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Position: United States should impose racial profiling at airports
This position addresses the topic 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot.
For this position
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"No, not all young men, not all Muslims, not all people from the Middle East, are jihadists or potential terrorists. Of course not. But common sense, and the overwhelming preponderance of evidence, should make it obvious to airport security personnel where to concentrate their energies."
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"Of course the Israelis check for bombs and weapons too, but always with the understanding that things don't hijack planes, terrorists do -- and that the best way to detect terrorists is to focus on intercepting not bad things, but bad people."
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"We don't know the details of the British intelligence work that nabbed the 24 Muslims. But it is a fact that you could not catch 24 Muslim terrorists by surveilling everyone in Britain equally. Without the ethnic profiling going on outside of airports, no security procedure currently permissible inside airports would have prevented a terrorist attack that would have left thousands dead."
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"I know that's mean, but believe me when I tell you that if the Irish Republican Army were attempting to blow up American planes, I'd have no problem being patted down before I stepped on a plane. I would understand and appreciate the common sense behind the close look. I would not consider myself a victim but would be furious that my ethnic cousins were causing so much trouble."
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"Nobody is suggesting using ethnicity or religion as the only -- or even the primary -- factors in profiling possible terrorists. But it also makes no sense to take zero account of the fact that every suicide attack against U.S. aviation to date has been perpetrated by men of Muslim origin. While al Qaeda is no doubt seeking recruits who don't obviously display such characteristics, that doesn't mean we should ignore the likeliest candidates."
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Against this position
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"The Israelis are generally regarded as having the safest air travel in the world because, instead of searching for weapons, they use profiling to search for terrorists. It isn't as controversial as it sounds. We're talking behavioral profiling here, not racial profiling."
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"The feds should avoid racial profiling because it breeds discontent without enhancing security. Strict profiling can't work, as it will prompt terrorist cells to recruit outside the profile. They already are."
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Mixed on this position
No results