National Security and the Woman Who Wants to Become an Animal

Isn't it funny how I, along with the rest of Bahrain, read with bewilderment the news of the Bahraini woman who managed to cross immigration and security at the Bahrain International Airport, board a plane to Oman, actually get out of the airport, past the Omani immigration and security, get into a taxi, and try and a meet a 'wizard' in the hope that he would change her into an animal (I swear that is what the newspapers in Bahrain wrote today) - all without an airline ticket or passport, on the same day that I discover that this blog is blocked in Wonderland?



And isn't it even more depressing that such a breach of security happens in the post-September 11 era, where we all saw with horror planes crashing into iconic towers in New York, killing thousands of people and scarring the rest of us for life?

In a poor country like Bahrain which wastes it's resources on filtering the Internet and censoring its content, suppressing free thought and oppressing bright minds, shouldn't the government spend what is left of its budget in securing our borders and safeguarding the innocent people of Bahrain from any possible threats from people who get into phantom mode and freely travel across the Land of the Lord, without a ticket or passport, or in the case of this woman, money for that matter?

How did this happen and what will we read in the newspapers as a follow up to this story? Will we perhaps get the shock of our lives and read that the daydreamers tasked with securing our borders have been questioned and disciplined?

And how many more people have been able to sneak past security, get on planes, travel to other countries, without being stopped, or detected? How can this possibly happen at this day and age where our footsteps are being counted and our thoughts censored and repressed even before we get the chance to vent off and jot them down on a piece of paper or post them online using the labouriously slow internet services, we pay for from our hard earned money?

Seriousness aside, I don't know what this woman's problem is but I think the fact that she wants to turn into another creature, using the wizardry of our Omani brethren, says a lot about the way many Bahrainis feel about their Bahraininess.