The Associated Press has learned the CIA thwarted a plot by al-Qaida's affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb with a new design around the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden.
U.S. officials say the plot involved an upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009. This new bomb was also built to be used in a passenger's underwear but contained a more refined detonation system.
The would-be suicide bomber was told to buy a ticket on the airliner of his choosing and decide the timing of the attack. It's not immediately clear what happened to the would-be bomber.
The U.S. officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive case.
Source fears what the pat-downs are going to evolve into at this rate.
U.S. officials say the plot involved an upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009. This new bomb was also built to be used in a passenger's underwear but contained a more refined detonation system.
The would-be suicide bomber was told to buy a ticket on the airliner of his choosing and decide the timing of the attack. It's not immediately clear what happened to the would-be bomber.
The U.S. officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive case.
Source fears what the pat-downs are going to evolve into at this rate.
http://blog.gladrags.com/2010/11/24/t
Tbh, it seems like their goal is more to get us pissed off at the TSA rather than actual terror.
Then they are succeeding, damn. I still hate the creepy scanners they've got going on right now.
Everyone now knows that if a plane is hijacked, 1-the hijackers aren't going to get into the flight cabin, and 2-the passengers are going to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to either subdue or kill the hijackers, because they know that none of them aren't going to survive if they don't.
That's what made the 9/11 attack so successful-the fact that the passengers were expecting the hijackers to want to live. When they found out they were going to die no matter what, that's when the Flight 93 passengers decided to go down fighting. And that's been the attitude ever since.
I'm glad the news of a thwarted attempt was leaked. It at least shows that some of the DHS stuff is actually accomplishing something. Most of the time, all we hear is about catching a bomber already on the plane, which doesn't raise my trust level in the DHS one bit. And you REALLY don't hear about the TSA catching people and preventing bombings; you hear about them molesting innocent passengers for no damn reason.
Ok, kidnapper has the kid, and a knife. But all of us are going to die if we don't take the kidnapper out. I don't want that kid to die, but I don't want ALL of us to die, either. So what do I choose to do?
A lot of people, I think, would consider that as an acceptable losses/collateral damage type of situation. Not at all fun to think about, but....
And yes; the TSA overkill is doing no good whatsoever. Like I said, IF they are catching people before boarding, they never publicize it (or at least I never read about it). The only times this has happened seem to be over-reactions on the agent's part, and lots of recriminations later.
If they actually ARE catching people with bombs/knives/whatever, they need to publicize it, so the general public will say "yes, the TSA is doing their job, and their searches are producing some good." That would go some ways toward diffusing the hostility, I think.
I am again scared to fly.
- i love your icon!