Will we have to remove our underwear to go thru airport security now?

Homeland Security and the TSA sprang into action after the Christmas Day terrorist attack onboard an airplane headed for Detroit. New security measures will surely make air travel even more inconvenient and unpleasant. Continuing their strategy of reacting to the last attack rather than planning to thwart the next one, passengers will now be required to remain in their seats with no carry-on items within reach during the last hour of each flight. Why? Because Abdul the terrorist tried to blow up his underwear bomb during the last hour of his flight.

Presumably if he'd tried to blow himself up 90 minutes prior to landing, we'd be stuck sitting on our thumbs for the last hour and a half too.

Remember how they reacted to shoe bomber Richard Reid? We all have to take off our shoes to get through security. I'm guessing they're now working on a plan to make us take off our underwear. Aside from Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, most of us don't plan on flying commando-style.

But really, what else can we expect from Janet "the system worked!" Napolitano? Certainly not any kind of intelligent response. She made a complete jackass out of herself on national television this morning:

Understandbly, the White House is trying very hard to get out in front of the would-be Christmas bomber story. The head of the Department of Homeland Security isn't helping. I watched her on three shows and each time she was more annoying, maddening and absurd than the previous appearance. It is her basic position that the "system worked" because the bureaucrats responded properly after the attack. That the attack was "foiled" by a bad detonator and some civilian passengers is proof, she claims, that her agency is doing everything right. That is just about the dumbest thing she could say, on the merits and politically.

"The system" does not work. To say otherwise is patently absurd.

"The system" annoys everyone it touches, but it does little or nothing to prevent another terrorist attack. Inept terorists may have botched their attempts (Reid peed on his shoes so the laces wouldn't ignite, and Abdul's underwear bomb fizzled long enough for an alert passenger to disable it). That doesn't validate "the system". It validates the illusion of security because "the system" is working mindlessly to guard against the last attack. It's a day late and a dollar short.

Do you know what we need? Real security. Do you know who has real security? The Israelis. Do you know why? Because they profile.

Yes, the key to real security is the dreaded "p-word". Profiling would have kept Abdul the underwear bomber on the ground where he could have blown himself up in frustrated obscurity. It would also allow us to keep our shoes (and our underwear) where they belong while we're flying off to see grandma.

UPDATE 28 Dec 2009 10:50:
Barry the Beach Bum's crackerjack Homeland Security team is in full-on denial mode.

In true Obamawellian fashion, up is down, black is white, and "the system worked" really does mean "epic fail". It's just that poor Janet Napolitano was taken out of context by those hard-hitting newshounds at CNN.

And those silly new TSA restrictions are actually even more ludicrous than originally reported.

Dontcha just love numbers 3 and 4? No TV. No air-phones. No seat-back route maps. And for goshsakes, don't tell us what town we're flying over! Because nobody could figure that out by looking out the window, right? How long will it be before our benevolent protectors at TSA order all airplane window shades to be bolted shut?

The country is in the very best of hands.

Posted at 16:30 by Chris Wysocki   [/rants]   Comments | Perm Link |
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