The reaction to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's attempt to bring down an airplane over Detroit by detonating explosives sewn into his underwear has generated a new wave of security screening measures for air travellers. Full-body scanners are being installed in airports across Canada and around the world.
In a sober analysis of what this all means, James Travers, in today's Toronto Star, concludes:
"Peeking through passengers' pants won't find explosives in body cavities or provide a reliable substitute for the hard, expensive, painstaking and necessary work of analyzing data and connecting the dots before extremists can do their damage. Suicide bombers win when societies defined by freedom willingly trade it for the fantasy of security. They lose when treated as the thugs they are by countries that invest soundly and without delusion in their own protection and then demand results, not overreactions."
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/748477--travers-airport-peep-show-an-overreaction
I agree with Travers. What do you think?
2010/01/09
New full-body airport scanners
Labels:
Abdulmutallab,
airport scanners,
James Travers,
terrorism
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2 comments:
These new scanners won't reveal if they havbe explosives in their croctch or rectum. Waste of money. They had all the info they needed to capture the guy but failed to pull it together.
Fear is such a destructive emotion. All extreme security measures will do is destroy the airline industry.
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