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Just drive safely

Thanks to Taft Wireback's reporting Sunday, we learn that North Carolina's legislative leaders are more concerned about highway safety than keeping potential terrorists from obtaining driver's licenses here.

North Carolina has made it easy for illegal aliens to get a driver's license here, often with fake identification. Once they get the license, they have a veritable passport that opens many other doors in this country. Many of the 9/11 hijackers used driver's licenses to help them blend in while they prepared for the attacks.

But we shouldn't be so quick to make it tough for illegal aliens to get a driver's license, N.C. House Speaker Jim Black told Taft. If they go through the licensing procedure, Black explained, at least we'll know they can drive safely.

Heaven forbid a suicide car bomber might have an accident on the way to his target.

Comments (5)

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Roch101 said:

You wrote: "Many of the 9/11 hijackers used driver's licenses to help them blend in while they prepared for the attacks."

Actually, seven of the 9/11 hijackers are known to have used FAKED drivers licenses. Maybe I'm missing it, but is there some way that making it harder to obtain a legitimate license will address counterfeit licenses or have you just invoked 9/11 as a boogeyman to advance your position on licenses for illegal aliens?

Doug said:

Thanks for reading.

The hijackers had a total of 13 legal driver's licenses. http://www.9-11pdp.org/press/2004-12-03_factsheet.pdf

Sorry, I'm having trouble linking (I'm still a novice at all this).

The seven licenses you referred to were legal but obtained with fake identification.

Roch101 said:

Okay, thanks for clearing up what was meant by "faked." I guess the question remains though how will tougher license standards bring about more security if fraudulent documents can be used to procure a license?

Doug said:

That's a very good question, but I think it's worth pursuing. A driver's license is more than a certificate testifying to your competence behind the wheel. It's a statement from the government that says "this is who you are; we are vouching for your identity and the personal information (your address and dob) contained on this card." I get a bit upset when leaders say that's not really so important.

It's that last part that bothers me so much.

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