Ridge to agents: ?Fight terrorist with a smile

WorldNet Daily ^ | Aug. 10, 2004 | Paul Sperry

[KingsKindred]

WASHINGTON – With the nation on high alert for al-Qaida terrorists, the Department of Homeland Security is putting its border officers through "etiquette" classes to soften their image and make them less threatening to arriving foreign immigrants, WorldNetDaily has learned.

Some officers complain that the timing of the move to kinder, gentler immigration inspections is not only odd, but a switch from recent orders...

"Let me get this straight: We are in a war on terrorism and our front-line officers are going to be fired if they don't smile and say welcome to the United States?" remarked one veteran officer, who asked not to be identified because of a headquarters rule against officers speaking to the press.

[KingsKindred]

Wonder if this is a new strategery?

[goldstategop]

"Smile At Terrorists Today." It sounds like something out of a John F*ckin' "sensitive" war on terror seminar. Excuse me while I go gag.

[ovrtaxt]

"Put yourself in the alien's shoes. Would you not want the officer to consider all flexibility within the law?" the DHS document says. "Compassion goes a long ways in applying discretion."

Ah, the C word surfaces.

Quick, somebody step on it!

This is the kind of PC crap that disillusions me about our commitment to winning this war.

[Salman]

"Smile At Terrorists Today." It sounds like something out of a John F*ckin' "sensitive" war on terror seminar.

I don't know. It might put them off their guard.

[risk]

I see a smile in this image...

[martin_fierro]

Sounds like a "more sensitive war".

[zoyd]

If the edict were "Smile... Profile", I'd like the idea more.

[joesnuffy]

Mineta & Ridge....what a pair...
Whose watching the watchers...

[Rockingham]

My initial reaction to the new training was also hostile and dismissive, but, on reflection, I believe that it makes sense if done well.

There is a "heart and minds" aspect to the terror war that leads to some incongruous things: special forces in Afghanistan going to great effort providing for education and medical and veterinary care in remote villages; our helicopter pilots in Iraq dropping soccer balls, candies, and clothes on cheering and expectant flocks of kids; and Marines shooting at insurgents in a town in the "Sunni triangle," but then quickly paying cash compensation for property damage and repairing mosques to better condition than they were originally.

Doing those sorts of things makes sense to the military as ways to buy good will and make friends. Fostering a polite and respectful manner by borders and customs generally makes PR sense and is meant to help prompt cooperation and valuable information from travelers. We expect traffic cops to act that way for similar reasons, so why not our borders and customs cops?

[csvset]

"Smiling, Styling and Profiling" --- Wooooooooooo!

Ric Flair for Director of Homeland Security!

[Chemist_Geek]

Doing those sorts of things makes sense to the military as ways to buy good will and make friends. Fostering a polite and respectful manner by borders and customs generally makes PR sense and is meant to help prompt cooperation and valuable information from travelers. We expect traffic cops to act that way for similar reasons, so why not our borders and customs cops?

Hear, hear. Some of our enemies we will never turn, but their neighbors and other people, might be convinced to drop a dime on the real baddies if America is seen as polite and kind.

[Rockingham]

Friends and neutrals expect and demand to be treated well. As odd as it may sound, respect toward adversaries can also pay dividends.

Here's an example worth reading -- how an American officer's salute to a defeated Iraqi army major helped make him an ally:

http://armedservices.house.gov/GoodNews/Iraqiarmysoldier.html

Traditional cultures -- and especially the Arab and Muslim worlds -- put great stock in concepts of honor and shame. We lose ground when we do not take proper account of that, even in small things such as the manners of immigration and customs officers.

[kitchen]

Now they have new marching orders: Greet foreign passengers with "a smile" and say, "Welcome to the United States." And don't be so quick to detain suspicious foreigners, DHS advises. After all, they are "our customers."

The Department of Homeland Security has a very real and serious problem with understanding who their customers actually are.

[lancer]

Henceforth, all Border Patrol and ICE officers will be issued a jar of Vaseline...to make entry into the U.S. "more friendly."

[AmericanChef]

Cripes, I feel bile rising up.