Will Muslim Women Be Exempted from Full-Body Patdowns at Airports in the US?

From the "You can't make this stuff up department" comes this non-answer by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to a perfectly reasonable question.

When asked today if she will insist that Muslim women wearing hijabs must go through full body pat downs before boarding planes, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano did not say yes or no, but told CNSNews.com there will be “adjustments” and “more to come” on the issue.

“On the pat downs, CAIR [the Council on American-Islamic Relations] has recommended that Muslim women wearing hijabs refuse to go through the full body pat downs before boarding planes,” CNSNews.com asked Napolitano at a Monday press conference. “Will you insist that they do go through full body pat downs before boarding planes?”

“Look, we have, like I said before, we are doing what we need to do to protect the traveling public and adjustments will be made where they need to be made,” Napolitano responded. “With respect to that particular issue, I think there will be more to come.

Why on earth was the answer to the question not a straightforward "Of course Muslim women will not be treated any differently than non-Muslim women. We recognize that this is not pleasant for anybody but we are committed to the safety of the traveling public as our highest priority." Now, I would not have liked that answer, but I certainly could see the logic given the assumptions of the Obama administration about terrorism and political correctness.

Instead, she hints that maybe the answer is "No." Is this because a possible change in the "peek and grope" approach is being planned for everyone? Or it is because an exemption is being discussed by the administration for Muslim women? We don't know at this point. But even if a change for all was being contemplated, that would not prevent the "we will treat Muslim and non-Muslim women exactly alike" answer from being applicable.

Can you believe that the Obama administration would leave itself open to being perceived by the public as even considering exempting Muslims only from a policy caused by Muslim terrorism? Me neither.