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A Good Name Dragged Down
washingtonpost.com ^ | 3/19/08 | Ellen Nakashima

Posted on 03/19/2008 11:39:42 AM PDT by Nick Thimmesch

"One man went into a Glen Burnie, Md., Toyota dealership to buy a car, only to be told that a name check revealed he was on a U.S. Treasury Department watchlist of suspected terrorists and drug dealers. He had to be "checked for tattoos," he said, to make sure he wasn't the suspect.

An 18-year-old found he could not open an account to accept credit card payments for his fledgling technology consulting business because his name was similar to that of a Libyan official on the watchlist.

A former U.S. Navy officer who served in the Persian Gulf and whose father was killed in the Korean War when he was a child, found himself locked out of his PayPal account because his name was similar to one on the watchlist.

"What do I need to do to remove my name from this list?" the officer wrote to Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which compiles the list. He signed off, "An EXTREMELY insulted veteran of the U.S. Navy."

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption
KEYWORDS: counterterrorism; watchlist
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Warning, warning: warning Will Robinson!
1 posted on 03/19/2008 11:39:42 AM PDT by Nick Thimmesch
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To: Nick Thimmesch

In WWII they would have thrown him in a camp.


2 posted on 03/19/2008 11:41:40 AM PDT by Balding_Eagle (If America falls, darkness will cover the face of the earth for a thousand years.)
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To: Nick Thimmesch

>>”One man went into a Glen Burnie, Md., Toyota dealership to buy a car, only to be told that a name check revealed he was on a U.S. Treasury Department watchlist of suspected terrorists and drug dealers. He had to be “checked for tattoos,” he said, to make sure he wasn’t the suspect.<<

I’ll be damned before I let a car dealer “check me for tatoos”


3 posted on 03/19/2008 11:42:08 AM PDT by gondramB (Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.)
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To: Nick Thimmesch
Yes, but if it saves one child from a terrorist attack, it will all be worth it...even if he can't ever get a job as a teenager because illegals took them all. ;)
4 posted on 03/19/2008 11:42:10 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ("Wise men don't need to debate; men who need to debate are not wise." -- Tao Te Ching)
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To: Nick Thimmesch

The comments are interesting:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/18/AR2008031802971_Comments.html


5 posted on 03/19/2008 11:42:43 AM PDT by Nick Thimmesch
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To: Nick Thimmesch; archy; Travis McGee; Lurker; glock rocks; hiredhand

A car dealership has terrorists watch lists ?!?!?!?!?

I have a curbside kool aid stand and I want one as well !

Where do I get the list ?


6 posted on 03/19/2008 11:43:10 AM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.©)
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To: Nick Thimmesch
Profiling is forbidden, unless we do it to you.
7 posted on 03/19/2008 11:43:49 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Islam is a religion of peace, and Muslims reserve the right to kill anyone who says otherwise.)
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To: gondramB
He had to be “checked for tattoos”

In Glen Burnie, AND in Dundalk, people without tattoos are the exception, not the rule.

8 posted on 03/19/2008 11:47:32 AM PDT by NRA1995 (Bill Clinton: HILLARY!'s other big ass)
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To: Nick Thimmesch
-- whose name was redacted by the government to protect his privacy --

Interesting that the names are missing. Did their names include Muhammed or Hussain?

9 posted on 03/19/2008 11:47:41 AM PDT by Between the Lines (I am very cognizant of my fallibility, sinfulness, and other limitations.)
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To: Nick Thimmesch

“I can’t understand why the infidels keep harassing me every time I try to get on an airplane,” said Mohammed Jihad, 26. “The unfair treatment sometimes makes me so angry, I could explode!”


10 posted on 03/19/2008 11:51:23 AM PDT by fr_freak (So foul a sky clears not without a storm)
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To: Between the Lines
Interesting that the names are missing. Did their names include Muhammed or Hussain?

My name is Anglo-Saxon (Scottish, really, but whatever... definitely NOT Middle Eastern) and I wound up on one of those lists recently. Caused me difficulties every time I re-entered the country last winter, until one official noted that I was clearly not the person they wanted and he cleared me out of the system (or removed the flag, or did something else, because when I re-entered two weeks ago all was fine).

11 posted on 03/19/2008 12:01:51 PM PDT by sionnsar (trad-anglican.faithweb.com |Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: Nick Thimmesch

This is important.


12 posted on 03/19/2008 12:02:08 PM PDT by lilylangtree (Veni, Vidi, Vici)
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To: NRA1995
"In Glen Burnie, AND in Dundalk, people without tattoos are the exception, not the rule."

LOL! In Dundalk you graduate from "hoskull" then go to "cawidge".

13 posted on 03/19/2008 12:04:30 PM PDT by boop (Democracy is the theory that the people get the government they deserve, good and hard.)
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To: boop
In Dundalk you graduate from "hoskull" then go to "cawidge".

Dundalk has cawidge students? Their schools must have one hell of a grading curve....

14 posted on 03/19/2008 12:10:00 PM PDT by NRA1995 (Bill Clinton: HILLARY!'s other big ass)
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To: NRA1995

LOL !!!


15 posted on 03/19/2008 12:41:33 PM PDT by Nick Thimmesch
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To: lilylangtree

I agree: especially to those wrongly on any “lists”. WHen I fly these days (which is rare thank God), here’s what I do:

1) I wear rubber flip-flops, shorts (even in the winter) and a wife beater: that way I have little to search and I don’t have to do the shoe routine usually.

2) I carry only my ticket, my ID, occasionally my cell phone, and a few bucks cash (no coins).

3) I check ALL luggage.

4) I hold my arms in the air when going through the detector.

5) I keep my mouth shut and look directly at all TSA people giving orders.

6) I head right to the bar after stopping by the news shop to get reading & smoking materials (although you can smoke in a scant few airports in one of those death chambers where you don’t even really need to light a cig, just breathe the air) and get as drunk as possible.

7) Once on the plane, I pray to God to get us all safely wherever we are going and stay in my seat.

8) Once landed & deboarded, I pick up my bags and get the hell outta the airport ASAP.


16 posted on 03/19/2008 12:48:32 PM PDT by Nick Thimmesch
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To: Nick Thimmesch

Actually, in Glen Burnie, Dundalk, Thurmont, Emmitsburg and Hagerstown, girls who don’t have tramp stamps are protected under the Endangered Species Act.


17 posted on 03/19/2008 1:13:01 PM PDT by NRA1995 (Bill Clinton: HILLARY!'s other big ass)
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To: Squantos

My girlfriend’s brother just bought a new Honda Accord coupe and the dealership had to take pictures of his driver’s license and social security card, and submit them both to Washington to see if he was a terrorist!

Ed


18 posted on 03/19/2008 1:13:59 PM PDT by Sir_Ed
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To: Nick Thimmesch

Whoopee.
My name is Robert Scott. It is a fairly common name in this area, and many who share my name have criminal records and outstanding warrants. It doesn’t matter is your name is common on a watch list or an outstanding warrant list - it will cause a hassle.


19 posted on 03/19/2008 1:24:03 PM PDT by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink)
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To: Nick Thimmesch

Interesting? With a couple of exceptions it looked like a DU thread.


20 posted on 03/19/2008 1:39:49 PM PDT by GATOR NAVY (Your parents will all receive phone calls instructing them to love you less now.)
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