Heathrow Terror Scare

[Duke87 1,070]

So, yeah. Apparently a few idiots had a bit too much to drink and decided it would be funny to start yelling that they had a bomb. On a plane getting ready to take off.

Great idea, right?

NY Times

Mirror

Scotland Herald

[Z77 3]

Next thing you know, people are going to be walking past the white house yelling "Im gonna blow up the white house!" .......... People can be completely ...... ridiculous...*shakes head, then turns around and walks away*

Note: I am not, in anyway, going to blow up the white house...or any other thing. Or even drink too much and do so. That can be left to the idiots who decide to do so.

[warrior 169]

Everytime we go to the airport, I'm really scared my younger brother is going to say/yell something stupid like bomb (he doesn't fully understand terrorism)

If I'd been on that plane it would have scared the life out of me, but what a relief it must have been to find they were drunk. Poor people on the plane.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Drunk shouln't keep them out of jail.  They need the scare of their lives.

[Ny24 0]

The people on the pane were sent back to a hotel and the drunks were arrested. As far a I have heard

[N106 10]

Ugh... after 8 years of little activity, it seems terrorism is back up in the news again... I think that they just do this early in a president's time in office to force a reaction. Terrorists are kinda like the 9 year old boy who just does stuff to people for reactions, only a lot older, better funded, and extremist.

Think about it- 9/11 months after Bush became president, then some attempted terrorist attacks recently, before Obama was in office a full year.

And those drunk idiots aren't helping.

[Larks2242 251]

Originally posted by: Duke87

So, yeah. Apparently a few idiots had a bit too much to drink and decided it would be funny to start yelling that they had a bomb. On a plane getting ready to take off.

quote>

Yea very wise  what fools

[Frankie B 2]

Originally posted by: N106

Ugh... after 8 years of little activity, it seems terrorism is back up in the news again... I think that they just do this early in a president's time in office to force a reaction. Terrorists are kinda like the 9 year old boy who just does stuff to people for reactions, only a lot older, better funded, and extremist.

Think about it- 9/11 months after Bush became president, then some attempted terrorist attacks recently, before Obama was in office a full year.

And those drunk idiots aren't helping.quote>

aahhh

London, Madrid, Istanbul, Iraq, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, Morrocco.....hardly little activity.

Just because they aren't blowing up America does not mean they have been sitting in their caves knitting.

[Muck308 55]

Yeah, N106. Terrorism is a daily problem. Keep it mind not everything makes it to Google News.

I can't believe grown men could be so foolish, drunk or not.

[warrior 169]

aahhh

London, Madrid, Istanbul, Iraq, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, Morrocco.....hardly little activity.

Just because they aren't blowing up America does not mean they have been sitting in their caves knitting. quote>

Couldn't have put it better myself.

What I don't understand is how these drunk men were ever allowed to get on the plane, I thought you weren't allowed on if you were drunk?

[flyatl 4]

They might have drank alcohol on the plane itself.

[TekindusT 3,809]

Then, they must have drunk pretty fast, because the plane was still taxiing; preparing for the flight.

Anyways, they have chosen the best moment for doing so, with the entire world inmerse in paranoia...

[N106 10]

Okay, sorry about not acknowledging the fact that terrorism is a global problem. I didn't start keeping much track of current events until a few months ago.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: N106

Ugh... after 8 years of little activity, it seems terrorism is back up in the news again... I think that they just do this early in a president's time in office to force a reaction. Terrorists are kinda like the 9 year old boy who just does stuff to people for reactions, only a lot older, better funded, and extremist.

Think about it- 9/11 months after Bush became president, then some attempted terrorist attacks recently, before Obama was in office a full year.

And those drunk idiots aren't helping.quote>

9/11 was years in planning. Most of it happened when Bill Clinton was president. It just happened to be "ready to go" less than a year after Bush took office.

As for the recent activity.... well, there's a cart-horse debate to be had. Are they getting more active in response to Obama having become president.... or is it that Obama's anti-terror policies are far more lax than Bush's were and so they're regaining strength?

The former makes no sense to me. The latter is certainly plausible, but, well, you know what they say about correlation and causation. It may or may not be a significant factor.

I have to give Obama credit for at least attempting to look tough recently... although it's obviously not his personality.

[krbe 193]

Originally posted by: Duke87

9/11 was years in planning. Most of it happened when Bill Clinton was president. It just happened to be "ready to go" less than a year after Bush took office.

As for the recent activity.... well, there's a cart-horse debate to be had. Are they getting more active in response to Obama having become president.... or is it that Obama's anti-terror policies are far more lax than Bush's were and so they're regaining strength?

The former makes no sense to me. The latter is certainly plausible, but, well, you know what they say about correlation and causation. It may or may not be a significant factor.

