Source: The Baltimore Sun
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/faith/2010/01/muslim_objection_to_new_tsa_se.html
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is objectin g to new measures announced by the Transportation Security Administration over the weekend that focus on flights from 13 Muslim-majority countries.
The move follows the attempt by a Muslim from Nigeria to blow up an airliner from Amsterdam as it landed in Detroit on Christmas Day.
The 14 nations on the list include four designated by the State Department as state sponsors of terrorism – Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria – and 10 additional “countries of interest:” Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen. Travelers from these countries will face automatic pat-downs and baggage searches before they are allowed to board a flight to the United States.
In a release on Monday, CAIR said the list discriminates unfairly against Muslims.
“Under these new guidelines, almost every American Muslim who travels to see family or friends or goes on pilgrimage to Mecca will automatically be singled out for special security checks -– that’s profiling,” CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement.