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StumbleLETTER TO THE EDITOR:
Airline restrictions are cosmetic only
Monday, Jan. 4, 2010 | 2:03 a.m.
I have doubted and continue to doubt the effectiveness of airline security measures. After the latest incident on Christmas Day, I am now hearing that passengers will not be able to access the overhead bins, or have a pillow or blanket one hour prior to landing. This change is apparently because this would-be bomber waited until just before landing to try to set off the bomb and tried to use a blanket for cover. If pillows and blankets are allowed prior to one hour before landing and a terrorist gets a bomb on board, he or she will simply set it off prior to one hour before landing.
We can’t have a “fail safe” system and we all have to live with that fact, but restrictions like the one I just described are pointless. Here are some common-sense moves we could make:
1) Install and use the puffer screening devices on everyone at all airports so we have a reasonable chance to discover trace residue of explosives on people’s bodies.
2) Continue to use the X-ray and metal screening devices on everyone.
3) Take the list of the 500,000 people with suspected terrorist ties and make them all subject to a secondary hand search of their person and luggage.
4) Provide a method of getting off the list if you are mistakenly put on it.
5) Deploy and mandate that the body scanning devices that see under clothes are used at all airports and that everyone must go through them.
6) Put in place a system to scan all luggage that goes aboard a plane.
We stand little chance of preventing another disaster unless we make reasonable efforts to prevent bombs, weapons or terrorists from boarding passenger planes. The way to make the effort isn’t to place more do-nothing restrictions on passengers on the plane, but instead to restrict who and what gets on the plane.
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Airline restrictions are cosmetic only
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If the bomb and bomber gets to the airport we have already failed.
The guy should have has his visa cancelled and been on the no-fly list.
The failure was primarily Federal Government "bureaucratic indifference. The paperwork was sitting on a spy's desk awaiting better pictures. Agencies were only looking at information in their own silos. There is no sense of urgency.
In any organization like the CIA, FBI, and Homeland security - the doers are a reflection of their leadership -- Obama, Eric Holder, Leon Panetta, John Brennan, and Janet Nepolitio
"One thing I'd like to point out is that the system worked, AFTER the incident" reported Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. It is again clear that the Obama Administration has moved from a preemptive fight POST-9/11 back to a PRE-9/11 first responder and police action after the event policy. So why did DHS Subpoena Two Journalists Who Published Leaked Airline Security Changes.
Counterterrorism Advisor John Brennan says there is no "smoking gun"
In Obama's 3:00 PM moment, Obama finally came off the Hawaiian Links, 3 days after the event, and claimed UNDERWEAR BOY was an isolated event. Obama knew that Umar travel to Yemen to get mentoring, training, and the bomb materials.
On day 4, Obama confessed a mix of "human and systemic failures" contributed to what could have been a "catastrophic breach of security."
Remember that Obama brought this intelligence gathering from the CIA to directly under a special White House/FBI team -- shifting the center of gravity away from the CIA and giving the White House direct oversight.
As Obama golf's and rests in Hawaii, Obama has called thousand into corrective action thousands of mile away in D.C., However no war room meeting can be held until after Obama's vacation is up.
Some time at the end of this week Obama will meeting with his staff to work on this crisis.
I see where Obama is giving 140 million to the Yemeni government to fight the Al Qaeda in their lovely sewer of a country.
Why not spend that money on those full body scanners that can count the pimples on your butt from 30 feet.
I bet that half of that 140 million winds up in enemy hands anyway. Those people are almost as corrupt as our own politicians and you all know what they are capable of.
Maybe we should have ALL MUSLIMS stripped and wear only bathrobes given to them by boarding agents, no underwear, no shoes er I mean sandals, no more bowing to Mecca, feed them pork on the plane and let them listen to hard rock music instead of that silly crap of music called arab nonsense. But the ACLU would sue me over this comment.
Raggidy clad Mr. Abdul'b was escorted into the flight waiting room by a well dressed Indian Gentleman.
The well dressed man wanted Abdul'b to gain access onto the plane without a passport.
The airline ticket taker told the well dressed man that he would have to talk to his supervisor as he did not have the authority to allow Mr. Abdul'b to enter the plane without a passport.
An American couple, Mr. and Mrs Haskell, witnessed the conversation with the airline ticket taker about the entry with no passport the morning of the incident.
Mr. Haskell witness Mr' Abdul'b being escorted onto the plain just before takeoff. What did they find him a passport?
Mr. Haskell also witnessed the gentleman seated behind Abdul'b leaning over the back of Abdul'b seat as the fireworks were going off.
Why was Mr. Abdul'b allowed entrance onto the plane without a passport?
Who was the well dressed Indian man who escorted Abdul'b to the waiting room, to the supervisors office, and back onto the plane? If Abdul'b had expolsives on his person was this well dressed Indian gentle man aware of this?
Too many unanswered questions to what happened that day, the sad thing is that we'll never find out the truth. Even so the people of Yemen should be on watch.
