Profiling Is The Answer – Or Is It?

Profiling Is The Answer – Or Is It?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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Had it not been so serious, it would have been funny to watch all the transportation safety experts scratching their heads over the question of how the Christmas Day “would-be-bomber” terrorist got aboard an American jetliner with a bomb. DUH! We ALLOWED him to board with a bomb!

So now we throw more technology at the problem such as the new full body scanners. And you know what? Terrorists will STILL get aboard American Jetliners with bombs!

The answer to the problem, at least to a HUGE portion of the problem is standing right before our very eyes like the proverbial elephant in the room. And, like the elephant in the room, it begs to be recognized and spoken of.

What is it? PROFILING!

We have all received, or seen, the following quiz by e-mail:

Remember?

1 In 1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by:

2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by….

3. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:

4.During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:

5. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:

6. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by:

7.In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by:

8.In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:

9. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:

10.In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:

11.On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashedinto the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by:

12.In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:

13. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:

and, of course, there were the:

14. 2004 - Spain Railway bombings

15. 2005 London Railway bombings

The accused perpetrators fit a single profile. And so the question is asked -- do we not see a pattern here, that justifies profiling? I understand this question is almost as difficult as answering the question “Who is buried in Grant’s Tomb?”

Then there is the very practical question: What does a Muslim male extremist look like, anyway? Is he Black, White, Brown, or some other shade of skin pigmentation? Yep, he sure is! Muslim men come in all sizes, shapes, and colors… just like everyone else.

There is no question the US government is falling down on the job. Their efforts, so far, have been just short of pathetic. Their Keystone Kops approach to air travel safety is, as we said, very nearly funny, until we reckon the deadly circumstances of another slaughter in the air and on the ground.

I am not so arrogant as to intimate that I have the answer. I don’t. I DO have the answer for me, though. I do not intend to travel by commercial air again. For me it will be ground transportation. I realize many Americans MUST travel by air as a part of their jobs. You have my sympathies -- and my prayers.

J. D. Longstreet