Well, no, there are also HAMAS, Hizb’allah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Fatah and its splinter groups (incl. al-Aqsa, PFLP, PLF, ANO, etc.), Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Jama’a-Islamiyah, GIA, the oh-so-amusingly-acronymed Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Abu Sayyaf,…
And that’s just off the top of my head. But the point is not to say that all Muslims are terrorists, or even that all terrorists are Muslims. I acknowledge that there are terrorists of every stripe. But it seems rather silly to say that the threat level is no different for Islamic terrorists than for others, especially when we’re talking specifically about US policy. I in general do not endorse profiling, and am frequently appalled by some of the stereotypes I hear from people I know, but one should be able to speak frankly about these matters.
You should go back to the post I refered to, which included cites, one of which lists all terrorist attacks involving the US in the past 50 years. If you had, you would know that islamic groups are not disproportionatly involved in terrorist attacks on the US in the past. In fact, there are several non-islamic groups that hit US targets much more frequently than any islamic group, if in smaller scale. The arabic groups seem to get a lot more publicity when they act, though.
Basically, though… What difference is adding “muslim” or “islamic” to the list of warning flags going to make? There’s no indication of intent, nothing to help an investigation. Just something that’s going to waste a LOT more time in false leads than it will save, without improving your chances of catching anyone to any effective degree (It might be debatable wether it’d help at all, but it seems pretty clear that even if it did, it wouldn’t help much at all).
Nope. Can’t we admit that there are certain crimes that are more likely to be committed by white males and at the same time admit that certain crimes are more likely to be committed by men from the middle east? Who’s a more likely threat to airport security, Jurgen from Germany or Mohammad from Syria?
It has a place. Sure, there will be errors, even abuses, but what profiling does is set up a matrix of observable facts linked with probable actions. That Muslim extremists, or White Power extremist, or ___________ make a lot of noise before and after they act, is just another factor in the matrix.
Profiling is not a magic bullet-the DC sniper case is pretty clearly an example of that, but it is a valuable tool. And the more info the profilers get, the better the matrix becomes.
I see some fallacious arguments…for instance, saying that “not all Muslims kill people” is supposed to refute the idea that we should take a closer look at those people who fit a particular profile?
The fact is that Islam tends to have a rather nasty effect on a segment of its believers and adherents, leading to some rather disastrous incidents in the recent past. It’s a known quantity.
Suppose that people returning to the States from a particular country are known to sometimes carry with them a particular sort of contraband. Wouldn’t the customs agents be fully justified in paying special attention to such passengers? Yeah, most people aren’t smuggling, but enough are that it’s considered a problem and they would use whatever information they had about the nature of the smuggling activity to narrow their search and raise their chances of catching the smugglers.
The Islamic population happens to include a number of very dangerous people. If you want to find and stop those individuals, you look amongst the Islamic population.
And as an aside, I simply don’t understand how people keep leaping to defend Islam. Especially seeing Diogenes do it on the first page, baffling. Many of us on this board are highly critical of religion, and of it’s affect on the world and on its believers. I’m critical of most religions, and I’m not going to exempt Islam from that criticism. That religion is producing alot of nasty, violent people right now. I’m not going to give Islam a free pass and look the other way, there are real and legitimate criticisms of that religion that should be made, and deserve better than to be simply discarded as “racist.” That religion promotes oppressive theocracies and opposes human liberties, creating the type of people who engage in these terrorist acts.
Islamic extremists are a bigger problem than people like Tim McVeigh, because hundreds of millions of people read the Koran compared to maybe a few thousand who’ve read The Turner Diaries. The Christian Identity movement might be 90% homocidal nutjobs, but even if only half of 1% of Muslims are potential terrorists the Islamic extremists will still outnumber them.
That is true. Just like a white teen in a car with MD tags crusing in an all black DC neighbor hood will likely get pulled over. The cops just know that he is looking for drugs - just like you all thought that before reading this line.
Given finite resources, would we be safer if we expended more effort in a directed fashion through profiling? (Bear in mind that profilers don’t just concider ethnicity or age, but things like one-way tickets, payment in cash, little or no luggage, demeaner, etc). Or is it better to search the entire population evenly, on the theory that it is certainly possible that the old lady in a walker with two children could in fact be a terrorist.
Is it moral to profile people? In other words, given that security would in fact be enhanced by being selective about who we focus on, is it still the right thing to do?
Now, these are two very different questions. Too many people who oppose this type of thing on moral grounds make the mistake of claiming that it not just immoral, but counter-productive.
To me, that seems silly. Given what we know about the threat we face, it would clearly make sense to focus special attention on people who we think are likely to be terrorists. And that does not include 60 year old ladies from Toledo, 12 year old girls, 55 year old Chinese business executives, etc.
I have a buddy that happened to. He was the only white guy living in a…not-well-off neighborhood. He and another white guy we hang out with were going back to his apartment for a quick snack.
They were pulled over for suspicion of soliciting drugs. Only my bud’s driver’s license with his current address cut the interrogation short while confusing said officer.
In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by Arnold Schwartzeneger
In 1979, the U.S. embassy in Iran was taken over by Elvis
During the 1980’s a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by The Boy Scouts
In 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by Pee Wee Herman
In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by Davy Jones
In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a U.S. Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by Mother Teresa
In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by Scooby Doo
In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by Michael Jordan
In 1998, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by The World Wrestling Federation
On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted to a crash by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by Mr. Bean
In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against The NFL
In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by Billy Graham
16 September 1982 - Hundreds (actual number unknown) of Muslim refugees were butchered at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps by:
a. Olga Corbitt
b. Sitting Bull
c. Arnold Schwartzeneger
d. Christian male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
1988… - What armed Religious group in Uganda has killed thousands of cillvians and frequently abducts children to serve as child soldiers or sex slaves:
a. Lost Norwegians
b. Elvis
c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
d. Christian male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40.
15 August 1998 - Bomb that kills 29 people and injures 200 in Northern Ireland was planted by:
a. John Dillinger
b. The King of Sweden
c. The Boy Scouts
d. Christian male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
Oct 1998 - Abortionist Dr Barnett Slepian was shot and killed in his home by:
a. A pizza delivery boy
b. Pee Wee Herman
c. Geraldo Rivera
d. Christian male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
15 December 2000 - Eleven people have been hacked to death in a machete battle between two feuding:
a. The Smurfs
b. Davy Jones
c. The Little Mermaid
d. Christian male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
28 March 2000 - In Uganda over 700 followers commited suicide or been murdered by:
a. Captain Kidd
b. Charles Lindberg
c. Mother Teresa
d. Christian male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
11 August 2000 - Who clashed with the Philippino army and resluted in the deathes of 20 people:
a. Scooby Doo
b. The Tooth Fairy
c. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
d. Christian male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
14 February 2001 - Two homosexuals in Brazil were beaten (one two death) by around thirty:
a. Richard Simmons
b. Grandma Moses
c. Michael Jordan
d. Christian male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
Thousands of Men, Women, and children are accused of witchcart and horribly persucuted in rural Africa and Asia by:
a. Mr. Rogers
b. Hillary, to distract attention from Wild Bill’s women problems
c. The World Wrestling Federation
d. Christian male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
The Infamous American domestic terrorist group “Klu Kluks Klan” was founded by :
a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
b. The Supreme Court of Florida
c. Mr. Bean
d. Christian male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
The hate site www.godhatesfags*.com is run by:
a. Enron
b. The Lutheran Church
c. The NFL
d. Christian male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
P.S. This quiz is not in any way meant to damn Christians.