|
Comment on this article |
View comments |
Email this Article
|
|
News :: Miscellaneous |
|
Freedom of movement curtailed by U.S. armed forces. |
Current rating: 0 |
by Sascha D. Meinrath
Email: meinrath (nospam) urbana.indymedia.org (unverified!)
Phone: (217)344-8820 |
03 Nov 2001
Modified: 26 Nov 2001 |
|
The author talked with Green Party Organizer Nancy Oden about her recent experience of being detained by military personnel, refused service by American Airlines, and finally banned from flying on any airline at Bangor International Airport. Airport staff have refused to comment on the situation. |
http://www.ucimc.org
November 3, 2001
Freedom of movement curtailed by U.S. armed forces.
by Sascha D. Meinrath
Urbana, Nov. 3 (UCIMC): On Thursday, November 1, 2001, Green Party USA coordinating committee member Nancy Oden was searched and detained by National Guardsmen and airport security after being flagged by airport computers. She was then prohibited from flying on any airplane, on any airline from Bangor International Airport. She stated she had no idea what list she was on or, initially, why she was searched. Airport security refused comment; however, Ms. Oden stated that she allowed a thorough searching of her bags.
Bangor Airport staff members Rebecca Hupp, Interim Airport Director, and Peter D’Errico, Special Assistant to the Airport Director, were unavailable for comment as of press time. A phone message left with the Bangor Airport was not returned, and the airport staff member who answered the airport’s immediate assistance line refused comment stating “all the people who make press releases are not at the airport.”
Ms. Oden was scheduled to fly to Chicago, IL to interview candidates for a new Green Party office. She arrived at the airport dressed conservatively, wearing a long dark skirt, matching jacket, and turtleneck sweater. She wore no political paraphernalia, and, as a middle-aged White woman, does not fit any known high-risk profiles. An organic farmer, she drove 100 miles to get to the airport and arrived at roughly 11a.m. She described the airport as “under military rule” with few people and lots of national guardsmen carrying machineguns. She said no one was laughing and no one was smiling.
She went to the American Airlines counter and checked in. The counter agent asked for her name, but never requested a photo ID. She stated that the agent was on the computer “for a long time” and eventually did give her a boarding pass with a large “S” on it. As she turned to leave she asked the agent if this was a random check, the counter agent responded that she had been “flagged.” The counter agent also informed her that “the ‘S’ is for search.”
Her trouble started in earnest when she passed through the boarding area security area and was met by a man Ms. Oden describes as “a short national guardsman with a black eye [and] carrying a machinegun” who told her to “put those bags over there.” Ms. Oden stated that two women went through her bags and that she was searched using a handheld metal detector. When one of the zippers got stuck on her bag she reached over to aid the security personnel at which point the national guardsman yelled, “get your hand out of there!” She turned to face the national guardsman at which point he forcefully grabbed her arm, pulled her away, and started speaking loudly to her about his pro-war views. According to Ms. Oden, the national guardsman stated, “Don’t you know why we have to go to war…we need to kill them before they kill us.” Ms. Oden was deeply disturbed that he knew both who she was and what her political beliefs were and that her treatment by the guardsman was connected to her personal beliefs.
She responded to the national guardsman’s physical restraint by stating “don’t touch me” and took a step away from him. He reached for her again and again she told him not to touch her. Ms. Oden stated that the national guardsman then looked at the security supervisor who nodded to him to “back off.” According to Ms. Oden, the national guardsman then spoke into a microphone saying, “don’t let her on the plane.” She was then waved through to the boarding gate.
At her gate, an American Airlines boarding counter agent informed Ms. Oden that he had been instructed not to let her on the plane, “you didn't cooperate [with the search] so I can't let you on the plane.” The agent then stated that she might be able to get booked on the 4 p.m. flight. However, Ms. Oden was then surrounded by multiple gun-wielding national guardsmen and told that because she didn’t cooperate with the search she would not be allowed to fly at 4 p.m. or on any flight on any airline. Ms. Oden stated that because she refused to be physically restrained while the national guardsman stated his pro-war perspective she was refused service on every airline flying from Bangor International Airport. Furthermore, American Airlines has thus far refused to refund her airline ticket.
