International Backlash at New US Airline Security

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Air travelers from any of 14 countries specified by the Obama administration will be subjected to extra security procedures if they wish to fly into the U.S. This measure is a direct response to the alleged Christmas Day almost-bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who failed in his attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. The countries on the list: Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen. Washington correspondent for The New York Times Eric Lipton has been following these developments and he says that many of the countries are accusing the United States of racial and ethnic profiling and calling it unfair. Nuala McGovern, host of the BBC's "World Have Your Say," posed the question– "Can profiling stop terrorism?" – to people from countries on the list, and the responses she got were overwhelming.

Guests:

Eric Lipton and Nuala McGovern

Contributors:

David J Fazekas

Comments [1]

Walter Lippmann

How could US security agencies have not known about this guy? He had a multi-entry visa into the United States!

It's bizarre that one non-Islamic country is on the list: Cuba, a country which has NEVER made a terrorist attack on anyone. Indeed, Cuban exile militants, living in Miami, have committed terrorist acts against the island, but they live openly.

Who? Google the words Luis Posada Carriles or Orlando Bosch for their history.

Here's a commentary posted in a Cuban newspaper about that today:

THE NIGERIAN'S UNDERPANTS
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs2830.html

Jan. 05 2010 05:41 PM

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