Green Party USA = Terrorist Threat?

[Larry Mudd]

According to this article (http://www.counterpunch.org/oden1.html), Green Party coordinating committee member Nancy Oden was prevented from flying to Chigaco, where she was scheduled to speak, because her name is on a list of people who are not allowed to board an aircraft.Military personnel with automatic weapons surrounded Oden and instructed all airlines to deny her passage on any flight.

"I was told that the airport was closed to me until further notice and that my ticket would not be refunded," Oden said.WTF?!
Oden speculates that she was targeted because the Green Party "opposes the bombing of innocent civilians in Afghanistan."

I have two questions: Did this really happen? It seems incredible. Is there some other reason that this happened? Did she have the misfortune to share a name with a known terrorist?Google has failed me.

[matt_mcl]

I'm not surprised. FWIW, I have a clipping lying around from a few years ago detailing how, before the infamous APEC conference in Vancouver, CSIS (Canada's equivalent of the CIA) was found to have opened files on the Anglican Church, the Raging Grannies, and the New Democratic Party as potential threats.

[Northern Piper]

I read two different articles on this issue. One, which looked like it was based solely on a Green Party press release, sounded much like the article Larry saw. However, I read another article (I believe AP) which gave a similar version, then went on to include interviews with the police force in question (somewhere in Maine, IIRC). Their account was that what triggered their attention was that she booked a one-way ticket over the Internet, which is one of the (non-racial) profiler indications that US security forces are using to trigger heightened scrutiny. Then, when the police approached her, she was said to accuse them immediately of targeting her because of her political beliefs.

So which to believe? As between the two accounts, I would put greater reliance on the reporter who talked to both sides. I'd also wait and see if anything further comes out.

[Sam Stone]

Well, as usual if you actually read both sides of the story you find that there's a bit more to it than her being denied a flight because she's a member of the Green Party.

This site says that she was denied the flight because she was uncooperative with security: http://www.bangornews.com/editorialnews/article.html?ID=44958

Then, of course, they may be reacting to statements like this, which she gave when asked about eco-terrorism:


Environmental activist Nancy Oden of Jonesboro said Thursday that while she did not destroy the plants, she commended those who did. "I'm glad they did it,'' Oden said during an interview at the Bangor Daily News offices. "It may not have been legal, but it was the moral thing to do.''

...

In an Aug. 16 e-mail sent to other activists and also sent to the NEWS, Oden gave explicit directions to the location of the cornfield and advised activists to wear "a mask to avoid the toxic pollen, and gloves to avoid toxins throughout the plant'' if they had physical contact with the plants.

Oden said Thursday that the e-mail was not meant to incite destruction, only as information for environmentalists.


So, she's A)Probably on a watch list for her association with eco-terrorism and her PUBLIC statements in support of it. So she got a bit more scrutiny, and threw a fit. So they punted her. GOOD FOR THEM.

How about that? An example of airline security that actually worked!

[Larry Mudd]

Thanks folks.. I figured there must have been more to it.

[Short]

It is probably also important to recognize just what is meant by "green party."

For the record, the organization Nancy Oden belongs to is not the same green party as Ralph Nader ran with. Ralph Nader ran with the Green Party of the United States (http://www.greenpartyus.org/), which has issued a statement (http://www.greenpartyus.org/press/pr_11_04_01.html) on the topic. Nancy Oden is involved in the smaller Green Party USA (http://www.greenparty.org/).

Hope this clarifies things.

cheers,

-Short

[bibliophage]

Just the facts, please. If you want to discuss whether she should or should not have been allowed on the flight, please do so in GD.

bibliophage
moderator GQ