Thank you! Again you've hit just the right note.

Submitted by John Clements (United Kingdom), Dec 28, 2004 at 11:11

Thank you so much for your good work and please keep it up!

That Cornell poll is really sloppy. It asks one clear question -- should all Muslims have to register their address? And three unclear ones: 1. ranging from "should police monitor some mosques (as they see fit)?" to "should police monitor all mosques?". 2. "should police infiltrate some Islamic organizations (as they see fit)?" or "should police infiltrate all Islamic organizations?". and 3. "should police take religious affiliation into account in profiling?" or "should police make religious affiliation determinant in profiling?". Because the one clear question is about "all" Muslims, many people will read the other questions in their extreme version. The extreme version of any of these measures seems to me a waste of time and resources, and a waste of Muslim goodwill.

But the effect of this jumble of the extreme and improbable with the logical and necessary is to make all those actions appear equally likely, equally threatening to civil liberties and equally effective as security measures. It presents the respondents of the survey - and the readers of the survey's results - with something like a Rorschach test made up of vaguely sinister-looking inkblots. That generates unnecessary fear, uncertainty and doubt about what's being done and what needs to be done to protect us from terrorist attack. Stirring up confusion about security issues which are by nature fractious and trying can only make things harder for Muslims and harder for law enforcement.

Kind regards and best wishes for the New Year, John Clements

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