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The Spectacle Blog
At this early stage, in which information we have is relatively limited, it’s important to use caution when commenting on the attempted terrorist attack outside of Detroit on Christmas Day, but there are a few issues that the incident does raise.
One question is whether we should be more scared of Al Qaeda (assuming they are somehow linked to the attack) or less scared because the attack was bungled in a fashion worthy of a slapstick comedy? In some circles, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab quickly became known as the “crotch bomber.”
My early reaction is that, yes, the bomber was unable to pull it off and elements of the story lend themselves to mockery. But, at the same time it does show that terrorists are still intent on attacking America and they are constantly concocting ways to find holes in our security measures and testing new methods.
The idea of smuggling in a bunch of explosive materials into a plane, assembling a bomb aboard, and blowing it up in a seat of the plane where it could set off a chain of events that would bring down the whole plane, is nothing new. Just read this Washington Post story dated July 21, 1996, titled, “New Devices May Foil Airline Security,” which describes a nearly identical scenario. Ramzi Yousef, one of the planners of the first World Trade Center bombing and nephew of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, made a similar attempt onboard Philippine Airlines Flight 434, which was supposed to be a test for a larger attack on more planes. So a botched attempt this Christmas doesn’t mean that terrorists won’t be able to figure out something that works at some point down the road.
While people have differerent perspectives on how concerned we should be about this attempted attack — and how big a threat terrorism is in general — most people seem to be in agreement that the subsequent security measures imposed by the TSA are idiodic. This would be a good time to reevaluate how we think about airline security — and perhaps discuss emulating the Israeli model. Israel, rather than relying on these silly rules, turns to observation and human intellegence. Security workers ask a number of questions to passengers, and they are trained to pick up on anything suspicious. They also don’t take anything for granted, because they assume that anybody could be a potential security threat. In my personal experience, there have been times traveling to Israel when I glided through security rather easily, and other times when I’ve been questioned extensively by two different security workers. I’d much rather that sort of system than our reactive approach in which one person tries to set off a bomb in his shoe, and so then we have to take off our shoes. Then somebody puts a bomb in his pants, but since we can’t have people take off their underwear, we have to make arbitrary rules about when you can go to the bathroom during an international flight.
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More Blog Posts by Philip Klein
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Pingback| 12.28.09 @ 11:26AM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : How Seriously Should We links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Tim| 12.28.09 @ 11:46AM
Imagine if he had succeeded. I doubt that, even now there'd be an official determination made, whether this was a genuine "man caused disaster" or icing or bad wiring.
Sean| 12.28.09 @ 12:10PM
Really we don't have any airport security. If we want real security we would have to fire all those in charge of homeland security right now and get rid of the current President and Congress.
A man who is a known terror threat can walk on a plane with no screening gee we wouldn't want to profile anyone. This whole thing of course will be an excuse for the government to trample on US citizens.
Jeff | 12.28.09 @ 12:25PM
drug mules smuggle in alot of drug by swallowing their packages ... it would be nothing to build a bomb with the nastiest explosives, encase it in the appropriate material with a timer that is swallowed just prior to boarding a flight ... with a round trip ticket and a bunch of luggage ...
nothing would detect that short of a full body xray ... you could strip the guy down to his birthday suit and still pass him thru security ...
you don't "spot" the bad guy by looking for the guy carrying a bomb ... you need to spot him thru other means ...
Pingback| 12.28.09 @ 12:36PM
Conventional vs. Cyber Terrorism « Acton Institute PowerBlog links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Al Adab| 12.28.09 @ 12:59PM
Any individual with eveil intent may cerate a disaster and kill or injure many in proximity. That does not make such an act less of an act of terrorism if, as in this case, it is ideologically motivated. Or war is not simply with organizations which seek to do us harm, but with the mindset that creates fanatics. The fact that our own government is currently in the hands of people no less fanatical in their Faith than these evildoers should give us all pause.
L. Ross| 12.28.09 @ 1:17PM
Al, I don't really know what you are trying to say, but trust me on this, use a spell checker, brother. Your poor spelling makes you look foolish.
Al Adab| 12.28.09 @ 2:44PM
Thanks L. R. it would help to have spellcheck or simply smaller fingers.
Ken (Old Texican)| 12.28.09 @ 4:45PM
Hey L. Ross
Are you a fourth grade english teacher? No?
Then shut the hell up about typos.
Al has contributed a lot of thoughtful insights here over time.
Get the log out of your own hiney, before you start discussing a toot on our part.
PS You screwed up a comma placement...Ross.
(and since I am a #1 world wide bestselling author, I can missssssspell for effect...any time I want to.)
