Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Cruisin' for jihadists   [Mark Steyn]

A reader writes:

All of the easy Larry Craig jokes aside ...

So Larry Craig was looking through the cracks in the stalls, moving his hands oddly and tapping his foot in the airport bathroom and was arrested because such behavior fits the profile of someone looking to engage in bathroom sex.  OK.

But isn't there actually a serious policy question here about why we're willing to let law enforcement use profiling to apprehend and prevent creeps from getting it on in the airport bathroom but not willing to let law enforcement use profiling to apprehend and prevent terrorists from getting on an airplane?

I take your point. If Senator Craig had gone into the stall, rolled out his prayer mat, yelled "Allahu Akbar!" and been observed attempting to weaponize the ballcock, the undercover cop would have shrugged, "Do I really want to get stuck with another four-week stint in Sensitivity Training hell?" and gone about his business.

Nonetheless, while I'm all for making lemonade out of lemons, I'm not sure it will help for the GOP to start going around saying, "See? This proves that profiling works."  Best to stick to the easy jokes. We now return you to the Singing Senators and "Goodnight, Ladies".

08/28 11:10 AMShare