Profiling: The first step

Citizens of 14 nations, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, who are flying to the United States will be subjected indefinitely to the intense screening at airports worldwide that was imposed after the Christmas Day bombing plot, Obama administration officials announced Sunday.

But American citizens, and most others who are not flying through those 14 nations on their way to the United States, will no longer automatically face the full range of intensified security that was imposed after the attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight, officials said.

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Citizens of Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria, countries that are considered "state sponsors of terrorism," as well as those of "countries of interest" - including Afghanistan, Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen - will face the special scrutiny, officials said.

Apart from Cuba, all the other 13 countries are Muslim. What a coincidence! It has finally dawned on the authorities that almost all terrorists today are jihadists, therefore Muslims, and therefore special attention should be given to passengers from Muslim countries.

But while these measures are the first step in the right direction in contrast to the Monty Python type ones introduced immediately following Flight 253, do they go far enough? Until they concentrate on looking for the terrorist mindset, not the objects in the passengers' bags, they do not.

Will the long overdue emergence of common sense shown in this instance spread further? Let's hope so.