Imagine having the countries of the world lay blame on the American public for the wrongs of our Government. We are holding the people of Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Yemen responsible for deeds they have never done.
Mr. burrito no lawsuit could correct a brain like yours that would make a comment like you did. Very pathetic.
Criminals have to many rights and there due process is used as a weapon against us. This country also has to many lawyers and one size dos not fit all. Also a Democracy will always spend more time protecting victims then prosecuting criminals. The only thing that the government can do is wait for the next nut-job to come along and try to do something and then by the time the government acts it will be to late.
Actually, the Bandit is closer to achieving total security than what we think when he mention having travelers ware robes, jumpsuits or clothing provided by the airlines.
If you are basing security 100% after a person arrives at the airport, removal of everything that person is carrying and wearing is an important feature. It won't be too long before ways are discovered to build explosives or bio substances into clothing and accessories.
How many personal liberties are you willing to give up in order to provide safe travel???
My wife and I frequently visit Las Vegas, and as seasoned travelers, only bring a small carry-on each, so have no checked luggage. This latest underwear bomber incident, together with the government's usual overreaction, has likely stopped our preferred method of travel. I pray that the next security incident does not involve bomb materials in a man's wallet or woman's purse, lest the government prohibit bringing a wallet or purse onto the plane. Most tourists WILL NOT take the chance of having their purse or wallet in their checked luggage. Can the government not see that it cannot foresee the next method of attack? Pulling the military out of ALL foreign countries, and using the saved resources to improve security AT ALL BORDERS OF THE USA, will be much more effective.
"Oh Canada" wants the military pulled out of ALL foreign countries... Yep that will do it all right. You are attempting to treat the symptoms not the illness...
To treat the illness, you have to eliminate the cause of the illness. Not very pretty...
Of course this is all cosmetic, the whole "Homeland Security" thing was created to give Americans the perception their government "cared" about their safety. This is so people would hop back on the airplanes. But, as long as "Political Correctness" rules the day nothing is going to be accomplished other then the continued harassment of law-abiding citizens at airports.
I agree with Canada. We have troops in Germany since 1944, Korea since 1950. At a great expense to the taxpayer. The German economy is the biggest success in Europe thanks in a great part to the U S Military pumping cash into it. Everyone of our men stationed over there spends 90 per cent of his pay there. What do we get out of it? It's just like the Mexicans that come up here and make money and send it back to Mexico. It's what we refer to as a sterile dollar as it doesn't multiply in the States.
Absolutely Mr. Casler, very valid points. Maybe it's time we took a number of Israeli ideas and put them into effect. To date I don't think they've had a hijacking. Time for some Americans to give up their comfort for safety!
A 66-year-old Las Vegas retiree, disgruntled over cuts in his Social Security benefits, opened fire this morning in the lobby of the federal courthouse here, killing a court security officer and wounding a deputy U.S. marshal, authorities said.
The gunman, identified as Johnny Lee Wicks, 66, was shot in the head and died on the scene, according to law enforcement sources. The deputy marshal was in stable condition at a local hospital. The names of the marshal and court security officer have not been released, though the security officer was a 65-year-old retired policeman, according to local media outlets.
Wicks was a recent retiree who was suing the U.S. government because his Social Security benefits were apparently denied or reduced, a law enforcement official said. He was living in a Las Vegas-area retirement home.
The shootout began about 8 a.m. at the Lloyd D. George Federal District Courthouse, just south of the aging casinos on Fremont Street.
The gunman, dressed in black and with a shotgun hidden beneath his jacket, charged into the entryway. Before reaching two metal detectors, he opened fire, said Joseph Dickey, a FBI special agent.
Seven officers returned fire, he said, and the gunman darted out of the courthouse. They gave chase and the gunman was killed across the street.
Rhooster, you are playing into the fear. Not all Muslims are as radical as you might think. There are millions of peaceful Muslims living here right now. The father of the "panties bomber" turned in info on his son, doing what was right. It was the failure of the departments that protect us by not sharing that info. The FBI, CIA and NSA have a long history of power playing each other. When I lived in NYC I saw the FBI have a shoot out with the local police due to "a need to know" policy. These policies need to be seriously updated.
There were an estimated 6,289,000 car accidents in the US in 1999. There were about 3.4 million injuries and 41,611 people killed in auto accidents in 1999 (114/day)
The shoe bomber failed. The underwear bomber failed. If successful, they would have killed about 600 between them. 9/11 killed 3,000.
In 2002, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) estimated that 18,000 Americans died in 2000 because they were uninsured. Since then, the number of uninsured has grown. Based on the IOM's methodology and subsequent Census Bureau estimates of insurance coverage, 137,000 people died from 2000 through 2006 because they lacked health insurance, including 22,000 people in 2006.
What are you trying to say there Stan? Are you saying that the lives lost on 9/11 is not a big deal in the great scheme of things?