Number 145, October 29, 2001 War and Death  Bill [Westmiller],
Your missive makes an interesting proposition. Allow me to toss
a rock into the pot of potatoes that you are about to mash: If
everyone dressed, acted, and made themselves out to be Arabs,
then what good would profiling do? You would then have to resort
to harassing only the most Arab looking of the lot. But, that
begs the question: Just what does an Arab look like?  The point
I am making is that the hijackers of 911 apparently did exactly
that -- in order to 'fit in'.  Essentially, they spoofed the
system.  And then, you miss the boat with what should be a more
important consideration: Surrogates. What of those who are not
Arab, but hold the same political sympathies as the target
suspects? What then?  So, you are now back to square one, and
you are willing to continue a process which has now been shown
to have failed miserably -- in light of the more recent past.
The only reason that profiling is even partially successful is
that this being th