I have been in this country now for over 2 weeks and have just only now come to realize that my passport is defective. I have no idea how many people...supposedly security concious people...perused my passport between Bahrain airport and the DFW(with stopover in Paris)...not to mention the number of people that have given it a once over every time I have used it for ID purposes....and not one of them noticed anything suspect.
I must admit that while still in Bahrain I did notice that my passport seemed alot skinnier than usual...but didnt give it much thought. I had more things of interest on my mind than a suddenly skinny passport....as in what to take and what to leave...and the ever present turmoil of painful choices made and tears to deal with. The state of the passport was not even registering on my radar of things to worry about.
So...when I finally just stopped and took a good look at it I realized that there are pages missing from it. 4 pages to be exact. The pages that had stamps on them that are now missing dont interest me near as much as the fact that the first two pages are missing as well...the page that has my signature on it and personal info. I have wracked my brain but have no idea when those pages went missing in my passport as I used it quite often in Bahrain and remember seeing those pages not long ago...but the fact that it "got skinny" while still there means they went missing at some point before I left....hmmm? I smell something fishy there...
I remember travelling to America in Feb after 9/11 and the amount of security checks was astounding not to mention damn time consuming...but for the most part travellers took it all in stride....but the fact is my passport was not only looked at but every single page was scrutinized and checked...so seemingly was it this time all though I must admit I didnt pay as close attention to security checks as those fear filled months so soon after tragedy....it was just something I waited through and then picked up suitcases and trudged to the next one(I might have been a little more alert and on my toes had I known my passport had a potential to set off some security alarms somewhere)....then again its not my job to spot the potential "terrorist threats" now is it?
After watching newsreports all these years about Homeland Security and how it was making many American lives miserable by its all encompassing presence in their lives...Im really quite surprised...shocked...and actually quite pissed off that my passport breezed through the whole trip and subsequent ID checks without so much as a raised eyebrow...WTF!!! Homeland Security my ass...somebody needs some job training...and apparently I need a new passport.
I supposed I should be nervous trying to use it as I dont have any other form of ID at the moment...but if past experience is anything to go by....it shouldnt be a problem...sigh!
Now only one more question to ask...obviously someone tore some pages out of my passport ...now who might that be...and for what reasons? Anyone?
12 comments:
I'm innocent - I swear!!!
Just be glad that you got through "security" without any problems!
"the queen" I'm a muslim. My upbringing was very civilized thank you very much. I dont know if you failed to notice but the picture I had put on my website was actually of jewish barbarians. It seems you might have mistaken them for muslims?
& just as you have stumbled upon some video library on the internet, I have seen and educated myself a lot on what happens between the jews & muslims in Palestine :)
I have just heard the "Four-year-old girl vows to be suicide terrorist in Hamas TV dramatization - March 21, 2007" song which was first on the video library ( http://www.pmw.org.il/tv%20part3.HTML ) you posted. lol that is such a joke. The song she is singing is about her love and devotion to her mom, where her mom was just murdered by the jewish soldiers, how her life is changing without the presence and lap of a mother! it has nothing to do with suicide bombing or terrorism this is just insane i wont even bother going thru the rest of the clips below it :)
I hope you now understand the manipulative methods of media used to play with little minds that are easily swayed into believing whatever they read. The homework done on replying to such a sensitive issue is not just a little button you press on google and post any links you find. It's very important to find out the truth behind what you're reading.
Yes I do hope god grants you the wisdom to see light from darkness, and right from wrong :-)
nyxxie....sorry but I have no idea what your talking about...maybe your confusing me with another blogger?
susie...thats sort of the expression that would be on my face no doubt if suddenly questioned...lol.
oh my god i'm so sorry!! she's a follower of your blog. and when i clicked her name the only thing that came up was your blog, i didnt pay attention that she's a follower and not the blog owner..... forgive me! :)
LOL Uh oh. Sorry Coolred. Guilt by association. Good thing it was a keyboard and not a gun or a bomb.
About this post of yours. Hmmm, is it possible that the pages just fell out?
It is a bit disconcerting that they didn't even look at your name. What if you were on a list? I blame you. If you were wearing your headscarf as you should have been then none of this would have happened. You would have been strip searched and that passport would have been given the proper scrutiny. How about your sons? Please tell me that they at least roughed them up a bit.
Coolred...
the first thing you need to do is check your credit, your bank accounts, etc. Identity theft is a HUGE problem, I see it all the time in my job. We deal with online credit card theft (hackers breaking into retail records and selling credit card numbers online... mostly Russians and Chinese... its BAD). If your personal info page of your passport has been removed, get proactive NOW. A friend of mine had his identity stolen and used by a guy in another state who was arrested for something else, I forget what. It was a long and painful process for my friend to get a new SSN, name, etc.
Sorry if I sounded harsh... I just take this very very seriously. YIKES!!! I also recommend contacting the passport office first thing tomorrow. Good luck.
Assuming it's just lost pages,did the staples come loose?Hopefully you can get it replaced without too much hassle.As for Homeland securityI've never been able to consider them much more than a overfunded joke.How much did they spend on all those T.V commercials telling us to wrap our house in plastic and duck tape and make sure the kids knew who to call in an emergency?
You obviously didn't fit the profile LOL
Im not sure if my identity could be stolen as Ive never really had one...sigh. No credit cards...no loans...no nothing ever in my name in my life...just my name..if someone wants my identity they aint gettin much.
nixxie...no problem...it happens.
Queen...are you suggesting profiling still happens...in which case my sons name should have raised some alarms since he was travelling with me and my defunct passport...hmmm? All sorts of bells should have been going off..rather glad they didnt.
Coolred,
that may be true but wouldn't you rather start something yourself in your name than let someone else start something in your name that you're responsible? I think you need to report it... I'm just concerned, thats all. Better safe than sorry.
I don't know if profiling really happens or not. I've never witnessed it personally but you know, people like to talk about how horribly discriminating this country(homeland security)is.
Hopefully they have a more subtle way of scrutinizing people so you just didn't notice. Maybe the fact that yours had pages missing was a dead giveaway that it was an honest to goodness normal person. Bad guys have all the T's crossed and the I's dotted. I'd assume, again, no personal witness to that fact either ;-)
And no credit can also mean a 'clean slate'. Fortunately creditors are being a little tight with things right now so maybe you're safe there.
Profiling does happen. And if it was utilised when you travelled with your son, and someone also realised that your travel documentation was incomplete, then it has done its job perfectly.
Profiling is being fully integrated into US airport and airline security and is a far more accurate and efficient way of identifying "baddies".
The Israelis have used it for decades and have not had any incidents on their aircraft for a very long time.
Using an Arabic name as a trigger in a watchlist would have security running around like dimwits as I guess maybe 1 in 10 passengers if not more, would have one. Profiling by name doesn't work - it is far better to profile movements, behaviour and general attitude, and then subject to meeting other criteria, you either get let through or pulled to one side.
It works - and trust me, they knew about your passport, especially in the US. Guaranteed.
JD
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