According to the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, before September 11, 2001, there were 16 people on the "no-entry" list; by the end of 2001, the list had grown to a thousand, and just a year later another 40,000 names were added. According to a directive from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, representatives of airlines whose flights are bound for the United States "must check passenger names against this list." If "names of potential terrorists" are found, airline personnel are advised to contact the police immediately. In addition, while the aircraft is heading to the United States, American authorities additionally screen all passengers on the airliner.
According to some analysts, the fact that over four years the number of "banned" foreigners grew from 16 to 80,000 indicates that Washington has begun to keep tabs on any person or organization (primarily Islamic) that has expressed any negative views about U.S. international policy. The Bush administration sincerely believes that Muslims who criticize America and the Iraq war want to destroy it. Further confirmation of this came from a speech by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney at the U.S. Army base "Fort Drum" (New York state) last week.
Bush's "right hand" stated that terrorists intend to create an Islamic empire in Iraq and then destroy Western civilization, including the United States. "Terrorists believe that by controlling an entire country, they will be able to target and overthrow other governments in the region, and create a radical Islamic empire that spans the region from Spain, through North Africa, through the Middle East and South Asia all the way to Indonesia," the vice president stressed. "They have also clearly stated that their main goal is to arm themselves with weapons of mass destruction, destroy Israel, intimidate Western states, and cause mass casualties here in the United States."
To protect itself from such a global threat and to prevent dangerous foreigners, from the White House's point of view, from entering the country, Washington is introducing a number of other measures in addition to the "blacklists." From October 2006, citizens of 27 countries that currently have visa-free travel will need to have new-style foreign passports. These must contain a special microchip, which in turn will hold all biometric data of a person, including full name, date and place of birth, citizenship, distinguishing features, fingerprints, document number, and a digital photograph. If they do not have such a passport, citizens of these countries must apply for an entry visa at the U.S. embassy. Obtaining one may take several weeks. Already now, all issued entry visas have such a microchip.
However, the need to obtain a new passport has drawn sharp criticism from human rights organizations and travel agencies, which believe the innovation will do more harm than good. Each embedded microchip has a miniature antenna that transmits radio signals to special receiving devices or scanners. According to critics, terrorists could easily obtain such machines and then detect the presence of American citizens on the street or in other crowded places abroad. The fact is that even now, depending on the complexity of the model, a radio scanner can be freely purchased for between $500 and $1,000.
"Terrorists or kidnappers would only need to walk down a hotel corridor to determine whether Americans are present. With such a scanner, they can find out how many U.S. citizens are in a cafe and then set off a bomb there. Thus, the passport can pose a real threat to its holder's life," said a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union. The State Department acknowledges the vulnerability of the proposed microchip and the "possibility of an unauthorized reading of information by a powerful device." However, government officials claim that the scanner must be very close to the new passport.
Among other innovations of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is the authorization for military pilots to shoot down aircraft that have entered the airspace of Washington and other American cities without permission. However, Pentagon officials refuse to comment on the secret resolution, saying that the U.S. Department of Defense "welcomes any actions that can increase the level of national security." According to U.S. media, this decision was made after a series of incidents in May of this year, when small private planes entered the no-fly zone. As a result, an urgent evacuation was carried out of White House staff (including President George Bush), the U.S. Congress complex, the U.S. Supreme Court building, and the Treasury Department.
The readiness of American authorities to see a potential terrorist in every passenger arriving in the United States led to tragic consequences this week. The incident in question occurred at Miami International Airport, where air marshals (whose mission is to prevent terrorist attacks on flights) shot a passenger aboard a plane arriving from Colombia. The Boeing 757 had made an intermediate stop in Miami and was almost ready for takeoff, heading to Orlando, Florida. At that time, intelligence agents did not like that a "too agitated man" was running around the cabin, shouting that he had an explosive device.
Air marshals attempted to isolate and question him, but he, ignoring commands, rushed out of the plane, which was still at the terminal. After that, 44-year-old U.S. citizen Rigoberto Alpizar allegedly reached into his bag. Then one of the armed police officers opened fire to kill. According to eyewitness testimony, next to the restless passenger was his wife, who tried to explain that her husband was mentally ill and had not taken his medication on time. However, at the most dramatic moment, the woman's words were ignored. When Alpizar was already dead, experts checked his luggage and found no explosives there.