
 |
|
May 22, 2013
John Thorne:
They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman
May 20, 2013
Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Jan. 12, 2010
26 Teves 5770
Notional Security
By
Thomas Sowell
| 
|
|
|
| |
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The latest "screw-up" that let a man with explosives get on a plan on
Christmas day is only part of a larger laxness and irresponsibility when
it comes to national security. This administration pays lip service to
national security and gives out with a lot of rhetorical notions that
makes it notional security instead of national security.
The Muslim major who was arrested for the murders of American soldiers
at Fort Hood had left so many clues to his hatred of this country that
all you had to do was count the dots, without even connecting them, to
see where he was coming from. But for a fellow officer to alert higher
authorities to the danger would have meant risking damage to his own
career moreso than to that of Major Nidal Hasan.
That is because we have become so obsessed with political correctness
that both common sense and self-preservation have to take a back seat.
We don't dare "profile" anybody going through security checks because
that's not politically correct. Far better to be blown to smithereens
than to be politically incorrect.
Probably the country with the strongest security checks for airline
passengers and the strongest reason for such checks is Israel.
Israel profiles. I have been to Israel more than once and it is clear
that they profile.
Fortunately, my wife and I obviously don't fit their profile, whatever
that may be. Others who have been to Israel are amazed when I tell them
that we have gone through Israeli security four times and they have
never opened our luggage.
That is all the more surprising, since we take a lot of luggage. We have
stopped in Israel while on trips completely around the world, including
countries both above and below the equator, so we had to have clothing
for hot weather and cold weather, since the seasons are the opposite in
the northern and southern hemispheres. Moreover, I carry a lot of
photographic equipment in a large, separate piece of luggage.
In short, our luggage could carry enough explosives to blow up any
building in the country. But, whatever their security system and
whatever their profile, they didn't seem to want to waste any time on
us.
| FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO INFLUENTIAL NEWSLETTER |
| Every weekday NewsAndOpinion.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". HUNDREDS of columnists and cartoonists regularly appear. Sign up for the daily update. It's free. Just click here. |
|
The last time we flew into Israel was from Cairo, where the Israeli
security officials at the Cairo airport detained the lady in line in
front of us for 45 minutes, opened her luggage, spread the contents
across the counter, and asked her all sorts of questions. When they had
finally finished with her and my wife and I stepped up to the counter,
the official in charge waved us on impatiently, saying, "Hurry up,
you'll miss the plane."
This was no special treatment for us. They had no idea who we were. We
were just not the kind of people they spent time on, for whatever
reason.
Recently, an Israeli security official was interviewed on Fox News
Channel by Mike Huckabee. The official said that he has testified before
Congress and offered to help with suggestions on how the American
airport security system could be improved and he clearly thought it
needed a lot of improvement.
Apparently the only response he got from American security officials was
a polite letter. "They didn't tell me to go to Hell," he said. "They
were polite."
There is no stronger indication of danger than officials who don't want
to hear what anybody else has to say, even when those who offer to help
have a system that works better than ours.
The fundamental issue goes beyond the Fort Hood massacre or the
Christmas bomber. These are just symptoms of a larger set of attitudes
and expediences reflecting the same outlook.
Putting terrorists on trial in American criminal courts, under rules
designed for American citizens, tells you all you need to know about
whether the Obama administration is serious about security or is still
playing the political correctness game.
Terrorists are not covered by the Geneva convention for the simple
reason that they do not abide by the Geneva convention. They are enemy
combatants and you do not turn enemy combatants loose to go back to
killing Americans while the war is still on not if you are being
serious, as distinguished from being political or ideological.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment on JWR contributor Thomas Sowell's column by clicking here.
Thomas Sowell Archives
© 2006, Creators Syndicate
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|