Profiling is common sense!

Submitted by Robert (United Kingdom), Aug 22, 2006 at 18:44

Profiling is a common way of hunting any criminal suspects. When the neo-nazi group "Combat 18" bombed a bar in London, UK, many years ago, the British police did not search for muslims or blacks in their pursuit of the killer, as neo-nazis tend to be white (although - bear in mind - today most antisemitic attacks are carried out by muslims..).

We cannot allow political correctness to result in massmurder. As Saudi journalist Abdel Rahman al-Rashed of Al-Arabiya wrote in newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat in 2004: "although not all muslims are terrorists, almost all terrorists are muslims". Note everyone: They dare saying in an islamic dictatorship what we cannot say in the West due to political correctness!!

It is reasonable to focus on people with muslim apperance at airport security. It is important to remember that such profiling will not hit against muslims alone but also against people of all faiths that can be mistaken for being islamists from their appearance. And even if it hit harder against muslims, what is worse: that an innocent majority of muslims must tolerate stricter searches in order to prevent more atrocities or that an innocent majority of the world population suffer from insecurity, airport chaos and unreasonable luggage restrictions? Maybe profiling will also encourage muslims to join the struggle against extremists instead of blaming democratic nations' foreign policy (which e.g. saved millions of muslims' lives in Bosnia) for islamic terrorism, the roots for which go back to at least the 1920's when Muslim Brotherhood was founded, or even the 18th century when Wahhabism arose in Saudi Arabia.

And the profiling should not be limited to passengers: One of the 24 arrested in the UK following the unfolded terror plot at Heathrow was a Heathrow employee with access to all areas. That may serve as a sobering reminder of how political correctness and equal opportunities now hits against us all. Somehow, it seems unlikely that the Allies employed Germans - regardless how innocent - at airports or stations during WWII...

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".