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Posted on 08/21/2006 1:42:19 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
Biometric testing is set to be introduced at European airports as part of stringent new security measures revealed yesterday in the wake of last week's alleged terror plot.
Passengers would have their fingerprint or iris scanned under the measures proposed by EU interior ministers, which would also use passenger profiling to try to identify potential terrorists.
The move to beef up relaxed security procedures in Europe came as John Reid, the Home Secretary, warned human rights would have to be balanced against the threat from terrorism.
Other measures agreed in the wake of last week's terror threat include a commitment to stamping out radicalism by stricter policing of the internet, replacing extremism with a "European" model of Islam, a 250 million research project into liquid explosives and a meeting of security services across Europe this month.
The plan to extend biometric procedures - already enforced in the United States, Canada and Australia - to Europe comes after Mr Reid held talks with ministers from five other European countries. He said Europe would not allow terrorists to undermine the "common European values that bind our societies together".
The proponents of terror "would abuse our open societies, would misuse our freedoms and adapt the latest technology to their evil intent and have no regard for human life or for human rights".
Mr Reid signalled that people would have to give up some of their liberties. "As we face the threat of mass murder we have to accept that the rights of the individual that we enjoy must, and will be, balanced with the collective right of security and the protection of life and limb that our citizens demand."
Ministers from the current Finnish EU presidency as well as future EU presidencies Germany, France, Portugal and Slovenia were briefed along with Mr Reid yesterday by Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, the MI5 director general and Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman, the head of special operations at Scotland Yard.
Franco Frattini, the vice-president of the EU Commission, in charge of security, said intelligence officials would increase the exchange of passenger information and find ways to censor internet sites that teach bomb-making and other terrorist activities.
Europe should explore "positive profiling of passengers" in order to make border controls more efficient, however he emphatically denied that this would be based on racial or religious grounds. Rather, the profiling would be drawn from biometric information. This would actually speed up airport security procedures, he argued. The plans could also controversially pave the way for an EU-wide database.
Mr Frattini has also suggested that imams could be trained at EU level after concerns that extremists were taking over mosques, while radicalisation across schools and prisons would also come under closer scrutiny.
"We do want a European Islam and that is very important not only to show to the Muslim communities that we fully respect other religions ... but we also want [them to] respect national laws, European laws and fundamental rights - first of all the right to life," he said.
The bloc will look into a suggestion by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French interior minister, to set up counter-terrorism expert teams at EU level ready to help countries if needed, he said.
Mr Frattini said he would make proposals in coming days on "the detection of explosives, on the traceability of commercial detonators and particularly on liquid explosives". These were believed to be at the centre of last week's security threat, when passengers at UK airports were forced to dump any drinks or lotions before boarding flights.
The EU's harmonisation of security restrictions across the 25-member bloc could extend current restrictions on taking liquids on planes across the EU.
Meanwhile, a YouGov poll showed that the government's hardline approach to the threat from terrorists was winning favour with the public. More than half of those questioned for the survey, published in today's Spectator magazine, wanted a "more aggressive" foreign policy. And 55 per cent supported passenger profiling at airports.
Six out of ten believe the government is not exaggerating the terrorism threat while 69 per cent want police to be able to detain terror suspects without trial for up to 90 days - a policy rejected by opposition parties.
Nearly 80 per cent believe "we" are not winning the war on terrorism while 50 per cent believe British Muslims are moderate.
The poll is likely to please Mr Reid, who has seen his public profile soar in the past week. His reaction to the terror threat has boosted his support to mount a challenge to Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, over Tony Blair's succession.
Copyright: The Scotsman -- 8/18/06
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Can a chip be far behind?
Mamma mia!
European model of Islam?
Give up individual rights for the collective security of all?
Policing the internet? Fingerprinting? Iris-scanning?
I must have missed the memo.
I am not aware of anyone being fingerprinted or retina-scanned in the United States... yet.
Huh? When did they start biometric proceedures at US airports? I certainly didn't see any of this when boarding 4 different planes last week.
There's a problem?
Just don't use public airlines...
As long as muslim are allowed into our country, you shall never again see travel as convenient as they used to be.
I am willing to take my chances with Catholics... Episcopalians... Methodists... Quakers... Mormons...
just don't ever tell me that I must travel with muslims.
Discriminating... defiant... and alive.
That's even scarier! We don't even know.
(Maybe they mean office buildings, etc)
ANd since when do they want to emulate us anyway?
Why not just give'em a bar code? Or a chip?
I'm trying hard not to. But I think I might want to go to New York later in the fall and I may find myself on the horns of a dilemma.
BTW, and Off Topic, but... did you know that the logo for Joel Osteen Ministries has TWO CRESCENTS??? I always knew something was off with him.
Here's an idea. Every male muslim age 14 to 30 is searched and then hogtied on the plane for the duration of the flight.
I believe the policy is for international travel and then applies to non-US citizens. I travel extensively back and forth between Europe and the US for business and while I have no problem getting through customs and immigration as an American, my non-US colleagues do go through a much more detailed procedure (photograph, fingerprinting, etc) before clearing immigration.
Irish scanning? What the? They oughta be doing Muzzie scanning!
Thanks for the explanation. I've had no need to leave the country since 9-11, so I didn't know this.
You forgot "terrorized".
I highly recommend that all passengers be finger-printed using pig's blood as the medium - anyone that refuses to be denied boarding....
Cinci's, Indianapolis', San Jose Ca's, and Orlando's program:
http://www.verifiedidpass.com/
http://www.flyclear.com/
Problems inherent with these programs:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/08/24/an_easy_path_for_terrorists/
It's not really a problem in the Jewish moral code to use it as such. Might be a request for a two sink cleaning area, one carrying salt water, one fresh water, afterwards, to ritually purify though. (Hand in mouth would not be kosher)
Jews even use real pigskin footballs when they play jewboy football!
Sorry for the flippant response. Brought back a memory from football games and opponents taunts, from years back.
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