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| Home Front: WoT |
| Usual Suspects Say Screening Invites Bias |
| 2010-01-10 |
| Twenty-seven organizations on Friday asked the Department of Homeland Security to change newly tightened airport-security rules that they say will result in racial and ethnic profiling. In a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, the groups -- about half representing Muslim Americans -- criticized a new policy that requires extra screening for people traveling to the U.S. from or through 14 countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism or countries "of interest." The terror-sponsor list includes Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria, while the countries of interest include Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen. The groups said in the letter that with the exception of Cuba, the directive targets individuals traveling from Muslim-majority or Middle Eastern countries with no regard as to whether the passenger poses an individualized threat. The groups also said the extra screening diverts attention and resources from legitimate leads and suspicious behavior. "All of us are concerned about the security of our nation. However, security policies based on ethnic and religious profiling are both ineffective and contrary to constitutional principles. Terrorism is neither ethnically nor geographically confined," the letter reads. DHS spokesman Matt Chandler said the agency would respond directly to the letter's authors. He said the Transportation Security Administration, an arm of the DHS, "does not profile." The new DHS policy is one of several actions the Obama administration took following a failed attempt by a Nigerian national to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet flying to Detroit on Christmas Day. The suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, is accused of hiding explosives in his underwear. He pleaded not guilty to the charges Friday. "As is always the case, TSA security measures are based on threat, not ethnic or religious background," said Mr. Chandler. He also noted that the new directives applied to every person flying to the U.S. from or through the list of 14 countries, and required that a majority of travelers flying to the U.S. from everywhere else in the world go through enhanced, threat-based and random screening. Among the groups are the Muslim Advocates, the Arab American Institute, the Muslim Bar Associations in several states and the Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 How about "Everybody with the name Mohammad must fly nude". |
| Posted by: 3dc 2010-01-10 23:37 |
| #6 But.. but.. I thought the Obama admin made it clear a while back that the major terror threat was from "right wing extremists" and wacko vets? |
| Posted by: lex 2010-01-10 23:09 |
| #5 Why not do both? LA, SF, Seattle, NYC can do it the way the want and sane people can allow the security systems to work effectively. Works for the lunies, works for me. Win-win. |
| Posted by: Oregon Doodle 2010-01-10 15:05 |
| #4 Profiling is NOT bullshit, it's practical and accurate, which is why there's so much yelling and racket, it's a manufactured smokescreen to prevent it's practical use. In short, ignore the 5th column noise and use the tool. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2010-01-10 13:16 |
| #3 Terrorism is neither ethnically nor geographically confined, I beg to differ. Stick pins in a map or make a table of ethnicity and religion. See any common factors? Random sampling is a powerful tool for statistical quality control. But it only makes sense when each part has an equal likelihood of being defective. If all the bad parts you ever found came from the same factory or machine, it only makes sense to focus your sampling efforts there. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2010-01-10 12:21 |
| #2 the directive targets individuals traveling from Muslim-majority or Middle Eastern countries with no regard as to whether the passenger poses an individualized threat. Let me tidy up that statement. "the directive targets individuals traveling from Muslim-majority or Middle Eastern countries to determine if the passenger poses an individualized threat." |
| Posted by: Solomon Glulet1502 2010-01-10 07:48 |
| #1 yay, bias. Its Moslem males with Moslem names and they look like..well...Moslems. If you want to stay alive, you dont CARE if he has a mother who loves him. If you want to stay alive you shoot everybody who has a beard and wears a dress. And the dog. I will tell you something..eventually we arent going to care if they ARE human? We wont mind in their case. We will target the entire city and everybody in it. Where do you THINK it will all end? They will cut us a deal? I dont think we are going to have sweet reason and a happy outcome. I see somebody winning and somebody losing. I dont see "peace". Lets just get it over with and quit fooling ourselves. Get in close, smile, and stick the bastid. We will have to do it eventually ANYWAY. There isnt going to be a happy outcome. Eventually we are going to have to close the door and get Abdrool. I am sorry for his mother, but somebody take her for a walk. Put a blanket over her head and use a two kilo rock. |
| Posted by: Angleton9 2010-01-10 03:55 |