IP: PBS - frontline: trail of a terrorist

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

What mechanisms can be used to stop the simple ID creation this person 
used? What good are drivers license/national id cards/ passports if they 
are ultimately anchored to easily forged documents.

Dave

> From: Monty Solomon <monty () roscom com>
> Subject: PBS - frontline: trail of a terrorist
>
> http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/trail/etc/synopsis.html
>
>
> On Dec. 14, 1999, a 32-year-old Algerian named Ahmed Ressam -- traveling 
> as Benni Antoine Noris on a false Canadian passport -- was arrested in 
> Port Angeles, Wash., with more than 100 pounds of powerful explosives in 
> the trunk of his car. He had just crossed the U.S.-Canadian border and was 
> headed for Los Angeles International Airport, where he planned to blow up 
> a terminal on New Year's Eve.
>
> In "Trail of a Terrorist," a FRONTLINE co-production with the Canadian 
> Broadcasting Corporation, correspondent Terence McKenna traces the 
> investigation of Ressam and the global terrorist network in which he 
> operated, following a trail from North Africa to Canada, from small towns 
> in France to the mountains of Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden's training 
> camps, and ultimately back to Canada and the United States.

<snip>


>  With the help of a small-time thief who stole blank birth and baptism 
> certificates from a local church registry, Ressam was able to create new 
> identities and obtain Canadian passports -- both for himself and for 
> other members of GIA operating in Canada.


<snip>



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