[C]ommuters need to be most aware of young men praying to Allah and smelling like flower water. Law enforcement knows this, and so should you. According to a January 2004 handout, the Department of Homeland Security advises United States border authorities to look out for certain "suicide bomber indicators." They include a "shaved head or short haircut. A short haircut or recently shaved beard or moustache may be evident by differences in skin complexion on the head or face. May smell of herbal or flower water (most likely flower water), as they may have sprayed perfume on themselves, their clothing, and weapons to prepare for Paradise." Suspects may have been seen "praying fervently, giving the appearance of whispering to someone. Recent suicide bombers have raised their hands in the air just before the explosion to prevent the destruction of their fingerprints. They have also placed identity cards in their shoes because they want to be praised and recognized as martyrs."The op-ed writer, Paul Sperry, says that once you're on the train and see someone like this, it will be too late. It's necessary for the police to stop the man from boarding the train. Currently, the official search procedure is to randomly select one person out of five -- the old as well as the young, females as much as males. Actually, I find it hard to believe that they aren't also noticing men with recently shaved beards and smelling of flower water. But isn't it better not to mention they are?
July 28, 2005
Searching for suicide bombers.
Here's a NYT op-ed that makes a compelling argument for a very specific kind of profiling:
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6 comments:
I wonder how many more London insurgents are out there? They aren't doing nearly as well as the their brother insurgents in Iraq are, or Egypt for that matter. Freedom fighters/insurgents the world over must hold them in scorn for the low body count they produced.
This describes the behavior of most passengers on the Sam-Trans 7-F bus headed up the Peninsula to San Francisco, women included.
One great thing about the police, as compared to TSA screeners, is that they go with their instincts, and then paper this over if called to account.
So, while the police are likely to look twice at this sort of profile, TSA screeners won't. Neither, of course is allowed to, but the police will cheat. Which, in this case, is all for the good.
Charles: The reason it matters is that it tells the terrorist how to avoid fitting the profile! And because being overt about following the profile would upset people. It would also create more legal problems (not that there is no solution to those problems).
It can't be stressed often enough: the Constitution is not a suicide pact. It is dangerous and foolish to demand that our side abide by The Queensbury Rules, while their side follows no such guide, and relies on our very observance of such rules for their advantage. More, they consider us weak and stupid for doing so, and that we deserve to be hurt for that reason alone.
How people could wake up of 9/11 and roll over and fall back asleep so soon thereafter is still a source of amazement to me.
What I am in favor of is racial / ethnic profiling for extra screening to bias sampling, not replace it. So, if you are searching 10% on average, up the young adult middle easterners, esp., apparently, smelling of perfume or flower water, to, say 25%, and drop the overall average for everyone else to, say, 8-9%. I would suggest that you will get a significant increase in safety.
And yes, racial profiling is a moving target. But realistically, not a lot of 70 year old grandmothers are going to pick up suicide bombing or the like as a pasttime. In short, the terrorists only have so far that they can go with changing their apparent democraphics.
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