OUR ENEMY'S TRUE FACE

New York Post ^ | 6/11/02 | RALPH PETERS

[kattracks]

June 11, 2002 -- WE should be pleased, not surprised, at the announced arrest of a terrorist who hoped to detonate a "dirty bomb" in the United States.

We should be pleased because this reminds us that, despite all the clamor about the failures of our intelligence and law-enforcement systems, our public servants remain capable of doing a very good job when energized and properly supported by management. There is certainly a need for improvement, but let's give the feds credit for good work when they deserve it.

[newzjunkey]

Really puts the lie to those "conservatives" who demand profiling of Arabs only so as to not inconvenience their black, white, Jewish, Latino, Asian, Pacific-islander, east Indian, or indigenous selves.

[AmericaUnited]

No it does not at all. If 99.9% of the terrorists are Arab, you don't eliminate profiling just because 1 non-Arab shows up. Unless you are dumber than a rock, that is.

[valkyrieanne]

Not at all. What this story shows is that intensive and intelligent interviews of airline passengers, El-Al style, is necessary. This recent Al-Qaeda guy's proclivities probably would have become apparent after five minutes of talking to someone with more than two brain cells to rub together.

Friends who've travelled to Europe and Israel have told me about the interview process upon entering *and* leaving countries. They don't have to make old women take off their shoes because they know how to intelligently interview.

If someone had been doing this pre-9/11, the disaster would have never happened. *Many* airport employees after 9/11 told news media outlets about the bizarre, arrogant, rude, and unusual behavior of the terrorists. They would likely have *never* been allowed onto an El-Al plane. We need to do the same thing here; the problem is actually finding enough smart people to do the interviewing, rather than illegal immigrants barely literate in any language, and we need to stop being so hysterical about "profiling."

[Steve0113]

We are told that the creature arrested in this plot converted to Islam. That is an insult to a great, if troubled, religion.

I don't buy that anymore.

[browardchad]

What this story shows is that intensive and intelligent interviews of airline passengers, El-Al style, is necessary.

Exactly -- profiling should include but not be limited to ethnicity, which is merely the most obvious trait, but not necessarily the prime indicator.

Many airport employees after 9/11 told news media outlets about the bizarre, arrogant, rude, and unusual behavior of the terrorists.

Richard Reid's behavior was also bizarre, and although he was interrogated, he was allowed to fly, with potentially disastrous results. Not only do we need better-qualified screeners, we need supervisors with the courage to ban people from flights. Better a law suit than a catastrophe.

[Publius6961]

No it does not at all. If 99.9% of the terrorists are Arab, you don't eliminate profiling just because 1 non-Arab shows up. Unless you are dumber than a rock, that is.

Before the details came out, all by myself I figured out this guy was Puerto Rican, without having seen anything beyond his name and a few details of his sterling past.
Dumb luck? Maybe.
In other contexts, it's called self-preservation.

Aka "profiling".

[coloradan]

We should be pleased because this reminds us that, despite all the clamor about the failures of our intelligence and law-enforcement systems, our public servants remain capable of doing a very good job when energized and properly supported by management. There is certainly a need for improvement, but let's give the feds credit for good work when they deserve it.

Rah! Rah! Rah! Gooooooooooo government!

[CARepubGal]

El Al also has a couple of interesting traits: If there is a passenger they wonder about, two big, burly Air Marshalls sit with the passenger in the back of the plane for the duration of the flight. Everyone on that plane knows who those Air Marshalls are. The other litlle factoid is that El Al pilots do NOT let the terrs get control of the plane. The last hijacking attempt was around 1970 and the pilot took that plane on a 1000 foot drop. End of hijacking attempt. May be a model for US airlines to adopt along with giving a CCW license to pilots.

[blam]

"It is time to give priority to the civil rights of law-abiding citizens, and to their right to live decent, peaceful lives, without the threat of monsters in their midst. "

Amen!