If You Just Listened Very Closely To Dana Perino You Wouldn't Be Smiling Now

[ThomWV]

Maybe it means nothing, but then maybe it tells all. Dana Perino just commented (to paraphrase), when asked a question about the killings in India, that people from many nations had been killed, with nearly 200 dead that all Americans had been accounted for and she expected that most had been found and that we would cooperate with India in investigating this serious situation. Clear enough.

Do you find it as interesting as I do that 'all Americans have been accounted for', presumably in the entire subcontinent of India?

[notadmblnd]

1. didn't they say two Americans had been killed?

[speakclearly]

12. Actually, it four.

Ms. Perino was saying that the embassy had accounted for all known Americans in India. That means the embassy knows where each are and they condition (some are dead).

Like other nations, you must go through customs when you go to another country. It requires a visa. The nation you enter keeps a list of those who enter, and their passport numbers, and susually where they are going to stay. When you check into a hotel, you must show your passport, and they hotel reports it to the police. All very normal, at least in the major cities. Not a lot of illegal immigration (typical only in the remote regions), especially by Americans. So the State department (at the Embassy) has a list of those reportedly in the country. In such an emergency, foreign residents are asked to "check-in" with their embassies, and the embassies "reach out" to identify their citizens. Apparently that has been successfully completed.

All very normal. And she announces it in case there are family members here in the sates who are concerned about relatives who were traveling in the region on the days of the emergency.

[MiniMe]

13. I heard 6. A sad thing.

[hendo]

2. Or

in Mumbai, since that's the city that had the major attacks.

But didnt you know? the new passports have RFID in them.

[BR_Parkway]

15. so if someone wanted to target American's for attacks, we've given

them this wonderful new beacon to locate their targets? Geeze, that was well thought out!

[hendo]

17. Yup,

sure was :)

[blondeatlast]

3. I don't see how it is possible so soon after. The cities may be

modern and have 21st century+ communication, but the rural areas don't even have electricity or water systems in many cases.

So they're saying they've accounted for every tourist, every missionary, every trekker? and they can't find bin Laden?

Sure, Dana, suuuuuuuuuure you have...

[DevonRex]

4. It creeps me out whether it's true or not. If it IS true then the level of

big brother spying on us is WAY higher than I thought it was. And if it's not true (and of course it isn't) then poor Dana has been fed a line of BS to spout once again. And she's too stupid to know it. That's why I called her poor Dana.

[ThomWV]

7. You caught its importance

That is exactly the point. She was undoubtedly wrong - its is almost impossible for me to believe that they (US Intelligence apparatus) can know the location of (or even find very quickly) every American in any foreign country. But then the real question isn't, as she insinuated, if they know where everyone is, which isn't likely, but that they know where most of us are when we travel. Big Brother is indeed watching and watching no matter where you travel. You have to ask yourself, how do they do that? What combination of intelligence gathering schemes and tools can be used to identify and locate each and every one of the presumably thousands of Americans who might be in India on any given day? Just how extensive is it? Does the spying on Americans exist at the same level at home? Can each and every one of us be accounted for within a day or two? How chilling is that when it comes time to round us up?

[Orsino]

16. They can't know that.

Even in America, similar conclusions couldn't be reached in mere days.

I believe that Perino could only have been referring specifically to the dead and injured. Presumably, all the Americans in that relatively small population have been identified--heck, they've probably had to fight for days to ensure they are counted.

[madokie]

5. I'm not sure anything that the dingbat says should be payed attention too

I guess thats why I don't bother listening to her anymore.

[zipplewrath]

6. Over thinking this

I suspect all she meant was that the nationality of each victim had been identified at this point. The danger there is the presumption that all of the victims have been found as of yet.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Meh - you presume too much

No, I imagine she meant "all Americans known to have been at the hotels, or booked in their restaurants, or in the Jewish centre; and hospital casualties are all identified, and the bodies". That may include a bit of "that body looks like a local, so we'll assume they're not American". Ha'aetz can say, for instance,

Several more bodies remain unidentified in Mumbai, but examinations conducted by ZAKA staff indicate they are not Israeli. A team from the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute is expected to land in Mumbai on a special Israel Air Force flight today to conduct additional examinations on the unidentified bodies to definitively confirm they are indeed not Israeli.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1042319.html

[Poll_Blind]

9. Man, do you really think they're tracking every American's whereabouts in India?

  They aren't. What it means is that A) there are no Americans among the dead and B) there are no calls to the consulate (or elsewhere) from people indicating Americans were harmed/worried families trying to get in contact with relatives on holiday who they believe might have been injured.

PB

[LynneSin]

10. Personally that dingbat is tooting a horn for an administration that has already packed their bag...

and left the house.

I'm more concerned with what the Obama folks say about the situation

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

11. 6 Americans were killed. Three at the Jewish Center and the father and daughter

who were on retreat. I don't know who the 6th was.

Obama just said 6.

[MiniMe]

14. I try not to listen closely to Perino, it gives me a headache