I don't know ... while I'm usually right on board with the anger at airport officials, this article is a bit short on details. For instance, it's possible his name matched up with some other name in a database and he was automatically marked down for a search, etc. It's also possible something else got him flagged, something completely harmless. (For instance, I have been pulled aside at airport security for buying a one-way ticket, for having my ticket paid for by another person, etc.)

I'd like to see more details from someone about how and why he was stopped and searched. What were the circumstances? Was it a "random check"?

Everyone I know has been stopped at airport security for some stupid reason, so until I see more details, I can't attribute this one to anti-Islamic feeling. Not just yet, anyway -- but I'll be perfectly happy to if someone provides details saying, "This is how it went down."

Our own senators and representatives have had issues with airport security. Obviously the system is flawed in a million ways, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a race/ethnicity thing. Not always, anyway.

It was probably some minor snafu, but it certainly looks bad for it to happen twice! Maybe they should print out his photo and sellotape it up in everyone's workspace:

"Don't detain this man [see photo]: he's the British Minister for International Development".

At least they let essexjan through okay.

And even without the racial/ethnic component, the profile system, just like the one the DEA uses, is deeply flawed.

(Another link on the topic.)

Don't worry, we'll make the something stick next time.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

In a way it is good he's been hassled by the TSA becuase he now knows what happens to the thousands of his countrymen who come to the US. And he might fight harder in Parliament to "just say no" to upcoming stupid ideas TSA is proposing to Britain and the EU.

My fiance, who isn't Muslim, who doesn't look even vaguely Arab, whose skin color rivals Casper the Ghost, whose last name is of Scandinavian descent, who held a high-level security clearance when he was in the US Navy, gets stopped and searched regularly. I don't know wtf the TSA is doing, but if it's racial profiling, they suck at it.

Maybe they think he's a Nazi, or he's the whitest white guy they could find to prove they aren't not picking white guys.

Yea, I'm with brina- according to the article, the guy had his suitcase searched. That's par for the course here. The whole system is flawed and stupid, so I can't say I feel sorry for one particular person; I feel sorry for all of us.

ethylene, perhaps you're onto something: he is so white he likes Nascar.

He worships the wrong god; he's lucky he didn't get a poke in the ass with a nightstick.

He should come back in fifteen years, post-Civil War. We'll have the guys that did this to him flayed alive and their heads boiled and bleached as souvenirs for him. Minus any gold teeth, of course.

What is sellotape?

Scotch Tape?

Woo! Biodegradable Cellotape!

/threadjack

...if it's racial profiling, they suck at it.
Which would explain why, of all the flights I've taken this year, I have only not been stopped for an explosives trace test once.

They searched my daughter this year. She had the grandbun with her but didn't search HIM. I mean, my goodness, what baby doesn't occasionally carry a bomb in his diaper?

I'm with brina. This could be a horrible cock up by security and/or some racist screener. Or it could be good security. You can't tell from a single high profile news story.

Truely random security screenings, which they should be if you want something approaching actual security rather than security theatre, would occasionally have you searching some high profile muslim official twice in a row. Or a woman travelling with month old triplets. Just like occasionally you are going to roll six sixes in a row with honest dice.