International backlash at new US airline security
Air travelers from any of 14 countries specified by the Obama administration will be subjected to extra security procedures if they wish to fly into the U.S. This measure is a direct response to the alleged Christmas Day almost-bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who failed in his attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. The countries on the list: Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen. Washington correspondent for The New York Times Eric Lipton has been following these developments and he says that many of the countries are accusing the United States of racial and ethnic profiling and calling it unfair. Nuala McGovern, host of the BBC’s “World Have Your Say,” posed the question? “Can profiling stop terrorism?” ? to people from countries on the list, and the responses she got were overwhelming.
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