Why is the news presenter so opposed to the general’s recommendation? Most of her viewers would find nothing wrong with the implementation of this recommendation. Maybe she is freaked out because she sees at the heart of all of this a disturbing essence: an old, white man wants to “strip search” young Arabs. Edward Said would instantly and profoundly understand her reaction, her repulsion.

Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory...

23 replies on “Retired Lt Gen: “Strip Search All 18-28 Year Old Muslim Men At Airports…””

  1. The airplane underwear bomber looked like any young black man. The airplane shoe bomber looked like any young white man. Strip search all 18-28 year old men, except Asians, Hispanics, and Native Americans.

  5. Better yet, how about we just strip-search everyone? (It looks like it’s going to come down to that sooner or later anyway.)

  6. It has been pointed out above that some suicide bombers are Muslim yet are black or white. Also you could find an Arab Muslim who would speak perfect English and claim to be a Christian or Atheist or Buddhist. They would get past this.

    It is ridiculous that he is so worried about a disaster. That is the cost of being free and open. If you allow pesky things like due process, habeas corpus, and equal rights/treatment you allow criminals to slip through the system. We decided hundreds of years ago that a philosophy of openness might not be safer but it is how we want to live. I’ll take a little risk since there is no way for 0% risk of terrorism anyway. I would prefer to just accept it and move.

  7. Charles,
    I read “Orientalism” by the late Edward Said. I’m not so sure he would have been as repelled as Ms. Banderas is. Said perplexed me. His solidarity was always with Palestinians (he was one after all) not necessarily Muslims. My understanding is that he was a Quaker.

    Whatever the case, I don’t think strip searching is necessary (though I don’t share Ms. Banderas’ revulsion. The USA and other Western countries have indeed strip-searched crimminal suspects and others). We merely should have those X-ray machines (which essentially strip-search only w/o taking off one’s clothes) at all ports of entry as well as at airports for boarding planes.

    As for “an old, white man wants to strip-search young Arabs” probably boys, that sounds more like T. E. Lawrence than Edward Said.

  10. @1 – The largest, predominately Muslim country is Indonesia, which, before you say it, does have an al-Qaida branch. Also, you’re forgetting Jose Padilla. But you’re right – the Native Americans finally get a break.

  12. Where can I get an application for this job? Imagine spending the day strip searching 18-28 yr old Muslim men…sounds like an idea Larry Craig came up with…

  13. Strip searching “18 to 28 year old muslim men” in an effort to eliminate an airline hijacking would probably do about as good a job as the spam filter on my email does at eliminating junk email (it sucks).

  14. #11: Indonesian and Bangladeshi people aren’t trying to blow up US planes. They get to use the express check-in lines. We only need to worry about black and white heterosexual males, age 18-28, who need to be firmly strip searched, with inspections focused on the bare feet and behind the testicle region. This needs to be done in a public viewing area for safety reasons.

  15. It still wouldn’t work.

    Want an effective deterrent? Hand out blankets to all passengers and, in addition to the seatbelt instructions (which you could skip), instruct them to toss them on any terrorists and subdue them.

    Works much much better.

  16. Wouldn’t it be easier to just get the fuck out of these Muslim countries and let them collapse? It’s going to happen anyway. The Muslim world is going to go fundamentalist so we should just let them. Their people will find that they are miserable under a theocracy just as the Iranians are miserable under one. Then they will have another revolution in fifty or sixty years and join the sane world. We can say we told you so. That is if we are not fundamentalist Christian tyranny ourselves.

  22. Israeli security != racial profiling. Interesting. First, if you’re Palestinian, it’s almost impossible to get permission to leave Gaza or the West Bank to get to Ben Gurion airport to fly out the country. If you do, well, you still get a two-hour interrogation and invasive two-hour hand luggage searches on anyone who is Arab. Then–judging by the El Al flights I took back and forth to Cairo–you’re seated in the back of the plane near a couple of young Israeli men who are obviously armed flight marshalls (the passengers in rear of the plane was much… shall I say… blacker… than the much whiter passengers in the front of the plane).

    But there’s more. Anyone who admits to knowing a Palestinian or visiting the West Bank/Gaza gets the two-hour interrogation and the invasive, squeeze-each-pair-of-your-dirty-underwear baggage search.

    So we apply that and… no one from any Arab and/or Muslim country can get on a plane without special permission. They are warned they will have to undergo a two hour search and interrogation for each flight, whereupon they will be given special seats in the back of the plane next to US air marshalls.

    And then we’ll subject the same searches and seating on anyone who knows any Muslims or has ever visited a Muslim country.

    Not only is that racial profiling, but guilt by association. I’m seeing first and fourth amendment violations here.

  23. @21….

    please learn to post the short version of whatever you’re trying point out. That’s what “hyperlinks” are for. Thanks.

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