The Friendly Skies

Thanks a lot Mr. Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab. Thank you and your underwear bomb hiding, terrorist plotting Nigerian ass. It wasn’t bad enough that African-American men are profiled daily in America on land simply by virtue of being born Black. No now, thanks to you, we are set to be profiled in the Friendly Skies as well. I say this because Umar looks just like the kid who works bagging groceries at my neighborhood Ralph’s. A fact no doubt picked up by Law Enforcement agencies all over America both on the ground and in the air. And yes he is officially Nigerian but isn’t that just a variation on the word nigger? More important than what he looks like though is his skin color, as in the eyes of these officers we all look alike anyway. Already the Right Wing Whackos who phone in to Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Becks shows are calling for the immediate detaining and full body search at the gate for any “Muslim” boarding a flight. Of course “Muslim” implies anyone who looks like Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab. Again, thanks Umar.

In case you haven’t heard Umar decided he was going to blow up a plane headed for Detroit on Christmas Day. Detroit? I don’t know if you’ve been to Detroit lately, it’s a pretty destitute city with all the unemployment, poverty and resulting crime but blowing it up? And what exactly is his problem with America anyway? The man comes from money. His father is a leading banker in Nigeria, which in itself is no small task in a country over run by corrupt government officials. In fact Nigeria has been called the most corrupt country in the world. A country rich in oil resources yet the majority of it’s people live in poverty. So I ask why Detroit? What’s so good about your own damn country? How about blowing up that dictatorial government you got in charge over there buddy?

Of course the Republicans have wasted no time in using the attempted attack as a means of stoking the fears of conservative America and attacking the Obama administration. Encouraged additionally by idiotic statements from Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, who announced immediately following the aborted bombing that “the system worked.” Really Janet? A man pays for his one-way ticket in cash at the airport with no luggage to check, his father had warned U.S. authorities about his son’s “extreme religious views”, this man passes through security with a bomb in his underwear and the system worked? How about waiting until you have all the facts next time before releasing ridiculous statements Jan. A more appropriate statement came from President Obama who conceded to flaws in the system stating there were “systemic failures”, something to which Bush would never have admitted.

Of course by that point it was too late. Dick Cheney had already launched his attack stating Obama is “trying to pretend we are not at war” and “he seems to think if he gives terrorists the rights of Americans, lets them lawyer up and reads them their Miranda rights, we won’t be at war.” Oh Dick what a short memory you have. Remember the shoe-bomber Richard Reid who tried to blow up a plane by detonating his shoes? Well, the Bush administration sent his case to a civilian court…but I guess that’s different. And this is the same Dick Cheney who authorized the release of suspected terrorists from prison at Guantanamo Bay to his Saudi friends from whom they quickly escaped. The same terrorists who now train and recruit in Yemen where one Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab trained recently…hmm.

Bottom line is this, I don’t know about you but I don’t feel any more or less safe than I did on Christmas Eve before the attempted bombing. The fact that this man was able to slip through checkpoints put in place to avoid such an attack worries me. But I’ve been worried ever since 9/11. You know 9/11 the terrorist attack on American soil that happened on Bush’s watch. Adding additional screening procedures may help but the idea of X-Ray machines or full body searches sounds intrusive and unappealing. Anyway one thing I know for sure is I’ll make sure I have on my good underwear for my next flight out of town, you know me being a “Muslim” and all.