red states rule
Senior Member
- May 30, 2006
- 16,011
- 573
- 48
Well, the Muslims are starting to whine about increased security.
I guess the Muslim leaders want the public to forget most terrorists are young Muslims.
The USA needs to say the hell with the PC stuff and start terrorist profiling
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2313525,00.html
Muslims cry foul over 'passenger-profiling' plans
By Lee Glendinning and agencies
Screening airline passengers of a certain ethnic or religious background to uncover those who pose a potential terrorist threat would risk alienating the Muslim community, prominent Muslims cautioned today.
The Times reported this morning that the Government is discussing with airport operators plans to introduce a screening system that allows security staff to select people who are behaving suspiciously, have an unusual travel pattern or are from certain ethnic or religious backgrounds.
It is understood that officials at the Department for Transport believe that this system would not only be more effective at identifying terrrorists, but would also greatly relieve queues.
However, Ali Dizaei, a chief superintendent in the Metropolitan Police and one of Britain's most senior Muslim officers, said that tougher checks based on ethnicity would create a new offence of "travelling whilst Asian".
"It become hugely problematic when it's based on ethnicity, religion and country of origin. I don't think there's a stereotypical image of a terrorist."
The profiling debate came to the fore as as passengers continued to endure long delays and cancellations across UK airports today despite the relaxation of restrictions on hand luggage imposed after last week's disclosure of an alleged plot to blow up flights en route to the US.
British Airways said tonight it has cancelled 35 flights out of Heathrow airport tomorrow morning and 11 domestic flights out of Gatwick
Today it had to cancel 41 short-haul and four long-haul flights from Heathrow as well as 11 domestic flights from Gatwick, while the budget airline Ryanair has cancelled eight at Stansted.
It has also emerged that a backlog of thousands of bags has been kept under 24-hour surveillance at Heathrow since Thursday when baggage handling systems were brought to a standstill by the weight of luggage being checked in. On Monday, BA staff told passengers that a mountain of up to 40,000 bags had built up, but a spokeswoman told Times Online today that the backlog had been cut to 5,000.
Despite the easing of restrictions, passengers are still strongly advised to allow extra time for their journey over the next few days with security staff still having to search 50 per cent of travellers.
The Muslim Council of Britain said that if such checks were narrowed to target members of the Muslim community the government could alienate Muslims whose co-operation is vital in combating threats of terror.
"The Government needs to think very, very carefully before it considers putting this measure into practice," Inayat Bunglawala, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain said.
"We have seen very different arrests since 9/11, and terrorists, or suspected terrorists, come from many different backgrounds.
"Muslims are not an ethnic group and come from many different backgrounds including from the black community and increasingly from the white community."
However, Haras Rafiq, spokesman for the newly-formed Sufi Muslim Council, said he favoured such screening measures as long as they were carried out in a "professional" and courteous manner.
"I regularly go to the US and abroad, and I regularly get checked, double-checked and sometimes triple-checked. I get asked the same questions again and again. I understand the reasons why they have to do this and passengers need to be mindful and understand this as well.
A Department for Transport spokesman would not confirm or deny the Times report, saying only: "In due course we expect to issue new security requirements but we are working out at the moment what they are going to say."
David Cameron, the Opposition leader, today made his first public statement on the alleged plot, and refused to rule out backing the use of profiling to speed up security checks at airports.
Procedures had to be based on "whats right in terms of intelligence and policing" and not "politically correct judgments in Whitehall and Westminster", he suggested.
While the delays continued, so did the finger-pointing. It is believed that British Airways was forced to cancel its flights today because it was not given enough notice that normal services could once again begin.
Willie Walsh, the BA chief executive, said that his airline may sue BAA, the airport operator, for compensation.
"Since 9/11, everyone in the industry has known there might be times when extra security measures needed to be put in place," he told the Daily Mirror.
"Yet when the moment struck, BAA had no plan to keep Heathrow functioning properly. The queues for security have wound all round the terminals like a bad dream at Disneyland."
Ryanair blamed todays problems on "BAAs chronic inability" to properly staff their security facilities at Stansted, along with "nonsensical hand baggage restrictions".
The budget airline said there were long security queues at Stansted and that at one point early today only four out of 14 security points were open.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Tour Operators (FTO) called for an independent inquiry to look at the way the terror alert was handled.
"We feel let down, however, by inconsistent airport policies, clearly inadequate staffing arrangements and lack of rehearsed contingency planning which have made this serious situation far worse for customers than it needed to be," FTO chairman Ian Ailles said.
