Reply from a congressman in my home state

[skynyrd1911]

Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 418, "The REAL ID Act." I
appreciate hearing from you on this important issue. H.R. 418 passed on a
bipartisan basis of 261-161.

I strongly believe that any discussion about immigration should begin
with the prot ectionofourborders.AsamemberoftheHomelandSecurity
Appropriations Subcommittee, I have heard many Homeland Security officials
testify to the porous state of both our northern and southern borders.
The threat this poses to our country is frightening. Protecting our
borders should be the first priority of America's immigration policy.

That said, I believe H.R. 418 is an important step in the right
direction. It is widely known that the 9/11 hijackers chose to use
driver's licenses and state ID's instead of passports to board the planes.
The bill does not try to set state policy for who may or may not drive a
car, but it does make it more difficult for terrorists and criminals to
get their hands on falsified ID's. This legislation is not an attempt to
create a national ID. It is about protecting America's safety and
preserving your ability to have a driver's license without fear someone is
committing crimes using your information.
States must do everything they can to keep drivers licenses out of the
hands of illegal aliens. However, many states are not acting. Many states
currently issue ID cards to people in the country illegally. This law will
help keep terrorists from moving easily throughout the country.

Finally, some have falsely claimed this bill endangers your rights to
keep and bear arms. I have and will continue to be a staunch defender of
the Second Amendment and would not have voted in favor of this bill if it
threatened this right. However, I commit to monitoring the implementation
of this law to make sure your Second Amendment rights are preserved.

Thank you again for contacting me on this important issue. Please know I
will monitor the implementation of this law to ensure that your privacy
rights are preserved. If you need further assistance, do not hesitate to
contact me or I also would encourage you to visit my website at
www.marionberry.com.

 

[Parallax]

 

[RevDisk]

Ah, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the 9/11 hijackers have legit ID and were inside the country with legit paperwork?

 

[beerslurpy]

We never even knew they were hijackers until they went and hijacked 4 planes and left a ton of identifying papers in their parked cars at the airports. They were completely legitimate paperwise for years and they all behaved like normal americans and did nothing to arouse suspcion. We wouldnt even catch them now except we explicitly look for the things they did (if only for how stupid we would look if they did the exact same thing twice and it worked the 2nd time).

Just like whoever the next Mohammed Atta turns out to be, they knew the system, they knew the profiles of suspicious people and they avoided doing things that would set the system off. Every system, no matter how secure, has holes.

Plastic explosive can be smuggled inside the body just like cocaine and retreived via laxatives in the onboard toilets. Similarly, I would almost bet that there is still significant drug smuggling going on in the baggage areas of certain airports *coughMiami* and that the same guys who are amenable to sneaking drugs on the cargo areas of planes might be open to smuggling a package that looks like drugs but explodes instead of being snorted. I'm sure there are plenty of other ways to commit terrorist acts in this country that you could think of in 30 seconds. All you need to carry them out is to be crazy and suicidal.

I honestly think that they havent tried to attack us since 9/11 and are mostly just laughing at us while we destroy ourselves from the inside with stupid security measures that do nothign except inconvenience travellers. Getting ultra-secure IDs will either make it super inconvenient to renew your driver's license (unlikely scenario) or terrorists will now get a "super hard to forge" ID when they pretend to be normal US citizens. Or corrupt govt employees could sell them for even more money on the black market. Or is it blasphemous to suggest such a thing is possible in this country?

 

[Parallax]

I think that's the purpose behind the attacks. Terrorists know we will tear ourselves apart from the inside.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Parallax is right. 9/11 was not and is not about the number of innocent lives lost (from the terrorists point of view). It's about the internal meltdown that all this has caused. In that, the terrorists have been as successful as in fatality terms.

 

[RevDisk]

Terrorism isn't about the body counts. It's about terror. 99% of these "security measures" do nothing but soak up tax dollars and annoy tax payers.

 

[Werewolf]

I think that's the purpose behind the attacks. Terrorists know we will tear ourselves apart from the inside.

Terrorists aren't that smart - you're giving them way too much credit for the ability to think strategically.

Giving them credit for analyzing the potential economic damage done by the 911 attacks is feasible. Imagining that they could predict that the attacks would lead to a loss of freedom in the USA - nahhhh.

 

[MudPuppy]

Fighting the last war applies here.

I'm stunned (and grateful) they didn't follow up the 9/11 attacks with--well, not going to say it on a public board.

I'd be very surprised if the terrorists ever go after an airliner again.