Al Adab| 12.28.09 @ 5:33PM
Ken,
Many thanks for the kind comments. Sometimes my fervor gets ahead of my fingers.
JP| 12.28.09 @ 1:32PM
In the aftermath of 9/11 there were a few lone voices that argued against creating another federal bureaucracy. Bureaucrats are good at filing reports, creating Power Point presentations, and chairing endless meetings. It matters not who is President -it's just the nature of things.
For a terrorist organization like Al Qaida, they only have to be lucky once. This seems to be missing from the Obama administration's reaction. It's all been damage control. But this shouldn't come as a surprise if one considers that Napalitano considers returning Vets are bigger threat than Al Qaida.
Pingback| 12.28.09 @ 1:36PM
Celebrity Paycut - Encouraging celebrities all over the world to save us from global links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Dennis D| 12.28.09 @ 2:17PM
Profiling is needed now.
rssg| 12.28.09 @ 2:42PM
Best of all....stop all Mooooslim immigration for a period of at least a few years. Let the ragheads over there police themselves. Tell them we're not gonna accept their people anymore until they get a handle on radicalism in Islam.
Of course they never will get a handle on it, for jihad is part of Islam - always has been, alwasy will be.
Franklin| 12.28.09 @ 3:16PM
I wonder what the result would be if we take every failed terrorist attempt, put them in a wide-open field and then detonate successfully.
Ken (Old Texican)| 12.28.09 @ 4:50PM
Folks,
I take the Christmas bomber very seriously.
.......almost as seriously as I take our current government which seems to think killing a few million of us is the right thing to do.
Tim| 12.29.09 @ 10:07AM
Ken you should be more concerned that this so-called "Flying Dutchman" is allowed to assault a fellow passenger under the bogus authority of a "war on terror".
Sure, the suspect's pants may have been on fire, there may have been popping noises too, but does this allow us to abandon our principles? NO!
He should have summoned a constable and been a good witness.
Just as our SEALs face court martial under Obama's reign, just as CIA officers and Justice Department lawyers are even now being targeted for prosecution, this lawless passenger must be made to answer for his crimes.
Pingback| 12.28.09 @ 10:55PM
The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : How Seriously Should We Take … American Me links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 12.28.09 @ 10:55PM
The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : How Seriously Should We Take … American Me links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Tony in Central PA| 12.29.09 @ 11:04AM
This Administration will underreact, or they will react in a way that is dishonest. By reacting dishonestly, I mean they may try to use this event to justify some measure that will do nothing to diminish our vulnerability to terrorism ( " Man - Caused Disasters " ).
The worldview of this Administration finds the motivations of Al Quaida incomprehensible. The idea of somebody being willing to die for something is the big problem here. This Administration also seems to share the typical hard left disdain for history, even recent history. So the lessons of the 1993 WTC bombing response remain unlearned and we will have another National History Lesson concerning the risks of treating enemy combatants like everyday crooks.
arnold| 12.29.09 @ 12:18PM
Instead of being on a "No Fly" list, why isn't Janet Napolitano, head of Homeland Security, on a "No Job List" ? Her statement that "the system worked" is typical political "spin". (You can be sure she will be soon be "thrown under the bus"). Also, it's another example of our Nanny-state PC approach to security, be it about water boarding or giving Muslims special scrutiny at checkpoints ( as the Israelis do with no plane attacks in 40 years). How soft we've become in our approach to terrorist was shown Sunday on the 60-Minutes segment, "Out of the Shadows"in an interview of the CIA supervisor who helped to eliminate the Taliban threat in Afghanistan in 2001. An excerpt :
"Asked what orders he gave his men, he said, "Orders were fairly simple: 'Find al Qaeda and kill them, especially leadership. Destroy command and control. If the Afghans, including Taliban leaders wanted to help us, we are receptive.'"
"How did that work? I mean, going to each individual tribal leader one by one and offering them what? Saying what?" Logan asked.
"Well, in a very crude way, it would be a carrot and a stick. The carrot would be 'If you come cooperate with us, we will reward you and your people.' The stick was 'If you do not cooperate, the chances of your survival are greatly diminished.' And we would prove this by attacking Taliban leaders who had rejected our overtures," Crumpton explained.
"Killing them?" Logan asked.
"Yes. And the next day, we'd talk to the tribal leader that was next door. We would make him the same offer. Given the incentive that we had set the previous day, he was much more amenable to negotiations in our favor," Crumpton replied.
"Because he heard the guy that wouldn't cooperate was killed yesterday?" Logan asked.
"Or in some cases, he saw that his fellow commander, his tribal ally was killed," Crumpton said.
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