Security Services obviously have way to much time on their hands. Makes you wonder, if this is what they are spending their time on, just what real threats are they missing.
Have I got this wrong, or does a common-or-garden suspect in a criminal case not have the right to have his lawyer present? Or any other witness of his choosing? They do on TV. Oh, I forgot, this is the WAR ON TERROR™.
I think the issue you is that you have the RIGHT to have a lawyer there, problem is you have to ask for your lawyer and not to talk till then. And a scared 14 year old girl is unlikely to be thinking straight. And in the WAR ON TERROR™ scaring people is everything
QFT. If it were me, I wouldn't have just apologized and whatnot. Especially since it would get even more media attention. This is just part of a large scare campaign to generate FUD about speaking out against the President. And it's working. Not a good thought. I wonder what having a countdown widget on your personalized Google homepage for Bush's departure counts for... I'm sure it doesn't work in my favor. Then again, I don't want Bush dead either. Only for one reason though... Cheney.
14 year old girls are the new al-queda... didn't you know ? American taxc payers money being put to good work again I see, nothing wrong with scare tactics as far as a dangerous race they call "middle/high (?) school students" is concerned ....
terrorist Noun 1. a radical who employs terror as a political weapon: usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells adj 1. characteristic of someone who employs terrorism (especially as a political weapon): "terrorist activity" taken from defination hardly what you would call a scared 14 year old girl however a radical who employs terror as a political weapon sure sounds a lot like a certain president that we see in the news a lot also sounds like a certain law enforcement agency with the initals SS. Does any one else find the fact that they have no problem using those initals slightly scarey.
funny i had never drawn that parallel until now.... Personally, I think the whole thing is stupid. There's a huge difference between posting a picture like that and actually making a legitimate threat. It's also a huge oversight on someone's part to actually take a 14 year old girl's posting of such a thing as a threat... I mean I know I was pretty crafty at that age, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't in my capacity to be able to kill someone, let alone a head of state. Yes, tax payer money going to waste.
Could the US secret service be any less secret? Anyway, this is just the usual stupidity I've come to expect from any american civil service tbh, from teachers to el presidente there's a whole lotta stupid in there.
Never understood the deal with the secret service... are they considered soldiers? Personally I wouldn't mind seeing a fight between one of them and a member of the S.A.S. Either way - it's nice to know that they're doing the best to protect their country.. I wonder if she got searched for weapons to see if she was going to do a school shooting...
If their BEST is swooping down and terrorising a 14 year old child then I would hate to see their worst
Secret Service has two general tasks: Protect the members of the executive Hunt down counterfeitters. As far as protection goes, it encompasses, current & past presidents and their families, as well as the white house, and any location the president travels to. They were originally started as the primary arm of the US Treasury in finding counterfeitters, and after the assassination of McKinley (I think), became the primary protectors of the President... The protective detail is broken down into Uniformed and Plainclothes... Uniformed being the White House Police, and the primary watcher/countersniper teams... plainclothes being the presidents primary protective detail they tend to be quite heavily armed, and are not people to joke or mess with. most are either former police, or servicemen, and tend to be there for life.
Two adult male agents body-searching a 14-year old girl? Even they are not going to touch that one with a barge-pole (literally and figuratively speaking)! What concerns me is the cheap intimidation tactics. I can (barely) see how they feel that they have to follow up every lead (how one "kill Bush" caricature amongst thousands on the Internet is an obvious sign of a serious terrorist threat still eludes me. I mean, don't serious terrorists, like, tend to keep a low profile?), but their approach could have been much more low-key and friendly --visit the girl at home, interview her with the parents, have a cup of tea and explain that although there is freedom of speech, this sort of direct threat thing really is not done, even in harmless jest, because of the current climate, you know? Y'all take care now, y'hear? Instead they resort to Gestapo tactics with a 14-year old girl. And they felt OK about it. No: "Hey, turns out she's just a kid, let's adjust tactics and go easy on her". That's the bit that really worries me.
Wow, I'm glad to see everyone jumped at the chance to slam the Bush Administration for this one. To be fair, I'm not a Bush fan and I certainly don't approve of the war going on right now, but this is not a cut-and-dry case of the big bad US beating down its citizens. There are two more forces at work in this scenario: 1. With the right to free speech comes the resposibility to use it wisely. 2. Anything you put into a public forum can be read and (mis)interpreted by anyone, including (unintentional) death threats against the President. According to the article: "She posted a picture of the president, scrawled "Kill Bush" across the top and drew a dagger stabbing his outstretched hand." In my opinion, that's hardly intelligent, honest criticism about the war. It is the Secret Service's job to investigate these kinds of things; that is one of their functions. They do not just sit around looking for every teenager to swoop down on. More likely, a couple of agents were handed the case and went to investigate. I'll grant you their actions were pretty harsh, and the situation could have been hadled much better, but the investigation revealed that she is not a threat and she was free to go. The girl and her parents acknowledge that fact. They admitted what she did was wrong, and their real objection was with the way in which the investigation was handled. -monkey
I agree with you, but: 1. Although a picture of the president, with "Kill Bush" scrawled across the top and a dagger stabbing his outstretched hand is hardly intelligent, balanced criticism, she is a 14-year old child. Don't expect a mature and balanced political polemic just yet. 2. Real terrorists are too busy planning the next 9/11 to indulge in such obviously immature postings, one would think. If the Secret Service can't recognise the post for what it is, and create a reasonable profile of its author just sitting at their desk (I mean, MySpace tells you just a bit about the poster, doesn't it?), then frankly, they are as mature in their thinking as this girl (come to think of it, that would explain a lot about their reaction...).
I do NOT agree with a LOT of the current political powers in the US, however, I think they may have been right on this questioning. My reasoning is that while you and I can clearly understand that this girl is just upset with the current powers in office and would never herself do anything, they are worried about WHERE the ideas came from. Perhaps she has been raised by people or around people who may pose a REAL threat to the president. At least that would be my line of thought. However, I do feel that this should have been approached with at least a little more caution / compasion on their part.
