There they found a cellphone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, three cellphones taped together and several watches taped together, but because no explosives were discovered, he was cleared for the flight to Chicago.
Unfortunately, the man, through no fault of his own he says, ended up on a plane with another man, but without that luggage.
But they have been released:
Today, the two Yemeni men with ties to metro Detroit were to fly back to their country -- courtesy of the FBI, according to Dutch authorities and the attorney for one of the men.
Their trip comes after Dutch officials cleared them Wednesday and released them without charges. But not before their reputations were ruined, the attorney said.
If their reputations have been wrongly sullied, that is truly unfortunate. But this has not dragged on in the media, so unless they complain so much that everyone remembers their names because of weeks of news stories, they can easily resume their lives. Their names should not have been released given that no charges were made. But the idea that they were profiled because of their ethnicity seems far-fetched:
The detention of two Yemeni men this week on suspicions of terrorism has renewed the intense debate over whether Arab Americans are being unjustly profiled by federal authorities trying to thwart terrorist attacks.
Separating from his luggage and the odd contents were what flagged the two, as far as I can tell. I'd hope that anyone doing that would get extra attention. And for me, this explanation strains credulity:
It's common, local Yemenis say, to pack items as bundles when bringing them as gifts.
Well, you know, maybe that's one local custom that should be shelved as long as items taped together in luggage can look like a home-made bomb on a scanner screen.
And spare a little sympathy for the unnamed friend in Yemen--the anal retentive guy who is very punctual, gets nerve-wracked at the thought of being late to an appointment, and has no way to see what time it is or call ahead to double check his appointment time--who had to wait days to get his thoughtful gift of Pepto Bismol and a phone.
Look, I don't think people should be profiled based on ethnicity. I hope these guys weren't tagged that way. It will do more harm than good in my mind by alienating law-abiding people and just get the terrorists to look for non-profiled recruits to plant the bombs while security is focused on the wrong people. Behavior is a better guide to judging whether someone needs higher scrutiny. And in my book, parting company with your luggage--intended or not--is a flag. And having a bottle of fluid taped to a potential detonating device--a cell phone--should raise a red flag.
Having tripped red flags, being of a certain ethnicity should not deter added attention to a person any more than being of a certain ethnicity absent red flags should automatically trigger added attention.
But over time, that's what over-the-top reactions about profiling to incidents like this will do to our security efforts, even without any malice on the part of the travellers.
