Mark S 3
Active Member
Thought this was definitely worth the read...
-Mark
From wired.com http://tinyurl.com/mnxyt
[See orginal story at above url for many reference links. - D.P.]
By Bruce Schneier - Aug, 24, 2006
On Aug. 16, two men were escorted off a plane headed
for Manchester, England, because some passengers
thought they looked either Asian or Middle Eastern,
might have been talking Arabic, wore leather jackets,
and looked at their watches -- and the passengers
refused to fly with them on board.
The men were questioned for several hours and then
released.
On Aug. 15, an entire airport terminal was evacuated
because someone's cosmetics triggered a false positive
for explosives. The same day, a Muslim man was removed
from an airplane in Denver for reciting prayers. The
Transportation Security Administration decided that
the flight crew overreacted, but he still had to spend
the night in Denver before flying home the next day.
The next day, a Port of Seattle terminal was evacuated
because a couple of dogs gave a false alarm for
explosives.
On Aug. 19, a plane made an emergency landing in
Tampa, Florida, after the crew became suspicious
because two of the lavatory doors were locked. The
plane was searched, but nothing was found. Meanwhile,
a man who tampered with a bathroom smoke detector on a
flight to San Antonio was cleared of terrorism, but
only after having his house searched.
On Aug. 16, a woman suffered a panic attack and became
violent on a flight from London to Washington, so the
plane was escorted to the Boston airport by fighter
jets. "The woman was carrying hand cream and matches
but was not a terrorist threat," said the TSA
spokesman after the incident.
And on Aug. 18, a plane flying from London to Egypt
made an emergency landing in Italy when someone found
a bomb threat scrawled on an air sickness bag. Nothing
was found on the plane, and no one knows how long the
note was on board.
I'd like everyone to take a deep breath and listen for
a minute.
The point of terrorism is to cause terror, sometimes
to further a political goal and sometimes out of sheer
hatred. The people terrorists kill are not the
targets; they are collateral damage. And blowing up
planes, trains, markets or buses is not the goal;
those are just tactics.
The real targets of terrorism are the rest of us: the
billions of us who are not killed but are terrorized
because of the killing. The real point of terrorism is
not the act itself, but our reaction to the act.
And we're doing exactly what the terrorists want.
We're all a little jumpy after the recent arrest of 23
terror suspects in Great Britain. The men were
reportedly plotting a liquid-explosive attack on
airplanes, and both the press and politicians have
been trumpeting the story ever since.
In truth, it's doubtful that their plan would have
succeeded; chemists have been debunking the idea since
it became public. Certainly the suspects were a long
way off from trying: None had bought airline tickets,
and some didn't even have passports.
Regardless of the threat, from the would-be bombers'
perspective, the explosives and planes were merely
tactics. Their goal was to cause terror, and in that
they've succeeded.
Imagine for a moment what would have happened if they
had blown up 10 planes. There would be canceled
flights, chaos at airports, bans on carry-on luggage,
world leaders talking tough new security measures,
political posturing and all sorts of false alarms as
jittery people panicked. To a lesser degree, that's
basically what's happening right now.
Our politicians help the terrorists every time they
use fear as a cam
-Mark
From wired.com http://tinyurl.com/mnxyt
[See orginal story at above url for many reference links. - D.P.]
By Bruce Schneier - Aug, 24, 2006
On Aug. 16, two men were escorted off a plane headed
for Manchester, England, because some passengers
thought they looked either Asian or Middle Eastern,
might have been talking Arabic, wore leather jackets,
and looked at their watches -- and the passengers
refused to fly with them on board.
The men were questioned for several hours and then
released.
On Aug. 15, an entire airport terminal was evacuated
because someone's cosmetics triggered a false positive
for explosives. The same day, a Muslim man was removed
from an airplane in Denver for reciting prayers. The
Transportation Security Administration decided that
the flight crew overreacted, but he still had to spend
the night in Denver before flying home the next day.
The next day, a Port of Seattle terminal was evacuated
because a couple of dogs gave a false alarm for
explosives.
On Aug. 19, a plane made an emergency landing in
Tampa, Florida, after the crew became suspicious
because two of the lavatory doors were locked. The
plane was searched, but nothing was found. Meanwhile,
a man who tampered with a bathroom smoke detector on a
flight to San Antonio was cleared of terrorism, but
only after having his house searched.
On Aug. 16, a woman suffered a panic attack and became
violent on a flight from London to Washington, so the
plane was escorted to the Boston airport by fighter
jets. "The woman was carrying hand cream and matches
but was not a terrorist threat," said the TSA
spokesman after the incident.
And on Aug. 18, a plane flying from London to Egypt
made an emergency landing in Italy when someone found
a bomb threat scrawled on an air sickness bag. Nothing
was found on the plane, and no one knows how long the
note was on board.
I'd like everyone to take a deep breath and listen for
a minute.
The point of terrorism is to cause terror, sometimes
to further a political goal and sometimes out of sheer
hatred. The people terrorists kill are not the
targets; they are collateral damage. And blowing up
planes, trains, markets or buses is not the goal;
those are just tactics.
The real targets of terrorism are the rest of us: the
billions of us who are not killed but are terrorized
because of the killing. The real point of terrorism is
not the act itself, but our reaction to the act.
And we're doing exactly what the terrorists want.
We're all a little jumpy after the recent arrest of 23
terror suspects in Great Britain. The men were
reportedly plotting a liquid-explosive attack on
airplanes, and both the press and politicians have
been trumpeting the story ever since.
In truth, it's doubtful that their plan would have
succeeded; chemists have been debunking the idea since
it became public. Certainly the suspects were a long
way off from trying: None had bought airline tickets,
and some didn't even have passports.
Regardless of the threat, from the would-be bombers'
perspective, the explosives and planes were merely
tactics. Their goal was to cause terror, and in that
they've succeeded.
Imagine for a moment what would have happened if they
had blown up 10 planes. There would be canceled
flights, chaos at airports, bans on carry-on luggage,
world leaders talking tough new security measures,
political posturing and all sorts of false alarms as
jittery people panicked. To a lesser degree, that's
basically what's happening right now.
Our politicians help the terrorists every time they
use fear as a cam
