Airport Checks

LGF (and Pastorius) report on Muslims boycotting Glasgow airport because of anti-terror searches and checks. Amazing that Muslims might be singled out for extra attention in an effort to prevent Muslim terror attacks. Sadly the response is this-

Strathclyde Police said it was looking at training to raise awareness of cultural and religious sensitivities.

Of course, a few years ago I used to fly fairly frequently from Northern Ireland to England. I was a young guy with cropped hair in, if I say so myself, very good shape (this was during my military service)- every single time I went through airport security on both sides of my flight I was asked to step out of the line and given closer attention by the security officers on duty. Back then the threat to Britain was coming from the IRA and their ilk so it made sense to focus attention on people like me. I'd have been appalled if our security service were pulling aside French or Australian travellers; it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. And yet this is precisely the sort of attitude that Muslims would like us to adopt now, usually on the grounds that to single out Muslim travellers is somehow "racist".

Strathclyde police never tried to be "culturally or religiously sensitive" to travellers from Northern Ireland (and on my last visit to Glasgow, the security desk set up to keep an extra eye on travellers coming off the plane was empty). Why on earth should they be given extra training to be sensitive now? Were they given training to be sensitive to any other terrorist threat? Are Muslims a special class of person that deserve and require extra-special treatment that other citizens are not entitled to? I don't think so.

Is it "undignified" to be pulled aside and given a bit of security attention? From personal experience, I can tell you that it is not. At worst, it's a minor inconvenience- and it was one that I was quite happy to put up with knowing that the best effort was being made to prevent another terrorist atrocity occurring.

While Muslim groups complain about the treatment, none of them seem to express a similar sentiment- how refreshing it would be to hear a major Muslim group publically state that they understand why security services have to pay special attention to Muslim travellers in the fight against Islamic terrorism, and that it's an inconvenience that they are happy to put up with as a show of their support for the battle against terrorism.