Re: fighting terrorism or Witch-hunts in mid air?
 

Agreed, Profiling to make it easier to find and watch potential terrorists is all good. However scaring the public and generalisation taking place without any people saying that is bad is not good. Some people are way too scared these days. Just because somebody acts different and is has an asian/arab look doesn't mean he or she is a terrorist. I find most of the incidents pretty hilarious and sad that involve people panicing over pretty much nothing.

Keeping your guard up is one thing, but overreacting and acting upon anyting that isn't "common" us just as bad. It creates a state of constant fear and danger and that is just ad bad if not worse. A state of constant fear is a victory to the terrorists.

Re: fighting terrorism or Witch-hunts in mid air?
 

Well to bad the U.N. are a bunch of worthless diplomats who write documents such as this with no plan on enforcing them, i. e. Sudan, Iraq, North Korea, lest we forget dissarming Hezbollah.

I'm also am curious. Why was there so much clamor over 2600 U.S. soldiers dead in Iraq over 3 years with statistics like this...:rolleyes:

Re: fighting terrorism or Witch-hunts in mid air?
 

I really don't see any evidence of this "conspiracy". Seems us white guys get picked out as potential "terrorists" than anyone else.

Re: fighting terrorism or Witch-hunts in mid air?
 

Well, it probably helps the public image of the TSA if the random searches have it not appear as though they are searching more Arabs or Muslims than what might be considered proper. So, they might search 5 Arabs or Muslims, then search 95 others, in order to make it appear like they are not singling out any religious or ethnic group.

Re: fighting terrorism or Witch-hunts in mid air?
 

So basically, for every one Muslim/Arab with a complaint about security, there are a hundred, or a thousand, other people with a similar complaint.

So where exactly is this "racism" we seem to be talking about here? Because I sure as heck don't see any.

Re: fighting terrorism or Witch-hunts in mid air?
 

Terrorists target civilians. It's the ideal way to create fear, which is the only useful weapon "terrorists have".

The IRA targets civilians
The Tamil Tigers targets civilians
The FLQ targets civilians
The Ulster Loyalists targets civilians

The list goes on...

And then there are Christian terrorist organizations that target civilians, like The Army of God, God's Army, the KKK, Lord's Resistance Army (recently disbanded, but killed 12,000 + civilians and forced 2 million from their homes. These guys are much more effective than Al Quaeda!), and more.

It's pure ignorance that people think the only "terrorists" are Muslim.
In this way, some groups are mislabeled terrorists (such as Hezbollah).

And Buddy Jesus, think not 2,600 U.S. deaths, but the 40,000+ Iraqis. And, does that mean you're saying that we should combat crime in the U.S., or that the Iraq war is actually no big deal?

Re: fighting terrorism or Witch-hunts in mid air?
 

Uh, Hezbollah is called a terrorist group because it targets civilian centers. Even if it did not start out with that goal, using that method would make it a terrorist group, by your definition.

Re: fighting terrorism or Witch-hunts in mid air?
 

You all dont know this but this actually creates alot of hate in turn from the targeting of innocent muslims or arabs randobly at air ports..What do you think these arabs and muslims do when this happens to them and they get back home? Thier family calls up, why are you late? They held me up on suspicion..its because I am Arab or Muslim. Family gets a little pissed and calls the rest of the family back at arabia, then they all hear about how racist they are in the west, and how they hold up people on basis of religion or ethnicity. Then people get angrier and UNDERSTAND why people hate the west..

Your little racial profiling is gonna actually hurt you over time trust me. I can understand your fears. But the rest of arabs and muslims cant really do jack-shit about it. We have our own problems. Alot of us want a Democracy, and alot of us live in constant poverty(Well not all) and hostility, and racial profiling from our own governments(atleast the muslims in egypt that want a democracy) We want to get rid of our dictatorial leaders..And ironically we want to do it ourselves without outside help. when we stabelise our region, I trust "Islamic"(or muslim wanna bes) terrorism will decline sharply, because even we wont sit for it.

Re: fighting terrorism or Witch-hunts in mid air?
 

It's unfair imo, but if they want to do it, they can do it. Unfortunately, for everytime I go to the airport, we're usually pulled to the side due to my father's name or our country of origin, being Iraq on his American passport. But I've got nothing to hide, honestly. It's a nuiscance, but there's really nothing we can do. Every country needs some minority to blame their problems on. Blacks, Mexicans, European Immigrants to America, Jews, Slavs. Muslims have been chosen for most of the West now. I mean, most of the Terrorists are usually from the Arabs from the Arabian peninsula, and you can tell when they're going to do something big.

Middle-Easterners really, in all honestly, want to have a better life. They wouldn't mind westernization, it's just that the numerous Sheiks, Amirs, mullahs, and royalty do not want to give up the power they have, and make sure that much of their people will never get an opportunity at education.

There is no real democracy in the Middle-East. The Turks say they have a "Democratic" nation, but it is usually under the influence of the Military and anti-minority sentinments. Most of the Middle-East are just people trying to find a way to get better. Turks are trying to modernize their economy, Iranians were doing the same until the Revolution, some nations in the Arabian Peninsula, and maybe Egypt to an extent. Kurds in Northern Iraq (Far more stable than the rest of the region) have been building up their infrastructure, and have created a nice little economy. They have offices in Qatar now, and contractors are looking for ways to take their projects there.

But in all fairness, I've seen a couple of regular people get pulled over for checks. It's not too intrusive, they mainly throw the bags through a scanner, and I'm usually out by 5 minutes or so. They're usually pretty nice to us; they don't give us bad glares or glances. I just feel it's unfair fo r some ignorant people to justify scanning people of "questionable" origin due to those nutty mullahs and extremists they dig up on the media.

Re: fighting terrorism or Witch-hunts in mid air?
 

The only terrorists who threaten US are Muslim. I doubt the LRA is planning to take out New York. ;)

Well let's put it this way: They're not G.I. Joe!