TSA: It’s Called Profiling, Do It–UPDATED
December 26, 2009 / 7:14 pm • By Dr. Melissa Clouthier
So, the TSA’s brilliant plan is to torture (in the liberal use of the word) all passengers to give us more of an illusion of safety. We weren’t safe before. Any moron would know that. And most people flying get that which is why they think about their own safety when boarding a plane. People take mental note now, of passengers, and go on with life–ready to act if necessary.
The solution to the terrorist problem is profiling. And then, actually use the profile.*
That’s right. Profiling. If a psychotic band of Christian, blond, blue-eyed teenage girls joined a death cult intent on killing people with laser beams blasting from their bras, guess what? I’d say search every blond teenage girl and leave the rest of the passengers stuck with airline travel alone.
As it is, this terror candidate was fairly obvious profile-wise. The UK Telegraph notes:
How can a Muslim student, whose name appears on a US law enforcement database, be granted a visa to travel to America, allegedly acquire an explosive device from Yemen, a country awash with al-Qaeda terrorists, and avoid detection from the world’s most sophisticated spy agencies?
Gee, why didn’t he make it easier and plaster a sign on his chest? But the thing is, TSA agents can’t be politically incorrect. Oh no! That might offend the sensibilities of middle eastern, Muslim garbed students everywhere. So granny gets X-rayed and searched and Abdullah, wearing Yemeni suicide bomber underwear makes it through he screening process unscathed.
After the Ft. Hood Muslim terrorist shooter basically trumpeted his intentions and was ignored by the military, I’d say it’s time to reevaluate our assessment of threat assessments.
It’s not enough to be on a watch list if no one is watching. It’s not enough to understand the terrorist profile if no one uses the profiling for fear of being called a bigot.
The enemy will get more subtle. Michael Haltman says:
Abdul Mutallab was charged today with trying to blow up an aircraft, and with willfully putting a destructive device onboard. The chemical that he had taped to his lower exteemities is PETN, also know as pentaerythritol. This chemical is reported to be one of the most powerful explosives, typically used in such devices as land mines.
In a test for future airport screening, the chemical was not picked up by magnetometers, and he was not forced to undergo a full body scan. The liquid that was used to attempt and ignite the chemical was below the ounce limit that would have prohibited it from be carried onboard.
I wonder how many old ladies or mothers were forced to do a full body scan. Why? Why the charade? We all know who is perpetrating these attacks. We cannot be blind to other possibilities. Still, for now, young Muslim, educated men seem to be the weapon of choice.
It’s called profiling. Do it.
*Please note that I get that this is an international flight. Still, shouldn’t America bear some responsibility for who we let fly into our country. We cannot rely on foreigners to value our lives like we value our lives. Also, this guy was a posterboy for terrorism. Obvious.
UPDATED:
And Donald Douglas skewers the left for their predictable, mindless response to this attack:
But even in the absence of evidence of al Qaeda’s ties to the Abdul Mutallab, we know the nature of al Qaeda’s threat has been transformed significantly since September 11, 2001. Audrey Kurth Cronin, an expert on international terrorism, and the author of “How al-Qaida Ends: The Decline and Demise of Terrorist Groups,” has noted recently that al Qaeda today is a fractured organization with a decentralized leadership. The group is more of an idea than an actual entity. As such, there’s little doubt of the seriousness of the threat, since follow-on organizations will likely take up the initative where Osama bin Laden left off. Indeed, Kurth Cronin suggests that while al Qaeda’s capabilities have been significantly weakened, and Western leaders have indeed suffered from an over-emphasis on leadership decapitation, “Even in its diminished state, al Qaeda and its franchises remain armed and dangerous.”
Read the whole thing.
UPDATED AGAIN:
Kathleen has a new site KathleenMcKinley.com and also a link to the CNN interview with one of the people who subdued the terrorist. But really, I can’t help but noticing Fredrika Whitfield’s belt. Really, Fredrika? I mean if the First Lady jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you jump, too?
