Passengers tell TSA: Keep your hands off my religious beliefs

By Tara Bahrampour at 12:00am on Jan 1, 2011 — The Washington Post Modified at 1:51am on Jan 1, 2011

WASHINGTON — As Erum Ikramullah prepared to head to National Airport late last month for a flight out of Washington, she mulled two distasteful choices: the body scanner or the pat-down? Ever since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a trip to the airport has been fraught for Muslims, who sometimes think they are being unfairly scrutinized because of their religion. The addition of full-body scanners, which many say violate Islam's requirements for modesty, has upped the stakes, especially for women. Ikramullah, who is 29 and wears a headscarf, was reluctant to go through the new scanners, which reveal the contours of the human body in glaring detail. In Islam, "a woman's body and a man's body are both pretty much private," she said. "I choose to cover myself and dress in loose-fitting clothing so the shape of my body is not revealed to everyone in the street." The other choice, an "enhanced" pat-down in which security agents touch intimate body parts, was hardly more appealing, said the College Park, Md., resident. In recent years, she said, she has been pulled aside for a milder version of the pat-downs almost every time she flies. The reason, she suspects, is her headscarf.

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Many people fail to realise that the new measures being used to control ordinary people going about their lawful business affects them in so many ways. It cost ordinary people billions to sustain this security infrastructure while investors like Chertoff get enormously wealthy from the sale of scanner machines. There is talk of having these scanner machines being put on trucks and let loose in the cities and towns of the US to scan vehicles on the road. Soon enough, transport hubs, bus terminals and subways will have scanners and enforcers selecting commuters and travelers to be scanned.

These scanners and gate rapes/heavy pattings violate the required modesty of people of faith. While it is acceptable for many that Muslims get violated, they fail to see that the violators will be giving greater attention to others because there are more of them. People's mothers, daughters, the disabled, victims of rape, children and all of us are now subject to prison style body searches, scanners or both.

I think vested interests have jumped on this bandwagon of security and the profit minded prison industry has tendered and won contracts to manhandle citizens as if they are a potential threats irrespective of the individual's imperatives.

So, basically, Muslims expect a free pass because of their religious beliefs when it's the more extreme form of their religious beliefs that have a large hand in causing the situation in the first place.

Traditional and conservative Christianity tends to have fairly stringent modesty guidelines, particularly for women, and they're not likely to get a pass because of that, so Muslims shouldn't either.

Originally posted by Ilovecatbinlady
These scanners and gate rapes/heavy pattings violate the required modesty of people of faith.

I strongly disagree. Your refusal to be security checked violates other air travelers' rights to not being blown up! Gate rape? That obvious exaggeration shows how unrealistically paranoid you are. Who cares about seeing the fuzzy outline of your body any way? It's all in your mind.

Originally posted by gnosticquasar
So, basically, Muslims expect a free pass because of their religious beliefs when it's the more extreme form of their religious beliefs that have a large hand in causing the situation in the first place.

Traditional and conservative Christianity tends to have fairly stringent modesty guidelines, particularly for women, and they're not likely to get a pass because of that, so Muslims shouldn't either.

The ironic part is that the Muslims are the ones responsible for these more extreme security measures. So now they don't want to be checked. Why? So they can sneak a bomb onto a plane?

point is ,

i does not matter what the tsa or any other company have as policy as long as its withinn whats know as written law ,

if its not you dont need to apply ,

same thing goes out to all guards and security fellow , you may not detain on just policy , it has to be written law

for all i care their policy might be that i need to arrive at the airport with a pink elephant but if its not written law i dont need to comply, so i couldent care less

dont blame it on the muslims, blame the governments for black oping their own people and blaming it on religion.

quit flying and put the airlines out of business. thattle fixem

reply to post by Unknown Origin

Your refusal to be security checked violates other air travelers' rights to not being blown up!

You make an illogical assertion. You can not have a right to a negative. You have right to be safe but how you can maintain that safety is a debatable matter and we are debating.

Gate rape? That obvious exaggeration shows how unrealistically paranoid you are.

Yes, gate rape because the intrusive pat down entails the prodding of genetalia, breasts, vaginas through clothing including the violator's insertion of hands into the waistbands. The allegation of rape is in the mind of the violated. Normally someone who believes they have been raped and there is evidence of an event is not called violated. If I am pulled out of a crows without probable cause and my crotch investigated I can believe to be raped.

Who cares about seeing the fuzzy outline of your body any way? It's all in your mind.

The scanners do not produce fuzzy outlines, the produce very clear images of people's bodies and genetalia and for good measure, it issues a dose of radiation.




