August 26,
2005
Should Authorities Be More Inclusive in Profiling?
I thought the below e-mail exchange with a reader of the blog was informative. In it, I state my position on why I believe taking race and ethnicity into account is one technique we need to use in identifying potential terrorists. For more on this topic, check out my story on terrorist profiling on today's edition of The 700 Club. Here is the reader's original unedited e-mail:
Subject: Racial Profiling
I am a white male. I find it interesting that after the Oklahoma terrorist bombing, white males were not profiled. Please comment on this. Up until that point, that was the worst act of domestic terrorism on US soil. However, if I were to go to Ryder and rent a truck the next day or so, no one would think twice. Interestly, if the OK bombing was done by a Muslim, suspicion would have been on everyone's mind if a Muslim were to rent a truck.
And here is my response:
Thanks for your e-mail about the terrorist profiling blog. The reason white males were not profiled after Timothy McVeigh is that terrorism by white males is extremely rare in the United States. Yes, Europe had some radical, left wing-terrorists during the 1970s, and the IRA is always a threat to the Brits. But they are very isolated cases. In the United States, it is even more rare. Yes, you have some right-wing hate groups and a few "eco-terrorists" who cause a stir now and then. But as far as actual white terrorists, McVeigh, the Atlanta Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph and the Unabomber are the only ones that come to mind right now. That's three people--a miniscule number indeed, and certainly not enough to begin profiling white males. Also, it would be pretty difficult to profile the largest population in the United States, which is white males.
On the other hand, let's look at the facts: I can literally name thousands of young Muslim men of Middle Eastern, South Asian and North African descent who have committed acts of terrorism in the past few years alone (as I pointed out in my blog). The London bombings, the Madrid bombings, 9/11, the bombing of the USS Cole, the Africa Embassy bombings of 1998, the Khobar towers bombing of 1996,the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, the current attacks in Iraq--I can go on and on and on. All of these attacks were committed by whom? Young Muslim men of Middle Eastern, South Asian and North African descent. Not all Muslims are terrorists, but almost all of the world's terrorists are Muslims. That's a fact that can't be ignored as we fight the War on Terror. Now, if blue-eyed, red-haired white men start carrying out suicide bombings and beheading people on a daily basis, I'll be the first to say we should start profiling them as we look for terrorists. But I don't forsee that happening anytime soon.
EMail
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