The problem with that formula
Reader comment on item: The California Suicide Bomber[: Ra'ed Mansour al-Banna]

Submitted by Emmanuel Parello (France), Apr 8, 2005 at 13:37

The problem with the conclusion of this article, about the "regrettable but urgent need to keep an eye on all potential Islamists and jihadis, which is to say Muslims," has a flaw. This by nature becomes a targeting based on ethnicity. Ra'ed al-Banna didn't even act religious when he was in the United States, so if this conclusion is correct, it means watching anyone who comes from a Muslim country. There are many people from Muslim regions in the US who don't act religious or observant and who also don't go and detonate bombs later on. Muslims who converted, with names like John Walker for example, would be much harder to identify and watch, even though they might be more radical than many people of Muslim background.

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