Community | August 28, 2008 | 26 comments

7yr Old Boy Still on Terrorist Watch List. "I don't understand why I am a terrorist," he says.

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Moopak
Is this the face of a terrorist? John Anderson's family was taking a trip to Disney World in 2004 when they were stopped by security at Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport.

The airlines thought John, who goes by Jack, was on a terror watch list.

Agents were dumbfounded when they looked over the counter to see the suspected terrorist -- a 2-year-old St. Paul toddler dozing in his stroller with a pacifier hanging from his mouth.

Two years later, the family was stopped by airport security again, owing to Jack's common name. The Andersons have since given up flying, waiting for federal authorities to fix a database that has ensnared more than 30,000 Americans.

Prompted by cases such as Jack's, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is announcing legislation today to minimize airport delays and correct other problems caused by the watch list.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the FBI created a consolidated watch list to help identify potential terrorists. The list contains more than 1 million records on 400,000 individuals and is often used at airports and borders.

A Government Accountability Office report said the watch list "enhanced U.S. counter terrorism efforts."

October's report said the list created "the opportunity to collect and share information on known or appropriately suspected terrorists with law enforcement agencies and the intelligence community."

Klobuchar acknowledged that it's important to have a watch list to help gather information. "I am not opposed to it, but we need to use the technology available to reduce the number of misidentifications."

The list has received criticisms from groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union as innocent people go through increased scrutiny because their name resembles another on the list.

Not every John Anderson, Jim Smith or Susan Jones has problems. Passengers are stopped because of some combination of factors. . .

. . . Two years later, during another flight check-in at the Twin Cities airport, the Andersons hit another snag. They were once again allowed to fly, but the security checks frightened Jack as airport officials stared at him in disbelief.

"After that trip, he expressed the fact that he didn't want to fly anymore," Christine Anderson said. "He just kept asking me, 'Why am I on the terrorist watch list? I don't understand why I am a terrorist.'"

(Go to link for the full article)
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26 comments // 7yr Old Boy Still on Terrorist Watch List. "I don't understand why I am a terrorist," he says.

  • salub
    • 0
      salub  
    • The in-utero bio metric reading taken from the drone way above his mothers head detected trace elements of explosive chemicals on his clothes and his apparent objection subsequent to being born simply proves they were right in the first place - come on guys, get in with the program

    • 2 years ago
  • patricialynnkz
  • donkeyfly69
  • HereticHero
    • 0
      HereticHero  
    • I am definitely on that list. I know it.
      Yes I do hate that bastard; guess whom I'm talking about? And no I'm not a terrorist.

      But yea 2 year old, wicked dangerous.

    • 4 years ago
  • ihateyou
  • khromadjo
  • pso
    • 0
      pso  
    • So, the real John Anderson now knows he's on the list and will probably change his name because of this article?

    • 4 years ago
  • marpunk
    • 0
      marpunk  
    • Oh no the Third Red Scare! Where the pitchforks have specific unsuspecting Americans trying to commute with air-planes. I wonder when the list will be released and we'll all know if we were on it. What's the criteria? How do you not get on the list? It's definitely a club that don't want to be on the list.

    • 4 years ago
  • mookster_07
    • 0
      mookster_07  
    • I love that people's lives are being disrupted in the name of security after 'terrorist' attacks by our own government. They can stop the charade... we know it was them, just give it up already.

    • 4 years ago
  • ILiveonaClock
  • jellyfishsmackattack
  • singrrr
  • alisachka
  • seanalyn
    • 0
      seanalyn  
    • Lol sounds like one of my friends who has a very common name and because of this he gets the evil terrorist treatment every time hes at the airport (which sadly is fairly often because he travels for work like once a month).

      let me give you a description of my friend the suspected terrorist. he weighs maybe 130 pounds, has freckles, glasses, a fro, collects Star Wars toys and sounds exactly like david bowie when he sings. terrorist?!

    • 4 years ago
  • ArtisGilmoreHOF
  • mechanical_bananacle
    • 0
      mechanical_bananacle  
    • Airline security 1: He isn't a terrorist, he's a toddler.
      Airline security 2: He's on the list. Just wait a couple years and you'll see.

      I recently had a background check performed for a job application and it was deemed unacceptable by the employer and when i called the local police department (montgomery county sheriffs in NY) they said my record was clean.
      i have committed no crimes in the past.
      Just goes to show how bureaucracy works.

    • 4 years ago
  • Moopak
  • abbo
    • 0
      abbo  
    • look into the TSA's "list" of people who are listed as a security threat, but don't fit the terrorist profile. This list includes members of the press, academics, artists, writers, and others who have publicly spoken out against the administration.

    • 4 years ago
  • petarro
  • Moopak
    • 0
      Moopak  
    • Poor Kid. . . Life isn't going to be easy when he's older and wants to drive or vote.

      If this little boy was listed on the Terrorist Watch List at 2 years old then the gov't shouldn't be able to call it "intelligence."

    • 4 years ago
  • clayjj05
  • lifestudentno83
  • clayjj05
  • Fiddle4Life
  • lifestudentno83
    • 0
      lifestudentno83  
    • C'mon, obviously they could smell that he was packing a WMD in his diaper as a toddler. Why else would he be on a terrorist list? I'm glad the government stopped this potentially threatening individual...

      [sarcasm]

    • 4 years ago
  • SDLN
    • 0
      SDLN  
    • Amazing. I bet the older he gets, the less likely he is to get his name off of the list, too. By the time he's a teenager, they'll keep on the list "just in case".

    • 4 years ago
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