I wonder how many grandmothers with nailfiles and scissors for cutting their knitting were stopped while this guy sailed through.
‘Suicide bomber’ flew on RP plane
A MAN WEARING a jacket and carrying a bag was able to sneak a bomb onto a flight from Manila to Davao City last month at the height of the nationwide security alert after Britain uncovered a plot to blow up transatlantic planes.
The man pulled off the same stunt on the return flight to Manila.
Had he detonated the bomb, he would have turned the commercial plane into a fireball and killed himself, the crew and hundreds of other passengers.
The man turned out to be a civilian antiterrorism expert tapped by a government official to test security measures at Philippine airports after British police foiled a plan to blow up US-bound planes in midair using liquid explosives.
At the departure gate, the antiterrorism expert said he passed through the walk-in detector, frisking and X-ray areas.
He underwent the same security checks at the boarding area.
That’s good. Use a story about airport security in the Philippines to judge US air security.
Small point: A question asked of all travelors up to a few months ago (no longer requiered) tried to ascertain if the baggage had been tampered with or someone had placed anything in it. Grandmas are some of the least aware or capable at paying attention to stuff like this. If everyone is required to be screened, certainly Granny should be included and the whining about this should cease.
Profiling must be continued.
It was easy because he fit a certain profile. If you or I tried it or somebody fitting the profile of a terrorist tried it, I doubt the outcome would be the same. It looks easy because you don’t see all the security checks and processes that prevent this sort of thing from happening. It’s never as easy as it seems. You can make it sound easy and it’s going to scare some people which is the goal of terrorism. Targeting aircraft for destruction is not a good idea. It’s a hardened target with multiple layers of security protecting it. You aren’t going to get that far unless you can exploit the security by having very specialized knowledge. That isn’t easy to get.
#2, That’s good. Use a story about airport security in the Philippines to judge US air security.
sort of like using Iraq to avenge 9/11?
“This is just more proof that we must bring democracy to Iran.
–WKW ”
I agree and you and your kids are just the ones for the job! It would be a life time opportunity.
“Use a story about airport security in the Philippines to judge US air security.”
Oh, that’s right. No US planes carrying US citizens ever fly out of Philippine airports.
#2That’s good. Use a story about airport security in the Philippines to judge US air security.
Comment by Gig — 9/1/2006 @ 6:18 am
Frankly, math is math, and the probability of a successful attack isn’t very high. If four planes were hijacked and slammed into buildings every year, while a horrible tragedy, air travel would still be a far safer bet than travel by car… although I think the safety of working in a tall building might drop significantly… But the real point is that I think we are right to be more concerned about flights emminating from outside the US than within.
True that the 9/11 attacks came from within, but that was a risky gambit and isn’t likely to be repeated today. Even though safety is still largely illusionary, I do believe it is somewhat safer (and much more frustrating) to fly today than on 9/10/01
“This is just more proof that we must bring democracy to Iran.”
Iran is already a democracy.
The guy doing the audit is really earning his pay. Even though the security people missed him in this instance, sooner or latter he stands a good chance of being spotted by more observant or just “blind pig” personnel. In which case, he would be subjected to the most horrible possible consequence. Accidental death due to mistaken identity? No, trying to explain what he was really doing, to a TSA employee with visions of cavity search dancing in their head, who thought they had just collared the notorious Omar Sheik Yorbooty.
It’s good in a way to do a security of the Philippines, my country, because these freakin’ terrorists are making us some sort of training grounds for an attack on America.
It’s because were goddamn Catholics with poor security that Muslims have the audacity to do “dry runs” here.
Why don’t these freaking ass humping sand n*gger wannabes just to it in freakin’ Pakistan and Indonesia ?