Govt. to Argue Detention Based on Arabic Flashcards Was Justified

[Bonobo]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinunderhill/2012/10/05/government-to-argue-detention-based-on-arabic-flashcards-was-justified/


This is an update on a story I mentioned in 2010 (“TSA Detains Possible Terrorist Armed With Flashcards“), and today’s update shows that the government’s contempt for the Fourth Amendment rages on unabated.

Nicholas George was detained in Philadelphia and interrogated for four hours after sharp-eyed but pinheaded TSA employees decided he was a threat because: (1) his passport shows he’s been to the Middle East sometime in his life and (2) he was carrying flashcards with Arabic words on them (including “bomb”). There are two possible explanations for these facts, of course: (1) he is a student who is studying the Middle East and the language most people speak there, or (2) he is a English-speaking terrorist who is for some reason planning to say “bomb” in Arabic on a plane in the United States.

Seriously—a TSA supervisor asked George the following series of questions (among others):

“Who did 9/11?”
“Do you know what language he spoke?” and
“Do you see why these cards are suspicious?”
Well, that’s an ironclad case. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the defendant openly admitted that he was in possession of materials bearing words in the same language spoken by the one man who did 9/11!” Yup, probable cause, no question about it.

[HopeHoops]

1. He probably had THIS highly suspicious link written down somewhere...

http://www.arabion.net/learnarabic.html

It's actually a really cool site.