Racial Profiling, Reality, and Taking Time to Think

Looks like law enforcement is taking investigation of the two young men caught speeding, with explosives in their car, near a Naval base, one step at a time. "2 charged with pipe bombs near Navy base," in the Boston Globe, reports that, after a few days, a joint state-federal investigation hasn't found a link to terrorism.

A representative for another group was able to reach a conclusion much more quickly. "Definitely this is not related to terrorism," said Ahmed Bedier of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The driver and passenger who were pulled over may just be a couple of daft young men. On the other hand, repeating from a previous post, here's what South Carolina police had to deal with:

• A speeding car
• Near a military base with a connection to foreign combatants
• Contains
• Two men of military age
• A laptop they tried to hide
• An explosive device
• The men can't say why they are there
• The men can't say where they're going

I'm no expert, but that looks a little suspicious. No matter who the young men are. My sincere hope is that 'reverse racial profiling' won't happen, where suspicious activity is given a pass, for fear of incurring the wrath of civil rights activists.

Hasty accusations of racial profiling do happen. Before information about the pipe bombs was released, the executive director of a civil rights organization for Muslims in Tampa criticized the arrest as racial profiling.

To be fair, Ahmed Bedier has acknowledged that "If it's clearly a pipe bomb that's a different story. Then there is cause for concern," which sounds reasonable. On the other hand, I haven't seen that he's withdrawn his charge of racial profiling. Certainly not in his blog.

Moderate Muslim Video from Pakistan: Very Good News

There's a new video out from the Islamic world, and it isn't the sort of death-to-America stuff we've been hearing all these years. The headline is "Pakistani Pop Stars Team Up" on FoxNews.com - "Moderate Muslims in Pakistan use music to take a public stand against extreme Muslim militants."

[Note: The FoxNews.com video was replaced, as of 11:20 pm central time USA, at the latest, with more current content. Yeh Hum Naheen Fan Center now seems to be the best page for information. Includes, as of 11:30 pm central time USA, two videos: a Reuters News and a Nova TV Interview. 'Norski']

Yeh Hum Naheen is the title of the song, distributed by Fnik Music. The title, translated, is "This Is Not Us." The talent is Haroon, Ali Haider, Ali Zafar, Strings, Shufqat Amanat Ali and Hadiqa Kiani. Waseem Mahmood is the video's director.

These kids have guts.

Good for them. This has the potential to reach people in a way that written words and speeches can't. "Let me write the songs of a nation; I don't care who writes its laws," has more than a grain of truth in it (Andrew Fletcher).

There's more about the video at Pakistani pop group releases peace song (Political Gateway) and TODAY'S EDITORIAL: This Is Not Us 13 Jul 2007, 0003 hrs IST (Muslims for America).

Related posts, on Islam, Christianity, Religion, Culture and the War on Terror.