The fourteen countries were Afghanistan, Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen — and Cuba.
In January I wrote this about this program: “Watch for the howls from groups that pretend to be interested in American security but are in reality only interested in furthering the Islamic jihad.”
And now in the story below there is this: “Islamic groups such as the Muslim Public Affairs Council assailed the policy as profiling because most of the countries, such as Algeria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, are predominantly Muslim.”
So what exactly are MPAC’s priorities?
And what are Obama’s? Why should it even be controversial to subject to extra scrutiny travelers from countries that have produced the largest numbers of terrorists? Is it really an efficient use of resources to scrutinize non-Muslims from Norway with exactly the same rigor and care as is devoted to scrutiny of Muslims from Saudi Arabia or Pakistan?
“New rules for screening fliers in place,” by Thomas Frank for USA TODAY, April 2 (thanks to Benedict):
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is replacing an emergency order that has required extra airport screening of passengers from 14 terrorism-prone countries with a system that will vet all U.S.-bound passengers against a broader array of intelligence sources, two senior administration officials said Thursday.
The emergency order was implemented after the attempted bombing of an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day.
The new system will treat all passengers flying into the USA the same way, regardless of nationality, said the officials, who were briefed on the policy. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the policy is not being announced until today….
In early January, the administration required foreign airports to give extra checkpoint scrutiny to anyone flying to the United States from one of 14 countries or who is a citizen of one of those countries.
Islamic groups such as the Muslim Public Affairs Council assailed the policy as profiling because most of the countries, such as Algeria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, are predominantly Muslim….