The NTY reports that British government has foiled a plot to blow up 6-10 airplanes using liquid explosives with small electronic devices as detonators.
Here in the US, the TSA has "put in place new regulations barring passengers from carrying any liquids, gels or lotions onto planes, except for milk or juice for young children and medicines."
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the restrictions reflected the belief of investigators that the plotters planned to bring liquids on board, "each one of which would be benign, but mixed together could be used to create a bomb."
The liquids were to be disguised as beverages and the detonators as "electronic devices or other common devices." Britain banned all cellphones and portable music players from flights.
Mr. Chertoff called the plot "a very sophisticated plan and operation" that was close to fruition. "They had accumulated the capability necessary and they were well on their way," he said at a televised news conference in Washington.
Sophisticated plans? This smacks of the kind of brilliant analysis the comes from watching the Die Hard movies, but I digress.
Liquids for children are allowed on board, as are liquid prescription medicines with the traveler's name on the bottle and non-prescription medicines like insulin. Parents were being asked to take a sip of the juice or milk to prove it is what they say it is.
Officials were requiring passengers to check everything except personal items like keys, wallets, and passports, which they had to carry in plastic bags. Drinks and other liquid items were banned.
Travelers were required to remove eyeglasses from their cases, including sunglasses, and those traveling with infants were required to taste any baby milk in front of security officials.
I understand why their government, and ours, is taking these measures: the very thought of not taking them, and having a plane blow up as a result, fills the decision makers with fear. Fear is what the terrorists want, therefore the terrorists win. But taking these measures means telling the public something about why they are being inconvenienced and hassled at the airport, which fills the public with fear. The terrorists win, but nobody dies, so the decision is a no-brainer.
However, all of the wacky security measures that the TSA has put in place in the last several years have not netted a single terrorist. Sure, they've caught senators, grandmothers and nuns, but no terrorists. The 21 people that the British arrested regarding this particular plot were not nabbed at the airport, they weren't caught by an NSA wiretap. The police got a tip from the Muslim community.
Interestingly, just last week the Cato Institute published a paper (PDF Link) that, well, here:
Even with the September 11 attacks included in the count, the number of Americans killed by international terrorism since the late 1960s (which is when the State Department began counting) is about the same as the number of Americans killed over the same period by lightning, accident-causing deer, or severe allergic reaction to peanuts.
Cory Doctorow, in his excellent post on the paper titled "Only traitors try to make us afraid of terrorists" said:
The bottom line is, terrorism doesn't kill many people. Even in Israel, you're four times more likely to die in a car wreck than as a result of a terrorist attack. In the USA, you need to be more worried about lightning strikes than terrorism. The point of terrorism is to create terror, and by cynically convincing us that our very countries are at risk from terrorism, our politicians have delivered utter victory to the terrorists: we are terrified.
Well said, that man.
The current administration has spent a great deal of time and effort to instill in the American public a pervading fear of terrorists, which to my thinking makes the administration complicit in the terrorism. Buncha dicks, all of 'em.
Via Consumerist and Boing Boing.
Technical Note: The link below is brought to you reddit's New York Times Link Generator, a nifty little tool for bloggers that will convert the URL of a NYT article to a link with a longer life than the URL.
UPDATE: More from Mr. Doctorow on today's story: British aviation bans all hand-luggage
UPDATE: Zefrank adds his two valuable cents: link
1 comment:
Recently, there was a news story that a TSA worker had forced a mother to drink from a bottle of breast milk in order to prove it was exactly what she said it was. Of course, this TSA worker its supervisor pulled the woman aside, an argument ensued, and, well, she sued as a result. 'Cuz, well, human biology doesn't work that way. I can't wait to see similar stories pile up now.
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