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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
A Transportation Security Administration officer views a full-body scan during a demonstration1 of passenger screening technology, 30 Dec 2009, at the TSA Systems Integration2 Facility in Arlington, Virginia.
Experts from some so-called “terror-prone” nations targeted by new, more stringent3 airline safety regulations are speaking out against them. They say the U.S. response to the failed Christmas Day bombing attempt has unfairly targeted innocent people.
“The news has not been well-received by people in the 14 designated countries – including my own,” said former Pakistani journalist and diplomat4 Akbar Ahmed.
Ahmed, who currently serves as chair of the Islamic Studies department at the American University in Washington, said the frustration5 is understandable. “The majority of people in those countries are law-abiding people, and they do not see themselves as either terrorists or aligned6 with terrorists. In fact, many of them see themselves as victims of terrorists,” he added.
The new regulations issued by the U.S. agency in charge of transportation security require air travelers coming to the United States from 14 nations to undergo extra security screening. Four countries on the list – Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria – are considered “state sponsors of terrorism” that have repeatedly given support to acts of terrorism. Ten others – Afghanistan, Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Yemen – are seen as “countries of interest,” where air travel is deemed to be at greater risk from terrorists who target U.S. citizens and interests.
Ahmed said he understands the need for administrators7 to be very sensitive to security. “But I also have experience in the field and know that many of these measures are simply irritants to people and they do not make us safer. What they do is make people angry, and they are ultimately self-defeating,” he noted8.
Personal Experiences
Ahmed’s arguments are also personal. He recalls when he and a friend, UCLA Professor Judea Pearl, were traveling together to a conference to promote Jewish-Muslim understanding. Ahmed assumes it is his name that regularly sets off alarm bells for airport security. “Ahmed, Mohammed – all these names are related and in Islam maybe 20 to 30 percent of the males have some kind of variation of those names because it means that they are related to the Prophet of Islam. And when security officers see the name, they begin to be suspicious,” he explains.
Prejudice and Profiling
That sort of broad “profiling” can produce charges of prejudice. Like his colleague, Ahmed is proud of both his heritage and his legacy9 to the next generation. Ahmed’s daughter, Amineh Ahmed Hoti, is director of the Centre for Jewish-Muslim Relations at the University of Cambridge. In 2002, Pearl’s son, journalist Daniel Pearl, was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by his al-Qaida captors in Karachi.
Likewise, Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad has been the victim of profiling by airport security. “I myself have had a problem of not being able to get my boarding pass on-line or even at the airport kiosk but have to go through an agent,” he said. A Palestinian-American, Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad is president of the Minaret10 of Freedom Institute and teaches at the University of Maryland.
“The American government is trying to take a blanket approach to the perception of an increased risk from people who come – or are in transit11 – from those 14 countries and does not distinguish among them,” said Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad . “When you look at the actual cases where people have tried to hijack12 flights,” he said, “We cannot say that it is an effective, efficient, or even moral means of deciding whom to closely examine – to base it simply on their country of origin.”
Instead, Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad says intelligence experts should instead pay closer attention to the sources of information that allows them to put people on watch lists. “Searches should be selective and based on at least reasonable suspicion, if not probable cause.” “Too many people appear on the watch-list and are considered terrorist suspects because their names have appeared on “Islamophobic websites,” he added.
Balancing Security and Respect
For someone who campaigned on a promise of restoring respect for human rights and shifting away from the Bush-era “war on terror,” President Obama is finding the struggle between security and freedom as difficult as did is predecessor13.
“People in the Arab world see the new regulations on airline security as contrary to the message President Obama delivered in Cairo to the Muslim world – urging more openness, building new bridges, and promoting greater respect for Islam. And that is sad,” said Nadia Bilbassy, senior correspondent with the Middle East Broadcasting Center.
“Security is paramount14 for everybody – Americans, non-Americans, Muslims, and non-Muslims,” Bilbassy said. “You need to have a delicate balance of trying to track down extremist elements without jeopardizing15 or alienating16 more people,” she urged.
Foreign Policy Considerations
“I’m not sure how all this will end,” said Akbar Ahmed of the American University. “I do know that in Pakistan already there are suggestions that Americans should be subject to this same procedure when they come to Pakistan.” There are newspaper reports that Americans are being denied visas,” he added.
“All of this is moving in a direction that makes me very unhappy because Pakistan and America are supposed to be close allies,” Ahmed lamented17. “The primary question is the efficiency of human intelligence,” he stressed, “and I think that’s what needs to be strengthened.”
Correcting a Systemic Failure
Speaking to the nation [7 January], President Obama said U.S. agencies had failed to “connect and understand” intelligence that could have kept the alleged18 bomber19 off the plane from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.
Mr. Obama announced a series of changes in intelligence and security procedures to guard against future terrorist plots. Among them are quicker and wider distribution of intelligence reports, new procedures for devising terror watch lists, and revising the “No Fly” list.
The President also instructed the State Department to review its visa policy to make it more difficult for people with connections to terrorism to receive U.S. visas as well as making it simpler to revoke20 visas when questions arise.
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1
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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2
integration
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| n.一体化，联合，结合 | |
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3
stringent
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| adj.严厉的；令人信服的；银根紧的 | |
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4
diplomat
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| n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人 | |
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5
frustration
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| n.挫折，失败，失效，落空 | |
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aligned
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| adj.对齐的，均衡的 | |
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7
administrators
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| n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师 | |
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8
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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legacy
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| n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西 | |
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minaret
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| n.（回教寺院的）尖塔 | |
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11
transit
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| n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过 | |
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12
hijack
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| v.劫持，劫机，拦路抢劫 | |
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13
predecessor
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| n.前辈，前任 | |
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14
paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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15
jeopardizing
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| 危及，损害( jeopardize的现在分词 ) | |
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16
alienating
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| v.使疏远( alienate的现在分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等） | |
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17
lamented
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| adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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19
bomber
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| n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者 | |
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revoke
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| v.废除，取消，撤回 | |
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