As to profiling Muslims, how do you tell a Bosnian Muslim from a Bosnian Christian from a Bosnian Jew from a Croatian or a Serb or a Greek, Albanian, Italian, Bulgarian or Spaniard? By how they look? Or do you propose that everyone carry ID's stating their ethnic background? At what point do we stop being a free country and become a police state?
This seems to be one of the most difficult aspects of fighting terrorism. Not all Muslims are Middle Eastern. But for those that feel that there is not a Middle Eastern connection in the U.S., reference Steven Emerson, the producer of
Jihad in America on PBS. His research shows more than 30 radical Middle Eastern groups operating in America. There's the Islamic Association for Palenstine in Richardson, Texas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad base in Tampa, Florida and FBI confirmed terrorist command groups in California, Nevada, Texas, Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey. We should also remember the Charlotte, North Carolina Hezbollah cell that was running black market cigarettes to Michigan. The proceeds from this racket were sent to Vancouver, then Lebanon to support Hezbollah operations. While we cannot look at someone going through a checkpoint and determine whether or not they are a radical Muslim bent on the destruction of the western influence, we also cannot relax and hope that the worst is over and that we can go back to life pre 1990's. The Jihad has been called, and nothing short of total success for the radicals, or total annihilation of them will stop it. Welcome to the newest wave of religious cleansing. It is amazing how many people have died throughout history in the name of God. It's not the first time, nor will it be the last. It's just our turn in the grinder.