Monday, October 22: Islamofascism Awareness Week. Has a nice ring to it.
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So I was standing in a security line at Reagan National Airport couple weeks ago when I saw a poster titled, “The Faces of Global Terrorism.” (PDF copy - also see the State Department press release) All 26 appeared to be light- to medium-brown skinned, young, Middle Eastern men of Arab descent – every last one. No women. No whites. No blacks. No Asians.

I couldn’t help but spot the almost painful irony of standing in a long security line - where I was required to take off my shoes and stand on a dirty airport floor and empty my laptop bag and watch comically serious TSA agents confiscate lotion in 8-ounce containers instead of the requisite 3 ounces and eye little old white ladies as they walked through metal detectors – of mostly white passengers, women, and a few blacks and Asians. I don’t recall seeing one person in line who looked or dressed like any of the men on the poster.

Statistically speaking, a forty-ish black woman like myself (esp. one wearing jeans, a Carolina Panthers t-shirt, and Reeboks, as opposed to a burka) should have been allowed to walk straight to the gate, unchecked.

Our government isn’t afraid to hang “faces of global terrorism” posters in airports and ask for our help in looking out for these thugs, but it’s afraid to actually profile men who resemble them. Instead, they send everybody through tedious security lines and randomly select individuals for “personalized” screenings. These lucky folks get to watch as TSA agents, with filthy hands, go through their personal items. Woe to those who get the pat down!

Why waste resources on general security lines and random screenings? Why not narrow the focus and target the people most likely to plant bombs and crash airplanes in the name of Allah? Better yet, send American troops home, drop leaflets in the desert, and give the people 48 hours to turn over Al Qaeda and other terrorist operatives before we level the place. Hold public executions. Raid suspected hideouts. Put some fear into the people, for crying out loud.

Terrorists laugh at our suicidal stupidity. America’s gotten soft, and they know it. We’ve lost our nerve, only half-heartedly “fighting” Islamic terrorism. Our heart’s not in it. After the older, America-loving folks die out, who’ll be left to do the dirty work of protecting Americans and safe-guarding what’s made our culture the greatest on the planet?