Scanning terror

A passenger undergoes a security scan at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, on December 28, 2009. Schiphol currently has 15 of these devices.-AFP

THE attempt by the young Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up an American passenger plane over Detroit airport on Christmas day has given the Obama administration an excuse to escalate the so-called war on terror. It has now been revealed that the suspect was on the terror list of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for some time.

Abdulmutallabs father, a successful businessman who had close links with Nigerian and American authorities, had warned the U.S. embassy in Abuja about his sons growing jehadist tendencies. Yet, Abdulmutallab was allowed to board a plane headed for the U.S.

According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, an Israeli firm, ICTS International, was in charge of profiling passengers at Amsterdams Schiphol Airport, where the Nigerian boarded the U.S.-bound plane with a minuscule amount of explosives hidden in his underwear. The suspect had brought a high-priced ticket, chosen an illogical route and had no checked-in baggage, all tell-tale signs of suspicious behaviour.President Barack Obama, despite admitting to serious intelligence lapses, has not taken any action against the CIA or other American security agencies.

On December 30, a 32-year-old Jordanian physician, Khalil al-Balawi, blew himself up at a top-secret CIA base in Khost, Afghanistan, killing seven American secret agents and a Jordanian intelligence official. Balawi was working for the CIA and the Jordanian intelligence but was in fact a double agent owing allegiance to the Taliban. Balawi, like Abdulmutallab, according to reports, was radicalised by the atrocities perpetrated on Palestinians and the increasing use of drones by the U.S. military to target civilian populations in Afghanistan. The CIA station in Khost was in fact engaged in collecting information on sites to be selected for drone attacks.

The U.S., as in the past, reacted to these individual acts of terrorism by targeting countries that had no direct involvement in the incidents. Initially, there was even talk of attacking Yemen where Abdulmutallab is believed to have got his training in terror tactics. Obama has since clarified that he has no intention at the moment to put American boots on the ground in Yemen.

One fallout of the Christmas day terror incident is that air passengers from many developing countries will now be subject to even harsher U.S. anti-terrorism laws. Several countries had expected Obama to roll back at least some of the tough measures enacted by his predecessor after the events of September 11, 2001. But after the attempt by Abdulmutallab to blow himself up, the Obama administration has institutionalised more draconian measures.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA), acting under the orders of the White House, issued new security directives that place millions of people from more countries under strict surveillance.

The directives, issued in the first week of January, stated that people flying in to the U.S. from 10 countries prone to terrorism would be subjected to even more stringent security checks at American airports. Invasive frisking involving intimate body parts and revealing full-body scans are being introduced at airports in the U.S. and in many European countries. In England, the use of full-body scanners on children under 18 is considered a violation of child pornography laws.

Some aviation experts have calculated that the incident involving the underwear bomber will cost the aviation industry and the governments concerned billions of dollars in the coming years. Much of this money has to be invested in technologies for full-body scans and in hiring more security personnel for deployment at airports and on planes. Arab and Muslim public opinion became inflamed when it was known that the new scanning procedures involved full-body scanning of all passengers, including women and children.

There are already 40 full-body scanners at American airports and 150 more are to be installed this year. The Obama administration is urging other countries to install such machines to screen passengers heading for the U.S. Since 9/11, the U.S. has spent more than $40 billion on strengthening aviation security. But as Edmund Harley, who helped to start the TSA and headed it until last year, told The New York Times, its a fools errand to make the aviation system terrorist-proof. The only way to do that is to ground the airplanes.

The countries specifically listed by the U.S. are Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Somalia, Libya and Yemen. Also included are Iran, Syria, Sudan and Cuba, the four countries designated by the previous administration as state sponsors of terrorism.

The inclusion of Cuba and Syria, whose citizens would be subjected to rigorous body searches at American airports, is particularly surprising. The measures will also apply to all passengers making stopovers in any of the countries on Washingtons new list.

The West has been going out of its way in recent months to normalise relations with Damascus. The Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad, was feted in many Western capitals last year.

The Obama administration had taken some tentative steps to improve relations with Cuba. Besides, it is a laughable proposition that any terrorist activity against the U.S. can emanate from the soil of socialist Cuba. Cuba, in fact, has been a victim of terrorist plots hatched on U.S. soil with the help of American security agencies.

The case of the notorious Luis Posada Carriles, the man responsible for the downing of a Cuban passenger plane in 1976, is an illustration. He is now enjoying a retired life in the U.S. along with his fellow conspirator, Orlando Bosch.

Cuba has protested against the Obama administrations latest move. The Cuban Foreign Ministry has demanded that the country be removed from the arbitrary list drawn up by Washington. The U.S. State Department responded by stating that Cuba is a country that supports terrorist activities, therefore its citizens and travellers in air transit should be subject to additional controls for security reasons. Ever since the State Department put Cuba in its tendentious list of states supporting terrorism, there have been calls from within the American establishment itself for removing the terror tag.

The Washington Post termed the designation of Cuba as a terrorist state ridiculous and unwarranted. Looking for terrorists coming on flights from Cuba is a waste of time, it said. Cuba was first placed on the list of states sponsoring terror by the Reagan presidency in 1982.

Washington was upset at the time because of the strong support Cuba was extending to liberation movements in Africa. The U.S. at the time was a strong supporter of the apartheid regime in South Africa and its proxies in the region such as Jonas Savimbi and his UNITA (National Union for Total Independence of Angola) army.

The Obama administration has sought to justify Cubas inclusion in the list on the grounds that Havana provides sanctuary to functionaries of guerilla armies such as the Basque separatist movement ETA and Colombian groups such as FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and the ELN (National Liberation Army). The Cuban government has pointed out on many occasions that the small group of ETA members are in the country at the request of the Spanish government that was in office 25 years ago.

The Cuban government has scrupulously adhered to its commitment that the ETA members will not be allowed to use Cuban territory to pursue their agenda. The issue of their repatriation is under discussion with the Spanish authorities.

The FARC and ELN members are in Cuba with the full knowledge of the Colombian authorities. The guerillas as well as the Colombian government had requested Havana to act as a mediator during peace talks. Cubas role as an honest facilitator has been appreciated by the United Nations as well as the Colombian government and the two guerilla groups.

The Syrian government has also made a strong protest to Washington. Syrian Foreign Ministry officials told their American counterparts that the U.S. move was unfriendly and smacked of double standards. Syrian officials pointed out that no Syrian national was involved in the plot to blow up the American passenger plane.

Algeria, which now has a close strategic relationship with the U.S., is also furious with the Obama administrations decision. The American Ambassador in Algiers was summoned to the Foreign Ministry and told that the Algerian government strongly protests against the decision to include the country in the terror watch list.

The Nigerian government is also feeling shortchanged. After all, the U.S. was duly informed by the Nigerian authorities about the radical leanings of Abdulmutallab much in advance.

A Nigerian government statement said that the U.S. move has the potential of undermining long-standing and established U.S.-Nigeria bilateral ties and the goodwill that the U.S. enjoys in the country. Although there is some militant activity in the north of the country, the majority of Nigerians are more concerned about their ethnicity than religion. Around half the population of Nigeria, Africas most populous country, is Christian.

A recent opinion poll showed that the Nigerian elite, like their counterparts in India, are among the most pro-American in the world.