Scandal: TSA Turns Off Scanners To Undermine Protest In Crude PR Stunt

Travelers report AIT devices roped off or not in use as Big Sis plays politics with airport security
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Nov. 24, 2010

The TSA turned off many of its naked body scanners across the country today in a hastily crafted PR stunt to mute the national opt out protest against invasive screening procedures, as Big Sis made a mockery of airport security measures that Americans were told were imperative to protect them from terror.

The day began with the corporate media running stories about how the promised travel delays had failed to materialize, spinning the story by claiming travelers were completely happy with security procedures, implying that the opt out protest had been a failure. An ABC News report (watch above) claimed that the planned demonstrations had “fizzled”.

In reality, thousands of Americans had boycotted airline travel altogether, with traffic backed up 30 miles on some highways, while those who did use airports were not subjected to naked body scans because the TSA had withdrawn many of the the devices from service in several major airports.

TSA Press Secretary Nicholas Kimball denied that the agency had instituted a deliberate policy to restrict use of body scanners at airports today, but the Gizmodo website was bombarded with Tweets from eyewitnesses about how the machines were roped off or not in use.

Travelers also commented that invasive pat downs were also seemingly being kept to a minimum.

There seems little doubt that TSA workers have been ordered to reduce the invasiveness of pat downs since the controversy really exploded into the national spotlight last week. Threats from lawmakers that TSA screeners who touch people’s genitals could be charged with assault have undoubtedly restricted the number of travelers being subjected to humiliating pat downs.

But the fact that the use of body scanners seems to have been drastically curtailed for this one day as part of a public relations stunt to provide grist for the corporate media to claim the opt out protest was a failure is a shocking scandal.

It underscores the fact that the scanners have nothing to do with security and are about the ritual humiliation of Americans, while providing a financial windfall for the government-linked lobbyists behind their widespread introduction.

While the TSA neurotically insists that their invasive security measures are imperative to protect Americans from terrorists, the fact that the agency crudely halted the policy as a temporary political ruse to undermine today’s national opt out is a damning indictment of the real motivation behind the scanners and the invasive pat down measures.

While Big Sis constantly bangs the drum in claiming naked body scanners are an indispensable tool in the fight against terror, the TSA is perfectly willing to dispense with them for one day as part of a political points scoring exercise.

This will undoubtedly backfire and only prove further that the naked body scanners are completely worthless and will in fact kill more Americans from cancer than the amount that they would speculatively save from a terror attack.
___
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show. Watson has been interviewed by many publications and radio shows, including Vanity Fair and Coast to Coast AM, America’s most listened to late night talk show.