You can. You betcha.
This is a fine plan, yet does nothing for those who are naturalized Americans, like the Portland Bomber, or who will use Europe’s lax laws to travel under British Passports.
What do you do when they stop using Muslim names and travel using documentations that identifies them clearly?
You cannot identify terrorists by appearance.
“At a Monday night Intelligence Squared debate on this topic at New York University, one of my interlocutors was Debra Burlingame, sister of Charles Burlingame, the pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, which al-Qaeda smashed into the Pentagon. She cited her conversation with an American Airlines customer-service agent who worked on September 11. He checked in Nawaf and Salem al-Hazmi, two of those who hijacked that Boeing 757. While American’s seasoned employee found these two suspicious, Burlingame says he told her he did not flag them for further scrutiny “because I didn’t want my colleague to think that I was a racist and a bigot.”
The Israelis sytem does not focus on appearance — it is merely one of many considerations.
If an eye witness reports a murder committed by a 6’4” white guy, you don’t stop all 5’5 black males, nor short females of any color.
You can. You betcha.
What do you do when they stop using Muslim names and travel using documentations that identifies them clearly?
______________________________________________
Like “Richard Reid”
There was a really interesting piece on this in the WSJ yesterday. Until I read that, I was really ignorant on the whole profiling debate.
You really can’t do it by appearance. Remember Jihad Jane? According to the article, we should be more concerned with home grown jihadi converts who could be any race.
The emphasis really has to be on profiling, but sticking strictly to physical appearance isn’t going to cut it.
The column also points out that as soon as it becomes clear we are giving extra scrutinty to 18-50 yo ME men, they’ll figure it out & start using another demographic.
These home grown converts are really scary. Body scanners are clearly the wrong techonology tho, at least from what I’ve learned about them. Thermal imagers would make a lot more sense.
Speaking of profiling — see this recently posted article, this guy wasn’t a Christian blonde American either...
Somali-Born Teenager Held in Oregon Bomb Sting
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2633687/posts
Federal agents in a sting operation arrested a Somali-born teenager just as he tried blowing up a van he believed was loaded with explosives at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, authorities said.
Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested at 5:40 p.m. Friday just after he dialed a cell phone that he thought would set off the blast but instead brought federal agents and police swooping down on him.
Yelling “Allahu Akbar!” — Arabic for “God is great!” — Mohamud tried to kick agents and police after he was taken into custody, according to prosecutors.
No, you can’t identify potential terrorist just by looking at them, but you can by talking to them and observing them.
If you put all the passenger going onto a plane into a waiting room, and asked them to mingle together for five minutes, and then asked the each of the passengers to make a list of the 10 passengers that should be screened further, I guarantee you would have a lot of consistency in the lists.
I make a mental list of people nearby whenever I’m on a train, a plane, or any crowded place. The government is not going to keep you and your family alive, especially when you are not on a plane. We have to do our own screening. People have an innate sense about people who are acting strangely.
Is this “discrimination”?
Yes.
Might Muslims and foreigners from certain parts of the world feel uncomfortable about this?
Yes.
Did they bring it on themselves by harboring and fostering suicidal killers in their midst?
Yes.
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_terrorists
Usama Bin Laden
Ayman Al-Zawahiri
Fahd Mohammed Ahmed Al Quso
Husayn Muhammad Al-Umari
Ahmed Mohammed Hamed Ali
Anas Al-Liby
Wadoud Muhammad Hafiz Al-Turki
Ahmad Ibrahim Al-Mughass
Abdul Rahman Yasin
Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim
Muhammad Abdullah Khalil Hussain
Saif Al-Adel
Muhammad Ahmed Al-Munawar
Adam Yahiye Gadahn
Ibrahim Salih Mohammed Al-Yacoub
Jamel Ahmed Mohammed Ali Al-Badawi
Mohammed Ali Hamadei
Ali Atwa
Hasan Izz-Al-Din
Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah
Daniel Andreas (San Diego eco-terrorist)
Fazul Abdullah Mohammed
Jaber A. Elbaneh
Ali Saed Bin Ali El-Hoorie
Abd Al Aziz Awda
Isnilon Totoni Hapilon (Filipino, member of Abu Sayyaf group)
Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shallah
Abdelkarim Hussein Mohamed Al-Nasser
Adnan G. El Shukrijumai
After 9/11 I had a conversation with a young Muslim friend who was appalled he wasn't check more thoroughly a few weeks later when he flew... he didn't feel airline security people were being kind or open minded - he felt they were putting his life at risk. As he said, the people who might fly an airplane into a building would look like him. And he didn't want to die so American liberals could feel they were 'inclusive'.
Time to get real - it's time for Janet to resign. The only good thing about the TSA is they act as unsuspecting recruiters for the Republican party. The TSA showcases control freak democrats to our advantage. TSA unionized democrats on "PC" speed politically work for us...they are the face of liberal totalitarian thuggery. But it doesn't work for the country. It's time for change - the man who wrote this piece is right - there are better ways.