Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
The "traveling public is very safe" said Janet Napolitano, even as Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's explosive laden shorts were still cooling off after he tried to light them on Detroit-bound flight 253 on Christmas day. The fact is this guy, to use a football metaphor, was tackled inches short of the goal line. Fellow passengers saw him acting suspiciously and tackled him before he could complete his attack.
Then the news came out that this guy's father had warned authorities about him. He was close to being put on a 'no fly' list. Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, 70, former chairman of First Bank of Nigeria, warned U.S. Embassy officials that his son had become radicalized, broken ties with the family and might be in Yemen.
That put Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, on the Terrorist Identities Datamark Environment [TIDE] list of more than 560,000 potential terrorist sympathizers - but not the hard-case "no fly" list of 4,000 names and the "selectee" list of 14,000.
The no-fly designation would have barred Abdulmutallab from boarding the plane. The "selectee" list would have subjected him to a body search, which likely would have found the explosives sewn into his shorts.
Contrast this with the Scotland Yard break-up of a terror group in London that planned to go to Heathrow with liquid explosives... remember the 3oz container rule? Getting the terrorists BEFORE they get to the airport is the system working. Getting them BEFORE they board the plane is a near-miss. My wife flew to Hanover, NH that morning afer we had watched London police chase terror suspects "through their gardens" on BBC. The system appeared to be working that day.
Iarael's El Al airline [1.] takes security very seriously [they HAVE to]. They employ a methodology that involves observing passengers and using common-sense reasoning to eliminate people who are potential problems. The rationale must go something like this: "People with bad intentions will tend to act in certain ways." Yes, this involves profiling, but it is very effective. I'd fly El Al over a lot of other airlines in a heartbeat.
TSA needs to learn a few things from El Al, it appears.
The full-body scanners need to be relegated to the background. When three-year-old Mandy [2.] has her teddy bear snatched away and has a breakdown, that is NOT a suspicious behavior. In fact, it is rather normal for most of the preschoolers I know. Manhandling the toddler in a way she has been carefully taught to flee from by her parents, in reaction to her reaction, amounts to child abuse.
It is an invasion into a family's dignity. Why didn't the TSA scanner operator offer 'teddy' a ride and make a game out of it? It would have been quicker? If little Mandy still refused, she's a low risk for terrorism anyway. Let her go on through. The only reason to proceed in this case is for TSA to maintain the illusion that it is in total control.
TSA ought to know better. Transportation security is important, but I'd rather risk upsetting a few Middle-Eastern men than waste my time patting down nuns and toddlers.
Update: Look Who's Already Pushing for a Special Exemption [click to read] from The Blaze. Yep, "According to CAIR, the TSA’s new “enhanced pat down” policy should be limited to searching only around Muslim women’s head and neck if they are wearing a hijab and that Muslims objecting to the enhanced full-body scans have the right to request the pat-down procedure be done in a private place." The rest of us will just have to make the best of it.
Is the TSA Story Real [click to read] from The Blaze. The potential for abuse of the new 'body scanners' is very real. On Family Talk, earlier this week, Ryan Dobson gave a very credible account of his own experience with a TSA screener when he refused to submit to the full-body scan. It was NOT pleasant. I trust Dobson's account but certainly would want to verify some of the other reported incidents. Still, the mistrust surrounding the whole issue makes the argument for El Al type security a good one.
Update: A Simple Solution [click to read] from Jewish World Review. A little common sense could go a long way!
No comments:
Post a Comment