wrote:


What you are missing is the concept of the ability of a test to
discriminate in the objective, rather than the political sense.

How many Muslim men between the ages of 17 and 40 fly on airliners
each year? Twenty, Thirty, Fourty million perhaps? If you use
'Muslim man between the age of 17 and 40' as a screening criterion
you're literally playing a million to one shot. Besides, I
don't think anyone's passport, visa or driver's license is
going to say 'Muslim' on it.

Aside from that, if it is known that security is concentrating
on a particular 'type' then any potential perpetrator will simply
avoid appearing like that type and so will then have a smaller
chance of being caught. Most 'Muslim men between 17 and 40'
could easily pass for Italians, Greeks, Spainards, Armenians,
Cypriots, etc, or some other religious persuation.

In some respects, this is like pre-employment drug screening.
If the testing really has a deterrant effect, then the only
positive tests will be false positives because no drug addicts
will take the test.


I don't think that racial profiling will go away. The problem as you
point out is that it is a very long shot. The risk and damage to honest
people in society should not be underestimated.

There is a case in Canada where a 'Muslim Canadian citizen, 17 -40 yrs
old', educated and living in Canada with a wife and kids was seized in
NY after returning from Tunisia. He had to stop in NY because if you
fly on a US carrier, you stop in the US on your way back to Canada. He
had to clear US customs, and was detained. There were apparently some
discussions between US and Canadian 'authorities' who branded him a
dangerous terrorist and after holding him without communication for 2
weeks, had him deported to Syria (the country of his birth, he left
when he was 17). In Syria he was put in prison and tortured repeatedly,
confessing all kinds of nonsense.

see http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/arar/

Eventually the Syrians figured out that he didn't really know anything
and sent him back to Canada. There was no evidence against this man, no
trial, no legal rights at all, for a Canadian citizen who was kidnapped
by our governments and sent to a 3rd state for the express purpose of
being tortured. (isn't torture illegal?) He has never been charged
with any offence, even after returning! If the 'authorities' thought he
was so dangerous, why is he walking around Ottawa today? Canadian and
US 'authorities' pointed fingers for awhile, then it died down. After
all, it only happened to a Muslim. The authorities are covering their
behinds, destroying documents and claiming 'national security'.

What have we all lost. What if it happened to you?

On my way back from Boston, I was in the airport. I'd switched to an
earlier flight because my meetings ended early. For some reason at the
counter, the person made a mistake typing in my information and thought
I was someone named (something like) Joe Whiteboy/Srinivanthan (yes, my
boarding pass actually had the slash and the Srinivanthan is accurate)
They kept my passport, and ordered me to take my luggage on a cart to
the side and wait. My luggage was to be CT scanned, all of it, and
special security officials waited with me. After a moment, I looked at
my boarding pass, saw the error and pointed it out to them. They
checked, saw their error, gave me a new boarding pass, my passport, took
my bags for loading and said "have a nice day". No CT scan, no
checking, nothing. Thank God my name is Joe Whiteboy and not
Srinivanthan, or perhaps I'd be in Sri Lanka being tortured.

We are in a war, a ground war, and a war of ideas. We should be
vigilant to ensure that buildings and airplanes don't blow up. That may
require some infringement on rights, but where are the checks and
balances to make sure that innocent people are not harmed? Innocent
until proven guilty in a court of law? LOL. Many non-white citizens in
our countries no longer have that right.

For every one of those horrible acts listed by the OP, I could list
imperialist aggression by us, acts that cost 10 times as many innocent
lives. ( The Isrealis which are really just us on vacation in
Palestine; most Isrealis were European/American/Canadian 2 generations
ago.) Until we start to look at the problem with some balance it will
never be solved. Unfortunately all the OP does is present easy to
handle 'facts' without challenging people to think about why this is
happening. Until we start to look at the problem objectively it will
never be solved.

Joe Whiteboy