(Untitled)

[kateorman]

And in the continuing quest to thwart anti-terrorism efforts by alienating the Muslim community, a former British police chief has got stuck into them. "I'm a white, 62-year-old, suit-wearing ex-cop - I fly often, but do I really fit the profile of a suicide bomber?" he asks. Perhaps not, although fellow critic of political correctness Theodore

Comments

[strangedave]

And, of course, the second worst terrorist act ever committed on US soil is still the one committed by white christian young men with exemplary military service records.

[kateorman]

It seems like lazy police work to me to arrest people because of their ethnicity, rather than on good evidence, which is what this chap seems to be arguing for. OTOH, his opinions were published in News of the World rather than anywhere worthwhile, which makes me suspect he doesn't represent the mainstream of modern British policing.

[alawston]

Heh, I saw the link to that when reading the previous article you flagged up and wondered when you'd get round to it...

Mentioning the 'Troubles' gave me pause for thought, though, at least none of these police types have actually called for internment of British Muslims. Yet.

[hiraethin]

My point. Kaczynski was a letter-bomber... and McVeigh et al. used a truck for their single mass attack. Analysis of bombings aimed at aircraft, in particular, would suggest elderly white males are not the likeliest suspects

[kateorman]

British Muslims seem more upset about being arrested as terrorism suspects than being searched at airports.

[phlegethon_vii]

Although, Kaczynski always looked a bit like a weirdo, and conducted himself in a weirdo-like way...at least, he *was* by the time he was making parcel bombs :p

[kateorman]

A weirdo? Did he do any News of the World interviews? he he he

[mrteufel]

How about profiling by age and gender? We know the large majority of suicide bombers are male, aged between 20 and 50 (probably younger.) So paying special attention to that group should help with efficiency.

But one problem profiling creates is that it's fairly obvious who you're targetting, so terrorists may turn their efforts to finding people who don't fit the profile to do their work. But it would make their job harder, which itself is a good thing.