Dulles Airport Security "Detains" an Unlikely Suspect

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http://www.thestar.com/News/article/271329

Britain's first Muslim government minister was disappointed after being pulled aside for questioning at a U.S. airport for the second time in a year, he said today.

International Development Minister Shahid Malik said he was detained for about 40 minutes at Dulles Airport in Washington on Sunday morning and his hand luggage was tested for traces of explosives. Malik was returning to London after talks on tackling terrorism with U.S. officials.

Last November, Malik was detained for an hour at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport as he flew in to deliver a speech on tackling extremism and defeating terrorism at an event co-organized by the U.S. Homeland Security Department.

"I am deeply disappointed," Malik said.

"The abusive attitude I endured last November I forgot about and I forgave, but I really do believe that British ministers and parliamentarians should be afforded the same respect and dignity at U.S.A. airports that we would bestow upon our colleagues in the Senate and Congress.

"Obviously, there was no malice involved, but it has to be said that the U.S.A. system does not inspire confidence."

This is by turns purely absurd and purely hilarious. On one hand, you'd expect anyone with British official papers to not get any trouble at an airport. On the other, the irony of the situation - being detained for suspicions of having explosives after having given a speech on how to tackle extremism and defeat terrorism - is beyond words.

 

At least he didn't get guns pointed at him for wearing this.

Yes, airport security is a bad joke, at best. It isn't even very good security theater.

Nice way to increase government spending, though.

 

In the US, is it a case of 'if you look Asian, you get questioned'?

This is a serious question.

 

Sheesh, I suppose I should make sure I'm clean-shaven if I ever visit the US. How was it, land of the free and home of the brave, or the other way around?

The whole airport security thing reminds me of the law about entropy. Even if you try to improve things, the net result is that they invariably get worse.

 

More like the law of trying to do the impossible. Consider how many people fly every day worldwide. Now consider the plausibility of attempting to make sure all those people are on the up-and-up.

Recover from laughter, decide that airport security it sorta silly.

If The Terrorists make it to the airport, they win. Unless they're really, really stupid.

 

This is why they need to bring back racial profiling. Then they can do weighted random searches based on the profiles of the passengers. I see no other way to secure the airports.

 

It is worth to keep in mind that there is no such thing as complete safety, unless one wants to have something like the East German border around the US, and even these thorough border controls were tricked at times. It is unaffordable.

I actually agree that proper discrimination is the only sensible way to use the limited resources the government has. Terrorists are one of many things customs have to take care of. Profiling has nothing to do with searching Muslims because they are Muslims, or have a dark colour of their skin. But do not expect too much from it.

That said, it ought to be done properly. To pester a British Minister, who owns probably a British diplomatic passport, clearly is a waste of effort, time and money that ought to be reprimanded out of principle because it shows a considerable lack of good sense. And certainly it ought not to happen twice.

It reminds me of the immortal encounter between Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake and Colonel "Bat" Guano in Dr. Strangelove:

Generally, people ought to get out more.

 

Well first of all, in the U.S. the term used would be "middle eastern". The term "Asian" is used to refer to people of the Far East - Japan, China, Vietnam, Korea, etc.

However, I can say that profiling is performed, as I almost always get questioned when I travel. Flashing my military credentials is usually enough to limit the search to just opening up my bag, but it's still annoying. I look like a reasonable target. I'm in my 30s, I'm from central and eastern European anscestors meaning I have a somewhat darker complexion than most Americans, and the fact that I have a fairly long goatee just clinches it for airport security. I thought the fact that I usually travel alone was a strong contributing factor, but then I've been searched when traveling with my wife.

 

A long goatee. Legendary. I'm so intrigued what you look like Aldeth - lol!

 

Racial profiling wouldn't have stopped Tim McVeigh. It wouldn't have stopped Ted Kazinski. It wouldn't have stopped John Walker Lindh. Racial profiling is not only discriminatory and, frankly, sickening, but it also doesn't work. Stopping every Akhmed in a turban is not only a waste of time, but it's stupid.

 

Without a doubt it would have stopped Kazinski (although I don't think he ever flew as wasn't he afraid of technology?) because anybody who ever looked at him would automatically know he was crazy.

 

OK, but that would not be racial profiling. I don't even know what kind of profiling that would qualify as. Crazy profiling? Visual profiling? If you are suggesting poeple base their searches based on what people look like, there are things other than race that you could go by. And I'm sure that happens to an extent. For example, chances are a 75-year old grandmother is not getting on a plane with the intent of blowing it up.

To be fair, I said "fairly" long. It hangs a couple of inches below my chin - it's not like the tip is at my chest or anything like that. And it's not just a goatee - it's one of those mustache-goatee combos with hair on the side of the mouth too to attach the goatee to the mustache.

When Baldur's Gate first came out, I looked pretty much exactly like the charname portrait of the bald fighter with a goatee - it's one of the few character portraits that didn't have an NPC linked to them. However, at the time I was in my mid-20s - peak physical condition. Now I'm well into my 30s so I sadly have lost some of the physique. I consider myself muscular, but certainly not all buff like that guy anymore. I have grown the goatee longer since then, and I've traded in the contact lenses for glasses, so now we don't look nearly as much alike.

 

Profiling is a smart thing to do. Racial profiling is a stupid thing to do.

 

thats called a van dyke, aldeth

 

There was perhaps no malice involved, but a lot of idiocy regardless. Come on, a British government minister? Such things have happened to visitors from other countries, as well.

They've already tried pulling aside the prettier women and enacting personal control, which basically means having them strip naked and stroll around. It's sad how people think they need to do that and it's also sad what kind of morons get employed as security guards.

Personally, I think they need to impose much harsher psychological testing procedures on the candidates. That, and perhaps a one strike and you're out policy as regards wrongful strip searches, any cross-gender searches, and ostensibly wrongful detentions. It would also help to employ a public uniformed service instead of private guards. I don't think private guards should have the kind of rights they do. No police powers for private folks. Seriously.