Muslims criticize Inhofe comments on profiling
Oklahoma Muslims want a meeting with their senator after he spoke in favor of profiling Muslims and Middle Easterners as a security measure.
“I for one, I know it’s not politically correct to say it, but I belief in racial and ethnic profiling,” Sen. James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, said Thursday during a Senate Armed Service Committee review of the Fort Hood shootings. “I think if you’re looking at people getting on an airplane, and you have X amount of resources to get into it, you need to get at the targets. …
“When you hear that not all Middle Easterners or Muslims between the ages of 20 and 35 are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims or Middle Easterners between the ages of 20 and 35, that’s by and large true.”
The Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on Inhofe Friday to meet with representatives of the state’s Muslim community to discuss the comments. CAIR says FBI statistics who that the “vast majority” of terror attacks on American soil have not been committed by Muslims.
“It is disturbing to hear a member of the United States Senate suggest that entire religious and ethnic groups should automatically be considered terror suspects,” said Razi Hashmi, executive director of CAIR-OK. “Our nation’s leaders have a duty not to exacerbate the growing anti-Muslim sentiment in American society.
“By painting all Muslims and Middle Easterners as suspects, Senator Inhofe does a disservice to our nation and to its tradition of racial and religious diversity.”
Comments
When the terrorism stops then maybe we can stop profiling.
Posted by: Clay | January 22, 2010 5:47 PM
F**K YOU OKLAHOMA!
This is the reddest state in the nation go figure. All of there counties voted Republican. I hope this state secedes.
Posted by: Abe | January 22, 2010 8:37 PM
I live in Oklahoma and this is truly ridiculous...
Posted by: Sam | January 22, 2010 11:08 PM
Go Jim! Having the guts to say what we're all thinking!
Posted by: Chris | January 22, 2010 11:18 PM
Senator Imhofe! You are right ON! I do not think all Muslims are terrorists but the vast majority are! Failing to do so is just so much BS Political Correctness.
Posted by: Joseph B. Miner | January 23, 2010 9:42 AM
Thank you Senator Inhofe. The Executive Director of the Oklahoma Council of American-Islamic Relations needs to direct his anger at terrorists. He is trying to kill the "messenger."
Posted by: R T McGuire | January 23, 2010 10:53 AM
Yes, it is profiling. Yes, it will make flying safer. You have your choice. I don't like profiling, but I like planes crashing into building a lot less.
Posted by: Rev. Tim Lehmann | January 23, 2010 12:36 PM
Well, the fact is that only a minority of Muslims believe it is necessary to commit violence in order to correctly practice their religion.
The fact is, we have had all kinds of terrorists, from the Unabomber to the fellow who recently shot a doctor in a church. We have had other politically motivated church shootings in recent years also.
But the real problem is that if you profile a group, you miss the danger coming from elsewhere. For a while, we were supposed to suspect all looking like Middle Eastern men. Pretty soon we were reminded that there are also female suicide bombers.
Next we discover that people from Africa may join the cause of armed jihad. We also have Muslims with "Christian" sounding names like Reid and Headley.
Profiling has very limited usefulness when applied to identifiable "groups". It is much more useful when used to detect behaviors that predict violence.
The Christmas bomber sent up several behavioral red flags that were ingnored or minimized.
Posted by: Linda Muralidharan | January 23, 2010 2:24 PM
I am for ensuring the safety of my family and friends. Unfortunately a lot of the terrorism occurring in the world is from the Middle East. Based upon the events going on in the world I would agree that profiling should be done until such time as there is proof to show that profiling is no longer needed. Instead of the groups complaining to the Senator maybe they should do more to stop terrorism.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 23, 2010 6:51 PM
Way to go Senator Inhoff. You make me proud to be from Oklahoma. I agree with you 100%, profiling helps. Stick by your comments. Those that don't like it can leave it.
Posted by: Pete | January 23, 2010 9:15 PM
I'm all in favor of profiling people who come from places that spawn terrorism. Now what state was Tim McVeigh from?
Posted by: Robert Littel | January 24, 2010 11:35 PM
Mr Miner,
Do you seriously believe that the "vast majority" of the world's 1.57 billion Muslims are terrorists?
Posted by: BankStreet | January 25, 2010 11:42 AM