Why are there over a million names on the terror watch list?

Fluther recently established? Why did nobody tell me we had a covert terrorism intelligence unit?

Because we’re all victims of a mass conspiracy spearheaded by Dick Cheney and his colleagues.

Isn’t that the answer you’re looking for?

More than a million seems like a lot to me, but not all terror suspects are Al Queda. Take for example, the bombing in Oklahoma City.

Because of the Aliases. I heard there are only around 400,000 actual people on it.

Oh, and Elmo of course. No puppet should have that much control over our children. And he is on PBS, which we all know is a terrorist organization determined to bring down our government.

With their British comedy, and their “science”. Makes me sick.

trumigoodboy got it right. many of these people have more than 2–3 aliases.

Exactly the answer I was looking for, Nikipedia. Thanks for your informative answer.

If you noticed, I havent been answering my own questions. Im asking questions that I do not have answers to.

@Marina and tru
In September 2007, the Inspector General of the Justice Department reported that the Terrorist Screening Center (the FBI-administered organization that consolidates terrorist watch list information in the United States) had over 700,000 names in its database as of April 2007 – and that the list was growing by an average of over 20,000 records per month.1 (See also this new March 2008 report.2 )

I see what your saying about 400,000. Still, what are 400,000 people doing on the terror watch list? Are there that many possible terrorists that we know of?

Because of wiretapping, letter reading, email scanning, and an over all state of fear and hate spread by our government.

What makes one a suspected terrorist?

Like many things in the Bush Administration, this process is shrouded in secrecy. Its lack of transparency is a problem. How do you get on the list? How do you get off? What if you have the same name as someone on the list? How can you get clearance that you are not that right person.

In a way, I am happy about the size. Soon, like the communist trials of the 50s, it will be so embarrassing and laughable, people will force them to deal with it.

Is that just the USofA, or everywhere? If global, I expect 1M to be a low number!

U.S. only. People from outside have a whole different list.

ACLU FAQ
”Does the ACLU have Communist roots? Was co-founder Roger Baldwin a Communist?
No, Roger Baldwin was not a communist. Like many of his contemporaries, he observed and wrote about the social and political issues in the early years of the Soviet Union, but later he wrote, “The Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939, a traumatic shock to me, ended any ambivalence I had about the Soviet Union, and all cooperation with Communists in united fronts.”

Throughout the organization’s history and particularly during the McCarthy era, the ACLU, its members, staff and founders have been accused of being communists. The ACLU has no political affiliations and makes no test of individuals’ ideological leanings a condition of membership or employment. Members and staff of the national ACLU and its affiliates may be Republicans, Democrats, Communists, Federalists, Libertarians, or members of any other political party or no party at all. What the ACLU asks of its staff and officials is that they consistently defend civil liberties and the Constitution.

Why did the ACLU represent NAMBLA?
The ACLU of Massachusetts’ represented members of NAMBLA because, while the ACLU does not advocate sexual relationships between adults and children, we do advocate robust freedom of speech. This lawsuit struck at the heart of the First Amendment. It is easy to defend freedom of speech when the message is something people find reasonable. The defense of freedom of speech is most critical when the message is one most people reject. For more information about the case, please contact the ACLU of Massachusetts.”

WTF???

@cheebdragon

Im not quite sure what you’re getting at. Please explain.