She stated that this raises major questions about the repercussions for people who stand up for their civil rights and the arbitrary nature of the military control of America’s airports. No charges have been filed against Ms. Oden. Asked what she plans to do now, she confirmed that she has contacted a civil rights lawyer and is looking into her options.
Ms. Oden stated that she was probably flagged at the airport because of her “long-term political activism.” In the 1960s and 1970s she was involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement and the women’s movement. She has also been an active union member. She is currently a Green Party USA organizer, an organic farmer on a small 7-acre plot, and a self-described environmentalist. She stated that she was targeted because she is “fighting for real democracy where ‘we the people’ make the decisions that affect our lives” and that this stance has gotten her labeled as “radical” and “a threat.”
Ms. Oden has worried about the media coverage of the U.S. military actions in Afghanistan and fears that because of the demands placed on editorial staff by corporate owners, “the truth is not coming out in the corporate media.” She stated her major concern about her airport experience, “you can go along doing nothing wrong and all of a sudden you're treated like a terrorist.”
|
See also:
http://www.ucimc.org
|
|
more on this story |
by Jim B
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
03 Nov 2001
|
There may be more, or less, to this story than meets the eye, Sascha. There's been some discussion today on the Illinois Greens e-list about just what might have happened in Bangor. Apparently plenty of other Greens activists have been flying lately without incident, and there's some doubt about whether Nancy Oden was on any "watch list" or just
responded inappropriately when singled out for additional checking, either at random or for some other reason.
A Bangor Daily News story on the issue indicates that attitude, rather than activism, may have been responsible. (FWIW, that fits with what people who've worked with her in the past are saying, but I'll acknowledge here that there's some friction among various Greens leaders that may account for some of the speculation.) The official line appears to be that she was flagged for additional screening because she bought her ticket online, and then became "uncooperative."
Either way, it probably doesn't help that Maine is
supposedly where some of the terrorists on 9/11 started their day before getting on the WTC flights in Boston. Security in Portland and Bangor might be especially severe.
Here's the link to the Bangor News story:
http://www.bangornews.com/editorialnews/article.html?ID=44958
Jim |
|
Disturbing... |
by Michael Feltes
mfeltes (nospam) gmx.net (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
03 Nov 2001
|
|
This may have been a random search, but we'll never really know what prompted it unless the FAA opens up the process, which will happen when pigs fly. I'm not comfortable at all with this. |
|
freedom |
by M Goff
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
07 Nov 2001
|
|
this is the Gov's idea of freedom -that we are flagged for expressing our beleifs while some ignorant readneck in a uniform is able to instruct us .thanx George Orwell I mean Bush |
|
Uncooperative or Flagged |
by Rita Tara
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
15 Nov 2001
|
|
The airlines/government should have the right to search anyone for any reason before they board any airplane. Period. Plus, you have a person who is protesting being pulled away from their luggage, telling them not to touch her. How do you think this would have turned out if she would have restrained herself from speaking? She would have caught her plane AND STILL had a story of "horrendous treatment." |
|
Happy With Nader |
by Bob Hibbard
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
18 Nov 2001
|
|
Did you ask Miss Oden, if she is still happy that she helped Bush get elected, by supporting Nader running for president? |
|
This stuff is no joke |
by Austin Putman
austin (nospam) tsne.org (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
26 Nov 2001
|
I've flown 7 times in the last month, and been flagged 'S' on five of the flights. I've been pulled 'randomly' from the line twice. They are profiling people who speak against the war. In San Francisco they conveniently pulled the 4 Asians out of line. By keeping their profiles secret and calling the searches 'random', they seek to prevent dissidents from gaining political common ground. There is a random element, no doubt. But they know far more about every person flying than simple security concerns would require. |