New gate-rape procedure; hand on hip and cupped hands to the male genitals.




Airport scanner image released for the media with the comfort making image degradation but you can still the mans testicles.




Airport scanner image from the manufacturer's publicity in 2007.

reply to post by gnosticquasar


Nobody is asking for a free pass but I think they should offer an opt in and only people who are in favour should be scanned and gateraped.

reply to post by Ilovecatbinlady


I really wish you had censored that picture before posting, I'm eating my dinner and didn't really want to see man tackle

On topic, would you rather people be thoroughly searched for weapons or bombs, or would you rather someone sneak one and board and kill a load of people?

reply to post by woogleuk


Did you travel before the "War on Terror"? Do you remember how they stopped drugs smugglers and potential terrorists then?

The authorities used the same method they use in casinos for catching card counters. CCTV was used to watch people's faces, fake travelers milled amongst real travelers, metal detectors were used and hand luggage and coats were put through x-ray machines.

Now the authorities want to manhandle our testicles and x-ray us!.

reply to post by woogleuk


Bombing and Hijackings are so rampant these days I don't know why anyone even flies. It's practically guaranteed if you fly; you die.


Oh wait, that's right; the odds of dying in a terrorist attack are actually less than they are of winning the lottery.

reply to post by eNumbra


If airport security wasn't more strict then I reckon we would have seen another, if not more, 9/11 style attacks.

The increased security has already stopped several attempts. Just look at the printer bomb they found for a start, if that had gone off as intended it would have been another Lockerbie.

There is an easy solution that nobody wants to do. Quit flying people, quit making excuses and quit whining and quit flying. You people are feeding the giant. For all of the people that say, I have to fly. No you do not. It is simple no passengers, no screenings. The problem is everybody keeps on a flying and keeps on a complaining. So coming from someone who doesn't fly, put your money where your mouth is.

Originally posted by woogleuk
reply to post by eNumbra

 

If airport security wasn't more strict then I reckon we would have seen another, if not more, 9/11 style attacks.

The increased security has already stopped several attempts. Just look at the printer bomb they found for a start, if that had gone off as intended it would have been another Lockerbie.

Absolutely, had increased TSA screening of passengers not found (by accident if I remember right) those printer cartridge bombs (that originated in Yemen) that were actually in cargo (which isn't screened as thoroughly as passengers are) we'd see a terror attack a month.

Each time there has been a thwarted attack TSA never stopped it; they changed afterwards. TSA screening of my penis doesn't stop terror attacks.

Originally posted by woogleuk
reply to post by eNumbra

 

If airport security wasn't more strict then I reckon we would have seen another, if not more, 9/11 style attacks.

The increased security has already stopped several attempts.

No there wouldn't have been another 9/11. There was not one before and there has not been one since. 9/11 was the anomaly and for it to happen again the planets would have align and the first monkey you give a typewriter to would accidentally bash out the correct sequence of letters to write a Shakespear play.

Increased security allowed the Underwear Bomber to fly without a passport.

reply to post by Unknown Origin


I actually don't really object to the scanners; I don't really see it as that big of a deal. Those pat-down techniques, however, are blatantly invasive and sexual assault territory.

Originally posted by Ilovecatbinlady

No there wouldn't have been another 9/11. There was not one before and there has not been one since.

1988 Pan Am Flight 103 - Lockerbie, stands out the most in my mind, but here is a list of aircraft hijackings:

List of aircraft hijackings

reply to post by Unknown Origin



Spot on, when was the last time a Choir from the local Church or people from the Baptist Church up the road started blowing themselves up and killing others too?

Only Muslims are doing it and I'm told that they believe in Ala, their God. Supposedly, if you kill yourself and others, you go to heaven with lots of virgins and are made famous so to speak.

What kind of religion teaches murder, that's not right, surely not!

Then you get Christianity teaching people to love one another and be kind, help people and so on.

So which one is right? Who would you rather fly with, the local Vicar or a crazy Muslim?

reply to post by minkey53


The worst thing is, "Allah" is the same god christians believe in, just the story is different. Anyway, in Ireland you've got protestants and catholics blowing each other up all the time.

reply to post by Ilovecatbinlady


OMFG.

Personally, I don't mind anyone seeing my tackle but I don't want it irradiated either.

I just showed the wife those photos and we've now cancelled our trip to Disney with the kids this summer.

Imagine what kind of people are now applying to work for the TSA!

BTW, do TSA women do the pat downs for females or do the men get to grope my wife if we still fly?