Last December, the surveillance of Anwar Al-Awlaki, a radical Yemeni-American cleric accused by the U.S. of having ties to al-Qaeda, revealed that he had received between 10 and 20 e-mails from Maj. Hasan. But the fact that a U.S. military officer was communicating with a Yemen-based cleric who openly supports jihadist causes did not prompt the [FBI] to open an investigation into Hasan’s activities.
Was Hasan working with a group of militant extremists? It’s too soon to know, but the point is that there was enough evidence that it should have been looked into.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have snap decisions like this being made:
Alexios Marakis, a Greek Orthodox priest visiting the U.S., got lost in Tampa and tried to stop and ask directions from Marine reservist Jasen D. Bruce. But instead of offering help, “Bruce struck the priest on the head with a tire iron.” The reservist believed Marakis, who spoke limited English, was an Arab terrorist. Bruce chased the priest for three blocks, “and even called 911 to say that an Arabic man tried to rob him.”
Now obviously Bruce’s wild reaction to being addressed by a foreigner does not reflect on our national security apparatus the way Hasan’s shooting did; it’s simply the act of one deranged individual. But it does illustrate that there’s a group of Americans out there who seem to view anyone who looks like they could possibly be of Arabic descent as a security threat.
I know that the left and right don’t agree on much these days, but I hope we can agree that we need to find a middle ground here. Nobody in America — neither a citizen nor a visitor — should be viewed as a security threat simply because they do not speak English, or because they have a last name like Hasan. On the other hand, once somebody has shown a clear indication that they may harbor anti-American views and are willing to act on them, we can’t hesitate to investigate.
Maybe I’m blowing these two incidents out of proportion, and this is the way America already operates. At the moment, though, it doesn’t feel like it.
I generally agree on the middle ground piece. As you wrote yesterday, and I paraphrase, discrimination is really never a desirable behavior… ever.
I guess the litmus test is on the impact of other lives. How do we prevent 12 soldiers from being shot? If we can prevent people from being killed in what is supposed to be a safe place, that is worth a little extra hassle or questioning to me. A guy shouldn't get beat up by a tire iron.
Case in point — I share a name with someone on the "watch list" at the airport. It takes me an extra 10 minutes to check-in for a flight each time, because I have to verify that I am me and not him. Is it worth it? If that procedure has somewhere, somehow saved a life, it is well worth the hassle to me.
Would you also agree to more extreme scrutinization of right wing extremists as well? That is the problem, it always comes down to the excuse, "if you're not doing anything wrong, what do you have to worry about" but they only say that when it is the other guy being scrutinized. As soon as there is legitimate worries about people on the extreme right, they cry like babies that somehow conservatives are being attacked.
Searching for middle ground:
Yes - DantheMan
No - Alec
No-CMan
If the airport deal was more than security theater I might be more inclined to think it useful. It is not… nor is the fear of anything unlike the Andy Griffith Show doing us much good. We need to come to our senses and not overreact. I don't find it helpful to watch Beck, Bachmann and the usual suspects accuse their political opposition of physical threat when it is just disagreement on issues. Death panels my ass.
The largest act of domestic terrorism, Oklahoma City, was perpetrated by a Right-wing Radical. There hasn't been a leftist political terroristic act since the bombings by the Weather Underground during the Vietnam War… ecological terrorism doesn't count as political to me, more economic. To paraphrase the brilliant writer Tolstoy, "The difference between establishment violence and revolutionary violence is the difference between cat shit and dog shit."
Amuseinc - that is a great Tolstoy quote.
Searching for middle ground #2:
Yes - DantheMan
No - Alec, Amuseinc
That sure is some fancy thinking there cman.
I blame the Bush administration for this. Why? Because when these emails were being noticed by the FBI (and they didn't do shit about it), it was on Bush's watch.
The blame game is useless. We've gone over this ad nauseum on 9/11. What happened on whose watch? Same here.
So let's go prove that this is all Bush's fault, and that he should have done this and Cheney should have done that. Ahhh.. everyone feels better. But you know what? We will not have fixed a damn thing and the next guy who wants to do this is still planning it all out.
Instead of wasting one synapse on blame, let's talk about how to fix this in the future. Perhaps, for starters, persons of interest should be shared with state and military jurisdictions, to allow people closer to the situations to monitor and investigation suspicious individuals.
Searching for middle ground #3:
Yes - DantheMan
No - Alec, Amuseinc
BushDidIt - Pete