Well, we've finally got a great compare/contrast situation with security at our nation's airports. I thought it was kinda silly when ABC News' Barbara Walters was forced to have all of her bags searched. I mean, she doesn't exactly fit the terrorist profile.

Well, word came out today that Michigan Democratic congressman John Dingell was forced to strip down to his boxer shorts to get through security at Regan National Airport. Dingell has had a hip replacement which is apparently notorious for setting off metal detectors.

"They felt me up and down like a prize steer," said Dingell, 75. "I was very nice, but I probably showed I was displeased."

The experiences of Dingell and Walters should make all Arab-Americans feel as though they aren't the only ones suffering indignities at America's airports, even if there is no evidence that elderly white people have plotted to take over planes and fly them into skyscrapers.

Contrast this with the American Airlines/Muslim Secret Service Agent tiff. The agent is apparently incapable of properly filling out a form, gets ticked off and has to take a later flight. Next thing you know he's got a bunch of lawyers and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is throwing a hissy fit.

Then today comes word that a Muslim teenager was asked to take off her head scarf after passing through security at Baltimore/Washington International airport. Removal of the head scarf in public is forbidden under Islamic tenets. The girl could've easily asked that it be done in private, but said she was intimidated by the security guards.

Sansour said she did not protest the screener's demands to remove her head scarf because she was afraid after Army National Guard troops with automatic weapons surrounded her.

"I want an apology, because there was a nun covered from head to toe, and they didn't make her take it off," Sansour said. "I only cover my head, and they didn't do anything to her."

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but Catholics haven't been flying planes into buildings lately. We need to get away from this aversion to racial profiling for the time being. We're in a war against terrorists who are Muslim and from the Middle East. Until this war is over, Arabs in America need to be understanding and accomodating. How would they feel plunging into the ground in a new wave of terrorist attacks because security was afraid to offend Arab sensibilities by conducting thorough searches?

These searches are for everyone's safety. CAIR would have more clout and more respect from the majority of the American people if they would fight for truly serious cases where Arab-Americans lives and freedoms are in danger -- rather than just the inconveniences that everyone is having to go through.