The Muslim Public Affair Council (MPAC) has condemned the decision by the Transportation Security Administration to target passengers from 14 terrorism prone nations for additional airport screening. According to the MPAC announcement:
The Muslim Public Affairs Council today called the decision by the Transportation Security Administration to target passengers from 14 “terrorism prone nations” for additional screening “another name for counterproductive racial and ethnic profiling.”…”The new TSA guidelines deliver a propaganda victory to Al-Qaeda and other violent extremist groups, since they rob targeted groups of people from their civil liberties based on their ethnicity and country of origin,” said Government Liaison Alejandro Beutel. “Call it whatever you want, but this is religious and ethnic profiling at its worst.” MPAC, like Muslim Americans across the country, is deeply concerned for the safety and security of our nation, however, the use of ethnic and religious profiling will not achieve greater airline security. In fact, by targeting only certain passengers for additional screening, “blind spots” can be identified and exploited by violent extremists. Furthermore, the new policy deeply undermines the Obama administration’s stated commitment to civil rights, equality before the law, and a much-needed effort to rebuild U.S.-Muslim world relations. The TSA’s new guidelines’ reactionary and extreme approach recall the “special registration” program enacted by Bush administration following the 9/11 terror attacks.
MPAC was established initially in 1986 as the Political Action Committee of the Islamic Center of Southern California whose key leaders likely had their origins in the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Since that time, MPAC has functioned as the political lobbying arm of the U.S. Brotherhood. MPAC has opposed virtually every count-terror initiative undertaken or proposed by the U.S. government. At times this opposition was said to be on civil-rights grounds but, just as often, MPAC claimed that U.S. counter-terror efforts were aimed at the U.S. Muslim community itself. MPAC has consistently supported and facilitated terrorism by supporting terrorist organizations and, more broadly, constructing an elaborate ideology defending the use of violence by Islamists and Islamist organizations. More than any other U.S. Muslim Brotherhood organization, MPAC has developed extensive relationships with the U.S. government which have included numerous meetings with the Department of Justice and the FBI.