Re: Passenger attempts to blow up Northwest Airlines flight.
Oh, no, didn't mean to suggest so. I've never been to Israel, but it's my understanding that they employ some extremely sharp and well trained people to do their profiling, and that presumably having the right (or wrong) amount of pigmentation has very little to do with it.
Exactly. Over here, that's what people expect to look at. But the bloodlines run so parallel, it's not physical attributes. But Joe Six Pack in the US expects it to be physical. "Why is that guy with the headdress (who is actually a peace-loving Sikh Indian) strolling thru unabated while that guy in the Lark mobility device (who would be my choice, if I were a terrorist, to act as a pigeon to smuggle materials onboard) is getting the 'once over' from the TSA?"
Basically, at least in my opinion, counterterrorism is largely like squeezing a big ball of Playdoh. We'll ratchet down on the big clump, but it'll manifest itself in non-obvious areas.
"Screen All Middle Easterners!"
Well, Nigeria isn't the Middle East... FAIL.
"Screen All Muslims!"
Well, it's not like you couldn't lie on your pre-boarding questionnaire about religious affiliation.
"Give all people that look Middle Eastern secondary screening!!"
Well, it's not like the people involved with 9/11 or the latest attempt looked all that Middle Eastern, hell the last guy wasn't even Middle Eastern. Most of the guys involved with 9/11, I think, were North African.
We've got a really complex problem which calls for effective solutions.