Obama orders global profiling of Muslims!
NBC News reports:
All travelers flying into the U.S. from 14 nations considered high risk will be patted down and have carry-on luggage searched under new security procedures starting Monday, the Transportation Security Administration said Sunday.
And guess what: 13 of the 14 countries are Muslim, and the 14th is Communist Cuba.
The article continues:
In addition, all international passengers will see enhanced random screening, which may include pat-downs, explosive detection testing (swabbing of luggage) or body scans, the TSA said.
Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen are on the list as countries of interest. Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria are listed because they have long been identified as “state sponsors of terrorism” by the United States, NBC reported.
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This list was developed between Homeland Security and the State Department using the latest intelligence, a senior federal official told NBC.
“The new directive includes long-term, sustainable security measures developed in consultation with law enforcement officials and our domestic and international partners,” the TSA said in a statement.
“TSA is mandating that every individual flying into the U.S. from anywhere in the world traveling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced screening,” it added. “The directive also increases the use of enhanced screening technologies and mandates threat-based and random screening for passengers on U.S. bound international flights.”
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man who allegedly tried to set off an explosive device aboard a Northwest airliner on Christmas Day, has told U.S. investigators he received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen. Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan is a key battleground in the U.S.-led battle against al-Qaida and the Taliban.
The TSA said the ability to enforce the new security measures is the “result of extraordinary cooperation from our global aviation partners.”
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James P. writes:
What is not clear to me is whether only people flying directly from the “countries of interest” are going to be patted down and searched, or whether people from these countries but flying to the US from countries not on the list will be given extra scrutiny. For example, would a Nigerian flying to the US from Holland get extra attention, or only if he flies direct from Lagos?
Needless to say, the bad guys have an ample pool of recruits from Britain and Europe to send on subsequent missions. Now, if the rule was that everyone who has ever been to a “country of interest” will get attention, regardless of whether they came from or through that country on any particular trip, we might start making some progress.
Ferg writes:
James P. writes:
What is not clear to me is whether only people flying directly from the “countries of interest” are going to be patted down and searched, or whether people from these countries but flying to the US from countries not on the list will be given extra scrutiny. For example, would a Nigerian flying to the US from Holland get extra attention, or only if he flies direct from Lagos?
It should not matter what country they are from or have visited or whatever. It is not about countries, it is about “Muslims”. That is all that need be known. Christians from Lebanon or Syria or anywhere else are not the threat, Muslims are. Period.
LA replies:
This is not about what you or I think ought to be the policy. James is trying to figure out what is the policy. My impression was that it simply covered all passengers boarding planes departing from the named countries to the U.S.
Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 03, 2010 09:30 PM | Send