Little terror

When U.K. lad Javaid Iqbal is asked to write his How-I-spent-my-summer-vacation essay this autumn, he may just have to ask his teacher if “waterboarding” takes a hyphen. Thanks to U.S. Homeland Security, the seven-year-old’s trip to Disney World was repeatedly marred by airport officials suspecting him of being the doe-eyed, skinny-armed face of international terrorism.

The dream trip went bad for Javaid, his mother and three siblings on the first step of their journey. Javaid’s name triggered a security alert when they tried to board their flight from Manchester, and the family was held for hours while airport security tried to sort the matter out. The same scenario played out on their return from Orlando and in Philadelphia, where they were to catch a connecting flight.

Javaid said he “felt scared and didn’t know what was going on,” which should be enough to make him an honourary American citizen. The Javaid Iqbal whose name the boy shares is a 39-year-old Pakistani who was arrested in the U.S. in the months following 9/11, held for a year and then deported on fraud charges.

Javaid’s parents say they’re considering changing their son’s name.

by Scott Saxon