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Screening Muslims becomes an election issue

byWilliam Touzanion January 9, 2012

As arecent articlequoting Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum suggests, our

politicians are more interested in winning elections than in keeping the peace. It makes them no

different from the terrorists the TSA was apparently created to fight.

As an Arab/Muslim TSA officer, I watched in horror when a list of 14 predominantly Muslim

countries was introduced by the TSA in the aftermath of 9/11, requiring citizens of those

countries to undergo systematic secondary screening. Those citizens included members of my

own family. Adults and children alike were paraded like criminals, groped, and mercilessly

frisked.

I decided to do something about it.

Having been stationed at one of the busiest international checkpoints in America, I made it my

personal crusade to advise all Muslims to complain to the White House for this unfair and

counterproductive policy of profiling based on national origin.

But instead of abolishing the policy, the TSA expanded it. Itadded, in the aftermath of the so-

called Underwear Bomber, three more countries to the list: Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan.

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8/3/2019 Screening Muslims Becomes an Election Issue

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At that moment, I knew it was only a matter of time before all hell broke lose and an

international outcry resulted in making the White House look into the matter.

The TSA was subsequently forced to reverse its policy, making secondary screening supposedly

based solely on intelligence. A Saudi student once told me: We loan hundreds of billions of

dollars to America to cover its debt, and this is how they thank us.

In 2010, I self-publisheda bookabout the TSA, 9/11, and terrorism, in order to help put things in

perspective. As a result, the TSA suspended me for two weeks without pay.

My battle was equally challenging with co-workers, who had little respect for anyone of Middle

Eastern heritage. If not publicly, then privately they displayed their contempt. They also revealed

their ignorance: they didnt know, for example, that not all Arabs are Muslim. Many are

Christian. They also thought everyone in a turban was Muslim; evidently theyve never heard of

Sikhs.

I then decided to make artistic collages for my co-workers, highlighting the diversity and co-existence that is the basis for our survival, peace, and prosperity, and using a bit of humor to

make my points. A few weeks ago, because ofone of those collages, the TSA decided to

terminate me.

(Photo: d0g walker/Flickr)

Tagged as:election,Muslim,politics,profiling,Screening

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Showing 1 comment

WilliamTouzani

Presidential candidate Rick Santorum also wants a war with Iran. That at least would put

TSA out of business, since Civil Aviation would probably come to a stand-still.

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