If ham-handed racial profiling can keep us safe from terrorist attacks, then we can all stop worrying. Here’s the latest example of high-profile racial profiling, conducted in the clumsiest possible manner, first when it actually happened, and then again when it came to handling the flak they should have known was going to result:

Fans of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan burned a U.S. flag in protest Sunday after the actor said he was detained for questioning at a U.S. airport.

U.S. immigration officials denied he was formally held, but Indian film stars and political leaders condemned what they called “humiliating” treatment given to Mr. Khan, a Muslim who is well-loved in a largely Hindu country.

Mr. Khan said he was detained Friday by U.S. immigration officials at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey because his name matched with some names on a computer alert list. The actor is in the U.S. to promote a new film, “My Name is Khan,” which is about racial profiling of Muslims after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
[...]
Mr. Khan was put into a routine secondary-screening process for people entering the U.S., said Kevin Corsaro, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection who reviewed the agency’s report. Mr. Corsaro wouldn’t discuss why the actor was selected, but said such questioning is common for foreign travelers.

The questioning lasted about an hour, with some of that due to the airline’s loss of Mr. Khan’s bag, Mr. Corsaro said. “Once we determined his intent, the purpose of his visit and his admissibility to enter the United States, he was free to proceed,” Mr. Corsaro said. He said no complaints from Mr. Khan were noted in the report.

Mr. Khan, evidently, has a slightly different tale to tell:

Indian Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan said he felt angry and humiliated after he was detained and questioned at a U.S. airport, sparking an uproar in India among his fans.

Khan, 43, one of India’s best-known actors, was en route to Chicago for a parade to mark the Indian independence day on Saturday when he was pulled aside at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on Friday, he said.

“I was really hassled perhaps because of my name being Khan. These guys just wouldn’t let me through,” he said in a text message to reporters in India.

After a couple of hours’ interrogation, he was allowed to make a call, he said, and he got in touch with the Indian consulate who vouched for him and secured his release.

“Absolutely uncalled for, I think. I felt angry and humiliated,” said Khan, who had just finished a monthlong shoot in the U.S. for his film “My Name Is Khan,” which is about a Muslim man’s experience with racial profiling.

So here’s the really stupid part. Shah Rukh Khan was told that he was detained by U.S. immigration officials at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday “because his name matched with some names on a computer alert list.”

But the actor has just finished a monthlong shoot in the U.S. for his new film. How come his name didn’t match with some names on a computer alert list when he arrived in the U.S. a month ago?

And if his name doesn’t really match with some names on a computer alert list, then why was he detained for two hours, if it wasn’t because his name is Khan?

And for two hours, he wasn’t even allowed to make a phone call to establish his identity? For two hours, none of the U.S. immigration officials grilling him about his terrorist intentions made the slightest effort to verify his claims about his identity?

Ah, I completely forgot to mention, didn’t I, that when Shah Rukh Khan made it to Newsweek‘s list of the world’s 50 most influential men last year, they described him as “the world’s biggest movie star.”

Just try to imagine this going down in real time. Khan presents his passport to an immigration officer. Khan is pulled aside for a routine secondary-screening process. Khan claims to be a Bollywood superstar, an international celebrity, one of Newsweek‘s 50 most influential men in the world. For two hours, no one takes any steps at all to try and verify his identity? For two hours, no one extends him the courtesy of a phone call? And afterward, it doesn’t occur to them it may be better not to cook up a story about his name matching with some names on a computer alert list? It doesn’t occur to them there’s going to be some PR fallout to deal with? The best they can do is put Kevin Corsaro out there to try to pull off a “Move along now, nothing happened here at all!”?

And then consider this. Mr. Khan, being one of the 50 most influential men in the world, was finally allowed to call his consulate and establish his identity. But once the average Muslim arriving in the U.S. is pulled aside for a routine secondary-screening process, and is at the mindless mercies of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, what’s the difference between the U.S. and a police state?