What do you think of body scanning at airports?

I'm an American but have been living in Argentina for the last 9 years. You really get a different perspective of the U.S. by venturing outside of it. The number of American citizens with a passport is something like 20%, meaning most people don't even leave the country. It's a shame, too. They have no idea how the rest of the world views the U.S. I love my country (U.S.) but I absolutely abhor traveling there. Every time I go to visit my family there, I get stopped at customs and grilled like I'm a terrorist or something. I've never broken a single law in the U.S. Not even a traffic violation! Yet, I'm treated like a criminal just for wanting to enter my own country. I have a friend from Argentina who was actually denied entry to the U.S. for no other reason than the customs official was having a bad day. She was actually handcuffed, put into jail for nearly 24hrs, had all her jewelry taken, her shoe laces taken. A 23 yr old English teacher who had never even been outside of Argentina going to the States to visit Disney World! It was appalling! Now they charge $131 US for a visa with no guarantee of getting admitted. It's just beyond ridiculous. Most people I know here in Argentina used to dream of visiting the U.S. because it was "the best country in the world". Not any longer. Sad thing is, it's not going to change. If anything it will only get worse. My 68 year old mother was actually strip searched when traveling from Kansas City to North Carolina! Where does it end? Sad to say, my beloved U.S. is becoming a police state and it's citizens are just accepting it "for their own protection".

I agree with you about the "fear factor". And it´s a shame because they are making many people hate americans whereas almost all of them (and almost all people from any country) are nice. I am not a US resident and neither are my children. We are all chilean and very well respected people in our country. My youngest daughter has american "mom" as she went in a student exchange to the US for a year a long time ago. The last time she visited her american family she had a baby 3 months old. They made her take off the baby´s diapers while her oldest child (then 12 years old) cried in rage. They haven´t gone to the US again and my daughter says she won´t ever go. Not even my offering a week at Disney for all her family will make her go. My daughter is a judge, an authority in my country. Yet she was treated like a thief. I like to watch those TV shows about profilers. Maybe they should hire people with more intuition to do those jobs. It´s a shame.

I have heard that the security checks at Israeli airports are much more extensive than ours here. A news report said that there were actually body scan machines at the airport in Amsterdam where the Christmas Day Underwear Terrorist went through on his way to Detroit. However, the scans were not being done at the time but have now started to body scan. I hate to fly anymore, not so much because of the security checks but because of the attitude of the airlines, as keeping people in the plane that's on the tarmac for hours.

If the person scanning my body likes "droopy" it's ok with me. Thanks for giving me the best response.

ha ha carolbee! I thought the same thing. If the scanning viewer has a strong enough stomach to view my scan, then it's no problem with me.

That's what I understand too and I think it's a small price to pay for our safety.

Dear Jo, I would like you to read my comment on this subject, posted scrolling down a bit. I don´t agree with you on this subject and I´m giving my reasons. I´m sure that terrorists will not be caught this way: they know better than that. You know I love to travel, but this hysteria stopped my daughter from seing her american family again and Claudia´s children (including my Vicente, the apple of my eye) will never go to Disney bacause Claudia won´t ever go again to the US. And that is a shame. The world is full of lovely people and many of them are being hurt by these measures.