldn't have said it better.

mmunford2000 said...

Very well spoken Ashley. Several years ago we flew to CA from GA. I was 5 months pregnant and had a 3 year old son. Of course we were the two "randomly" chosen people to get patted down. Imagine seeing your 3YO with the metal detector wand going around him and beeping. They asked me what he had in his pockets. Who the hell knows? What does ANY 3YO have in their pockets? Matchbox car, magnetix, coins, you name it! They they were talking to him (not me) and telling him to turn out his pockets. Now, you tell me, what little kid understnads that! So I started to just do it for him. They knearly knocked me down trying to stop me! I told them, "he doesn't understnad what you are trying to tell him to do. Can't I help him?" No you cannot touch him. So then I had to demonstrate so that he could do it properly without my touching him. Turns out it was his ZIPPER!!!! Nothing in his pants! GRRRRR!!! I had to convince them that my stomach was nothing more than a baby. What are we coming to?!?!?

Kenny and Chrissy said...

Wow,that was articulate. You make more sense than the idiots on television and in print. I wonder how many troops have to die fighting the war that no one seems to care about before we start relying on some common sense.

shelly said...

Well said Ashley, you took the words right out of my mouth. But then people always say, "wouldn't you rather feel safe?" But you're right there needs to be fool-proof way to do it and less invasively.

Last time I flew I felt just as you did. One container was unmarked but clearly smaller than one marked 3oz and they tossed it. Then watched my reaction as they did.

Chacoy said...

What I find funny is the guy had fire crackers in our panties!
What if it had blown up and he lived? That would teach him;} LMAO

Maggie said...

Amen, Ashley. If you can find it online, read David Brooks' article in the New York Times today. He says that as a nation we're acting like spoiled adolescents and not adults.

Melanie Sheridan said...

I agree. I've been one of the "let's take of our own business and let the rest of he world blow themselves up" type of people for awhile. Which isn't very popular, especially as a military wife, but it's how I feel.

As a nation and government we've spent countless dollars and lost so many lives fighting battles (some of which aren't really ours the way I see it) while we have people starving, losing their homes and jobs and our health care situation is nearing crisis levels.

We need to take care of our own and let everyone else sort out their own problems.

Maddness of Me said...

Don't mess with Michiganders trying to get home for Christmas on a plane. Oh no you di' nt. The guy is lucky he got turned over to the police because they were about to go medieval on his ass.

I believe more people need to push back with these jerks and not give in to fear.