I have to give Obama credit for at least attempting to look tough recently... although it's obviously not his personality.

quote>

It can't be that the current policies are too lax, as they should've been caught, so it must be the enforcement there's something wrong. But at least they evaded that, and as Richard Reid taught us, it is likely that Americans in a not too distant future will be required to send their underwear through the X-ray machine (as with the shoes this is probably only going to be implemented in the US, even though it happened on a flight originating in Europe).

Why not take a trip to Israel if security is paramount? It's checking bags and passengers before check-in and looking out for radical Muslims (or converts in Europe and the US) that has made El-Al the safest airline in the world, as well as keeping the Ben-Gurion free from hijackers.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: krbe

It can't be that the current policies are too lax, as they should've been caught, so it must be the enforcement there's something wrong. quote>

Well, the argument would be that if policies with regards to troop activities, waterboarding, etc. were stronger that they wouldn't have been able to get to the point of having a plot to foil in the first place. But who knows, really.

Why not take a trip to Israel if security is paramount? It's checking bags and passengers before check-in and looking out for radical Muslims (or converts in Europe and the US) that has made El-Al the safest airline in the world, as well as keeping the Ben-Gurion free from hijackers.quote>

It would not be politically feasible for the TSA to adopt Israel's policies, especially with a Democrat-controlled government. In America, you can't so much as suggest implementing any sort of profiling without being called racist. It's a very touchy issue here.

Personally, I'd just scrap the TSA and leave airport security up to the airlines. Of course, the current political trend is in exactly the opposite direction, so nothing's getting privatized just now.

[warrior 169]

To be honest I'd rather there was "racist" profiling than anyone being dead after being blown up. I also find it strange that people complain about the new X ray scanners that produce "naked" images of people. I mean surely its better that your alive because the scanner found a bomb than someone looking at an X-ray of you?

Isn't it something like Human life is the most important thing and anything else comes second to that (including racism and things).

[hym 358]

Originally posted by: warrior

To be honest I'd rather there was "racist" profiling than anyone being dead after being blown up. I also find it strange that people complain about the new X ray scanners that produce "naked" images of people. I mean surely its better that your alive because the scanner found a bomb than someone looking at an X-ray of you?

Isn't it something like Human life is the most important thing and anything else comes second to that (including racism and things).quote>

There are people that would disagree with the sentiment you are expressing.  Ben Franklin might have been one one of them, had he been alive today.

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: warrior

To be honest I'd rather there was "racist" profiling than anyone being dead after being blown up. I also find it strange that people complain about the new X ray scanners that produce "naked" images of people. I mean surely its better that your alive because the scanner found a bomb than someone looking at an X-ray of you?quote>

In some places it might be illegal, particularly when it comes to scanning children.   Some pornography laws prohibit the production of a naked image of a child whether it is distributed or not.

[morriswalters 16]

The fear of terror far outweighs the fact of terror.  And it is this fact that terrorists depend on.  More people are killed in car crashes then are killed or injured by terrorists each year.  What terrorists do is personalize the danger. They do it because they hate you and that creates much more fear than the random chance of dying in a car accident.    We live in a free society, and I don't wish to give up that freedom in an attempt to stop the unstoppable.  So while I support screenings and other security measures, we shouldn't throw out the baby with the bath water.

Airplanes are high profile targets.  Remember the goal is to cause terror and panic.  With terror even the failures are winners for terrorists.  But the sad part of this is that we can't protect every target that they can hit.  Think about this.  A group of men from a failed state on the coast of Africa are able almost at will to pirate ships on the high seas and thumb their nose at the world.  We will have to learn to live with the fear, much like the people who live in the shadow of a volcano.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: warrior

I also find it strange that people complain about the new X ray scanners that produce "naked" images of people. I mean surely its better that your alive because the scanner found a bomb than someone looking at an X-ray of you?quote>

I would have no problem with such scanning if it was that or definitely get blown up. But when it comes to scanning thousands upon thousands of people every day for the rare occasion that someone may be trying something - I'll take the negligible extra risk, thanks.

Especially considering that there are plenty of ways to catch people with things and stop them without body scans. I'll remind you that mister undie bomber was caught and stopped by ordinary people on the plane. Having body scans or any additional security measures would not have changed the outcome one bit. It already ended well, there is nothing to improve.

Isn't it something like Human life is the most important thing and anything else comes second to thatquote>

If that's true, then why are there things people are willing to die for?

[Aontan 0]

 Another "genius" did something similar today...

The Irish Times

RTÉ News

[Easy Bakes 253]

Im supprized the other  passengers didnt beat the crap out of these guys.

BTW arent there supposed to be air marshels  on board planes now? were are these guys when these things go down?