A key member of the U.S. House of Representatives is warning that the loss of freedoms Americans are facing with invasive new screening processes demanded by the federal Transportation Security Administration would end up worse than an actual attack from al-Qaida.
The new procedures require passengers who want to fly either to submit to an electronic scan of their bodies that essentially reveals a nude image for TSA agents to see, or a hands-on-all-body-parts pat-down that includes federal employees, as critics describe, "groping" private body parts.
The issue has erupted into a firestorm in the last few days, as the procedures were launched at many airports only at the first of November. A number of groups are advocating resistance, including some that say Americans should stop flying or stage a slow-down of the system on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving by having every passenger demand the time-consuming personal inspection.
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Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, yesterday introduced the Air Traveler Dignity Act to protect Americans from physical and emotional abuse by TSA employees conducting screenings at the nation's airports.
"Something has to be done," Paul said. "Everybody's fed up. The people are fed up. The pilots are fed up. I'm fed up.
"We have seen the videos of terrified children being grabbed and probed by airport screeners. We have read the stories of Americans being subjected to humiliating body imaging machines and/or forced to have the most intimate parts of their bodies poked and fondled," he added.
In an interview today with WND, Paul said the threat through the loss of freedoms is huge.
"The TSA has become more of a threat to American freedom than al-Qaida," Paul said. "Al-Qaida wants to kill Americans, but the TSA intrusion on our freedoms now are occurring in our airports every day."
Paul encouraged the American people not to put up with intrusive TSA full-body imaging machines and pat-down procedures.
"It's atrocious," he said. "If the American people put up with this, we will end up tolerating anything. This should be a wake-call to America. We can't allow ourselves to give up freedoms just because we are frightened. And in the end, we're no safer than we were before."
A YouTube video has been created documenting some of the TSA behaviors to which Paul objects:
Paul wants to get the federal government out of the airlines passenger screening business.
His solution: "Privatize the TSA!"
"We trust Brinks to move money, and nobody robs Brinks trucks," he said. "Why can't we do the same with the Transportation Safety Administration?"
Paul pointed out that government screeners did not stop the 9/11 attacks, and he argued the current TSA enhanced screening will do no better.
"Washington messes up everything the government tries to manage," he argued. "The TSA is no different. We need to put the airlines in charge of passenger screening and let the airlines deal with security. Right now, this is a government intrusion into our freedoms that is impossible to tolerate."
Paul's legislation, H.R. 6416, is just two sentences long, stating:
No law of the United States shall be construed to confer any immunity for a federal employee or agency or any individual or entity that receives federal funds, who subjects an individual to any physical contact (including contact with any clothing the individual is wearing), X-rays, or millimeter waves, or aids in the creation of or views a representation of any part of a individual's body covered by clothing as a condition for such individual to be in an airport or to fly in an aircraft. The preceding sentence shall apply even if the individual or the individual's parent, guardian, or any other individual gives consent.
"My legislation is simple," Paul said. "It establishes that airport-security screeners are not immune from any U.S. law regarding physical contact with another person, making images of another person, or causing physical harm through the use of radiation-emitting machinery on another person. It means they are subject to the same laws as the rest of us."
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