Wednesday, August 16: Ann Coulter writes:
“What stopped last week’s terrorist attack was ethnic profiling. We don’t know the details of the British intelligence work that nabbed the 24 Muslims because The New York Times has not been able to obtain that classified information and publish it on its front page yet. But it is a fact that you could not catch 24 Muslim terrorists by surveilling everyone in Britain equally…Without the ethnic profiling going on outside of airports, no security procedure currently permissible inside airports would have prevented a terrorist attack that would have left thousands dead.”
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Note: It seems I have a book review for all occasions. I forgot to mention that I reviewed Disinformation: 22 Media Myths That Undermine the War on Terror, by Richard Miniter, who suggests an alternative to ethnic profiling.
I never thought random profiling and searches made much sense.
Since the people murdering and maiming others are overwhelmingly young men of Middle Eastern descent who also happen to be followers of Allah, isn’t it wiser, safer, smarter, and more efficient to keep a heavier eye on these types of individuals?
I may not have any fancy intelligence and covert training, but I’ve got a valuable tool called “common sense.”
Profiling young Middle Eastern men who may be Muslims will make a lot of people angry, including young Middle Eastern men who may be Muslims. But as long as global terrorism is dominated by young Middle Eastern men who happen to be Muslims, profiling young Middle Eastern men who may be Muslims seems to be in order.
That’s what the United Kingdom has decided to do, in addition to the usual kinds of profiling of course, such as behavioral pattern recognition and background checks.
Unfair? Probably. Illegal? No.
Things can go wrong. Innocent people will be embarrassed, inconvenienced and offended. But let’s be realistic, even if it’s unfair: It’s a waste of time and resources to pat down every passenger, including granny, go through every bag, and give the evil eye to every person walking through the airport gate. It is absolutely suicidal to ignore the ethnic and religious component of the so-called war on terror. Dupes.
Hypothetical: Over the past 10 years, numerous jewelry store robberies have been committed by mostly young white women who may belong to a cult that believes followers will become goddesses if they steal a certain number of diamonds for the cult leader. These women are difficult to catch because they tend to blend in with other shoppers and exhibit some weird mutant running ability (bionic woman-style). They dress, speak, and behave normally, but they’re almost always alone when committing the crime. Would it make more sense for jewelers and law enforcement to pay special attention to a black middle-aged couple browsing or a young white woman, alone, near the engagement ring counter?
See Google News for the latest profiling stories. (Be sure to hit “Refresh”)
Your thoughts?
Update: Justice Department to study Britain’s counterterrorism laws. And hopefully learn a life-saving thing or two. 
New-to-me blog: Homeland Security Watch. Hopefully, it’s not run by the goverment.
Later… Christian Beckner of Homeland Security Watch says, “No, I’m definitely not run by the government.”
Solid.
Karol Sheinin guest-blogging at MM links to a Guardian story that reports torture was used to foil the terror plot. Last year I wrote:
I believe exerting pressure on enemy combatants in order to extract information is sometimes necessary. What I mean by that carefully-worded statement is that yes, I “support” torture as a last resort method to save lives.
Still do.
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Around the blogosphere:
Maggie’s Farm: “It’s about time. If my sort of people were blowing things up, I would not mind a bit – it keeps everyone safer, including honest Moslems.”
Check out funnyman RightWingDuck’s sketch.
Infidel Bloggers Alliance makes a good point about Irish profiling (because of Irish Republican Army terrorism), Mary Katharine Ham, California Conservative, Wizbang, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, Riehl World View, Ace of Spades, Coalition of the Swilling, e-skojec.com…
