More Whining About Profiling

From NEWS.com.au:

The largest civil rights organisation of American Sikhs has expressed outrage with a new US airport security policy that it says allows arbitrary searches of turbans, a sacred headdress for members of the religion.

The Sikh Coalition said it had been informed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) that under its new guidelines, turbans could be subject to manual pat-downs even if their wearers had passed a metal detector test.

"Telling screeners to search people in turbans is the same as telling them to search black people or Arabs or Muslims," Amardeep Singh, executive director of the Sikh Coalition, said.

"The policy allows screeners to single out travelers on the basis of their religion."

TSA spokeswoman Lara Uselding acknowledged that on August 4, the agency that oversees security at 450 US airports as well as railroads, ports and mass transit systems revised its screening procedures for head coverings.

But she denied the changes that would be carried out by all 43,000 US airport screeners had anything to do with religious beliefs espoused by travellers.

The turban is a sacred headdress in the Sikh religion given to its followers by the religion's founding gurus, or prophets.

Obligatory for men and optional for women, it is worn to underscore the distinct Sikh identity and full commitment to the faith, according to members of the religion. [Emphasis added.]

Well what the hell? Someone in the TSA should inform old Amardeep that telling screeners to search people in turbans is NOT the same as telling them to search black people or Arabs or Muslims. It merely tells screeners to pat down igloo-sized cloth headdresses on people going through airport security. After all, who's to say that there isn't a hunk of Semtex or C-4 stuffed up under the igloo-hat? Or some sort of plastic or wooden weapon? Something that metal detectors would miss....

And who's to say that old al-Qaeda Abdul from Al Madinah or Damascus won't grow a curly beard and moustache, wrap an oversized paper towel around his head, and try to pass himself off as a Sikh? While carrying explosives onto a plane....

Try wearing a baseball cap, Amardeep. They're easier to take off.