"It is not clear to us how airport security arrangements at times of heightened tension have improved in the five years since the 9/11 tragedy."
I guess the Muslim leaders want the public to forget most terrorists are young Muslims.
The USA needs to say the hell with the PC stuff and start terrorist profiling
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2313525,00.html
Muslims cry foul over 'passenger-profiling' plans
By Lee Glendinning and agencies
Screening airline passengers of a certain ethnic or religious background to uncover those who pose a potential terrorist threat would risk alienating the Muslim community, prominent Muslims cautioned today.
The Times reported this morning that the Government is discussing with airport operators plans to introduce a screening system that allows security staff to select people who are behaving suspiciously, have an unusual travel pattern or are from certain ethnic or religious backgrounds.
It is understood that officials at the Department for Transport believe that this system would not only be more effective at identifying terrrorists, but would also greatly relieve queues.
However, Ali Dizaei, a chief superintendent in the Metropolitan Police and one of Britain's most senior Muslim officers, said that tougher checks based on ethnicity would create a new offence of "travelling whilst Asian".
"It become hugely problematic when it's based on ethnicity, religion and country of origin. I don't think there's a stereotypical image of a terrorist."
The profiling debate came to the fore as as passengers continued to endure long delays and cancellations across UK airports today despite the relaxation of restrictions on hand luggage imposed after last week's disclosure of an alleged plot to blow up flights en route to the US.
British Airways said tonight it has cancelled 35 flights out of Heathrow airport tomorrow morning and 11 domestic flights out of Gatwick
Today it had to cancel 41 short-haul and four long-haul flights from Heathrow as well as 11 domestic flights from Gatwick, while the budget airline Ryanair has cancelled eight at Stansted.
It has also emerged that a backlog of thousands of bags has been kept under 24-hour surveillance at Heathrow since Thursday when baggage handling systems were brought to a standstill by the weight of luggage being checked in. On Monday, BA staff told passengers that a mountain of up to 40,000 bags had built up, but a spokeswoman told Times Online today that the backlog had been cut to 5,000.
Despite the easing of restrictions, passengers are still strongly advised to allow extra time for their journey over the next few days with security staff still having to search 50 per cent of travellers.
The Muslim Council of Britain said that if such checks were narrowed to target members of the Muslim community the government could alienate Muslims whose co-operation is vital in combating threats of terror.
"The Government needs to think very, very carefully before it considers putting this measure into practice," Inayat Bunglawala, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain said.
"We have seen very different arrests since 9/11, and terrorists, or suspected terrorists, come from many different backgrounds.
"Muslims are not an ethnic group and come from many different backgrounds including from the black community and increasingly from the white community."
However, Haras Rafiq, spokesman for the newly-formed Sufi Muslim Council, said he favoured such screening measures as long as they were carried out in a "professional" and courteous manner.
"I regularly go to the US and abroad, and I regularly get checked, double-checked and sometimes triple-checked. I get asked the same questions again and again. I understand the reasons why they have to do this and passengers need to be mindful and understand this as well.
A Department for Transport spokesman would not confirm or deny the Times report, saying only: "In due course we expect to issue new security requirements but we are working out at the moment what they are going to say."
David Cameron, the Opposition leader, today made his first public statement on the alleged plot, and refused to rule out backing the use of profiling to speed up security checks at airports.
Procedures had to be based on "whats right in terms of intelligence and policing" and not "politically correct judgments in Whitehall and Westminster", he suggested.
While the delays continued, so did the finger-pointing. It is believed that British Airways was forced to cancel its flights today because it was not given enough notice that normal services could once again begin.
Willie Walsh, the BA chief executive, said that his airline may sue BAA, the airport operator, for compensation.
"Since 9/11, everyone in the industry has known there might be times when extra security measures needed to be put in place," he told the Daily Mirror.
"Yet when the moment struck, BAA had no plan to keep Heathrow functioning properly. The queues for security have wound all round the terminals like a bad dream at Disneyland."
Ryanair blamed todays problems on "BAAs chronic inability" to properly staff their security facilities at Stansted, along with "nonsensical hand baggage restrictions".
The budget airline said there were long security queues at Stansted and that at one point early today only four out of 14 security points were open.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Tour Operators (FTO) called for an independent inquiry to look at the way the terror alert was handled.
"We feel let down, however, by inconsistent airport policies, clearly inadequate staffing arrangements and lack of rehearsed contingency planning which have made this serious situation far worse for customers than it needed to be," FTO chairman Ian Ailles said.
"It is not clear to us how airport security arrangements at times of heightened tension have improved in the five years since the 9/11 tragedy."
