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Thoughts about the airliner plot

Posted by Richard on August 11, 2006

I’m flying back to Tennessee tomorrow (my dad is dying), so airport security and airliner safety are personally meaningful issues for me right now. By now, everybody and their brother have had their say about the Brits’ foiling of the airliner plot, but I want to throw out a few random thoughts I’ve been having.

  • Given the disturbing picture of British Muslims painted by surveys in the past year, I was pleased to hear that the original tip that led to the conspiracy came from a British Muslim who told police he was concerned about suspicious statements and behavior by a Muslim aquaintance.
  • Critics of the Bush Doctrine often point to Pakistan as evidence that the doctrine is not an idealistic commitment to democracy, but hypocritical and immoral. They have a point — you have to hold your nose while cozying up to the Musharraf regime, that’s for sure. But Pakistan apparently played a vital role in foiling this plot — that kind of cooperation is a pretty powerful "yeah, but…"
  • I heard someone say on the radio yesterday that the Brits initially didn’t inform the U.S. about their investigation because they were afraid of CIA leaks; this story suggests there’s something to that claim.
  • OTOH, I also heard that the Brits got critical information from the much-maligned NSA "wiretap" (actually, phone record data mining) program. And from a "sneak and peek" search. You want to argue that the NSA monitoring and the "sneak and peek" search are such egregious violations of civil liberties that it would be better if ten airliners carrying maybe 4000 people had blown up over U.S. airports? Good luck persuading people of that.
  • Bush identified the enemy properly as "Islamic fascists" instead of as "terrorism," which is a tactic, not an enemy. Yay! I believe that’s only the second time he’s done so. CAIR, the organization dedicated to concealing, excusing, and defending Islamic fascism in the U.S., is terrribly upset. Good.
  • OTOH, TSA and Homeland Security are still playing the political correctness game and focusing on dangerous objects instead of dangerous people. It’s the gun control mentality writ large, and it’s stupid and dangerous. Yes, I know — not all Muslims are terrorists. But virtually all the terrorists in the world are young male Muslims, you fools, so focus your limited resources where they’re most warranted — not on the Maalox belonging to somebody’s grandmother or the contact lens drops of a tattooed and pierced teenage girl.
  • On a related note, I’m pretty sick of hearing Michael Chertoff reassure us that a young male Muslim shooting Jews in Washington has nothing to do with terrorism; that a bunch of missing young male Muslim Egyptians are nothing to worry about; and that we shouldn’t be overly concerned about two young male Muslims from Dearborn’s "Hezbollah High" who had information about airport security checkpoints and flights, $10,000 in cash, and a bunch of disposable cell phones of the type used to trigger bombs. Is this guy a complete fool, or does he just think the American people are?
     
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2 Responses to “Thoughts about the airliner plot”

  1. T F Stern said

    Well done. I find it interesting that the major news media hasn’t followed up on the story about leaks in the CIA to the media, golly gee whiz and oh my.

    It’s a shame that many of those who want to see America destroyed seem to come from within as much as from outside our own borders; to those in the big media, if the shoe fits wear it.

  2. VRB said

    Had to fly the 21th, I needed to find out if I could pack my medication in the checked bag without bringing umpteen bottles. Maybe it was just me, but I could not determine this from their site. Anyway emailed TSA to find out, have not recieved any answer yet. I rolled the dice, the med weren’t confiscated.

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