An American Lion

I’m still not comfortable flying anywhere in this country. I cannot imagine what it must be like to get off a plane and try to get back into this country right now. Jules Crittenden has an excellent take on what recently happened to one fellow in Seattle:

When an American journalist back from the war has to report from personal experience on exactly how screwed up are the priorities and procedures of the Transportation Security Administration, in the immediate aftermath of that embarrassing underwear business, and delivers this verdict. Michael Yon on Facebook, via Instapundit: 

When they handcuffed me, I said that no country has ever treated me so badly. Not China. Not Vietnam. Not Afghanistan. Definitely not Singapore or India or Nepal or Germany, not Brunei, not Indonesia, or Malaysia, or Kuwait or Qatar or United Arab Emirates. No county has treated me with the disrespect that can be expected from our border bullies.

His crime? When asked by a government security guard how much he makes, he declined to answer, saying it was not relevant to airline security. Big Government has a Yon interview.

My own experience with Customs in 2003 was handled somewhat more professionally. There was one uniformed bozo, when in the process of answering all their questions I asked what the problem was and whether I was looking at charges, said repeatedly, “We can do this the easy way or we can this the hard way.” Even his plainclothes superior rolled his eyes at that. My personal electronics, field gear and assorted war detritus, seized by Customs in the midst of a war loot scandal, was eventually returned to me, with the exception of a notorious Saddam painting they insisted they would be returning to the grateful Iraqi people. If anyone actually witnessed that happy event, please let me know, I’d love to hear about it.

The first thing I noticed here is that the question “how much money do you make” is probably the stupidest question a security person screening threats could ask. No one in their right mind would answer that question truthfully. There are still men of my age and experience in this country who won’t answer that question in a court of law, much less in front of a gaggle of widebody slapfaces who are dressed up in rent-a-cop shirts. If you are asking a question that cannot be verified by independent pieces of information (sorry, wardrobe won’t work because we are a dressed down society), you are wasting time.

The second thing is the absence of the partisan angle here. It’s the government bureaucracy and inefficiency and incompetence that is at fault here. What, President Bush is to blame? No. President Obama is to blame? Only so far as he has not been able to put qualified people in place. Nominating someone held by Senator Jim De Mint means that someone has not sat down with the good Senator and worked things out. How hard is it for a sitting President, who has actually served in the United States Senate, to go and talk to the Senator who is holding his nominee? Oh, that’s right. You actually have to have showed up for more than a few votes here and there to build that rapport. I got it now.

The third thing is, what—no one realizes that our enemies will adapt their dress, demeanor, and appearance to that of someone who will slide past security. The next bomber or bombers will be a girl with a pretty face, willing to give lap dances to bored rent-a-cops. In the full burqa, of course.