On Wed, 02 Feb 2005 21:31:46 -0700, Mark & Juanita
wrote:

On 2 Feb 2005 12:35:52 -0800, wrote:

Note crossposting and follow-ups.

and fixed again, since it is the rec.ww folks who've been doing this
discussion.

wrote:
On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 21:31:00 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:

In article , take out
'takeout' to reply wrote:

But on the original question: What do you think the impact would be
if
every Arab or Muslim were pulled out of line at the airport and
given
a special search?

One obvious result is that we'd catch more terrorists....

Considering that the terrorists are somewhat smarter than
cherrystone
clams, I doubt it.

Among other things, how do you tell the difference between Yussif al
Ibrahim and Jose Gonzales just by looking at them?


Precisely. If all Muslim men between the ages of 17 and 40 are
searched befor bording airplanes then any Muslim men between the
ages of 17 and 40 who plan to hijack the plane will simply grow
a beard, wear a turban, and claim to be a Sihk, or some such
other ethnic person not subject to mandatory searching.

Well, assuming that the folks doing the profiling are somewhat smarter
than cherrystone clams, they should be able to distinguish between those
who at least partially fit the profile vs. graying grandmothers,
middle-aged, balding caucasian males, or old guys in walkers.

At which point the terrorists start using graying grandmothers,
middle-aged balding causasian males (hint: What country is right next
door to the Caucasus?) etc.

I repeat. We need to use a sense of proportion in profiling.

--RC




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The absence of accidents does not mean the presence of safety

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"Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells
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