Calls For A "Call Flood" Campaign Targeting TSA, Homeland
Security, White House
A self-proclaimed travel advocacy group "We Won't Fly" says it
is organizing a mass "Call Flood" campaign in an attempt to force
the TSA to stop touching children, as they did to 6-year-old Anna
Drexel last week. The campaign is focused on TSA
administrator John Pistole, President Barack Obama, DHS Secretary
Janet Napolitano, Disneyland and other travel industry participants
that serve families.
A video posted on YouTube shows a TSA agent giving a "modified"
pat-down to the girl at New Orleans International Airport. The
agent runs her hands over the child's chest and groin, as well as
checking under the waistband of her pants. Appearing later on Good
Morning America, the child's parents said they did not protest the
professionalism if the procedure, but they did question its
appropriateness. TSA said in a statement that it was looking beyond
a "one size fits all" approach.
The group says the goal of the campaign is to highlight the
immorality of TSA pat-downs of minors, force the TSA to immediately
and permanently halt all touching of minors and encourage travel
industry players to join them.
In a December 2010 interview, expert in the fight against child
sexual abuse Ken Wooden said that TSA patdowns could "desensitize
children to inappropriate touch and ultimately make it easier for
sexual offenders to prey on our children."
YouTube Frame Capture
"We need a zero-tolerance policy against child abuse in
airports," said We Won't Fly co-founder Jim Babb. "We urge parents
to take the necessary steps to protect children from TSA
predator-prepping."
We Won't Fly is circulating a petition as part of the campaign.
When the goal of 100,000 signatures is reached, Babb and fellow
co-founder George Donnelly will personally deliver the petitions to
Pistole, Obama and Napolitano. "This is for the children. Nothing
is more important than the next generation. When measures
ostensibly taken to protect them are more dangerous than the actual
threat of terrorism, the cure has become the sickness," said
Donnelly.
The recent TSA pat-down of 6-year-old Anna Drexel sparked
international outrage and re-opened the debate on TSA touching of
minors. Last November, the TSA succeeded in calming similar fears
when it promised to use only "modified" pat-downs on minors. "The
TSA never said how 'modified' pat-downs for kids were different
from 'enhanced' patdowns for adults, and finally we have the
answer. The TSA was lying. They are the same thing - and we are
opposed to both," said Donnelly. "What family vacation could
possibly be worth having our children felt up at the airport? As a
dad, my primary responsibility is to protect my daughters from
harm. I will not allow a stranger to put his hands in my child's
pants. PERIOD!" said Babb.