BOTTLES ON A PLANE
August 11, 2006
by: jovial_cynic
by: jovial_cynic
I have to take pause for a minute after hearing the reports about the foiled bomb plot. I had previously posted a link to a document outlining the difference between the potential terrorist threat and the fear of potential terrorist threat (indicating that US citizens have less to worry about terrorist attacks than they do lightening strikes), and while the US has not suffered any attacks since 9/11, the recent attempt to blow up airplanes with the use of combustive liquids certainly rattled me a bit.
A few notes, before I go into my rant.
There's a difference between suicide bombers who seek the destruction of America for ideological and religious reasons, and members of Hezbollah who have vowed to protect it's people by attempting to overthrow an oppressive regime. While I don't defend the tactics Hezbollah utilizes in their goals, the average Lebanese person views Hezbollah as freedom fighters, and perhaps rightly so. Many members of Hezbollah have personally suffered injustice, so their response makes sense. As I've stated before, a rebellious uprising is often a statement about the ruling class, and not about the rebellion itself.
The only folks that defend the 9/11 attackers (and now these attempted bombers) are fundamentalist religious zealots who have personally suffered nothing from America, but are so entrenched in their ideologies that they've dehumanized Americans and are willing to kill them with no real objective other than to cause civilian casualties and to destabilize the US economy. These are the "bad guys."
So... the what to do about these bad guys?
In the midst of this recent attempted attack, I am concerned that the "terror" aspect of terrorism has already occurred, making the term "terrorism" rather pointless. Calling the would-be bombers "terrorists" ignores the fact that the policies put in place by America and the UK are serving to perpetuate the very terror they decry. Banana-induced fear is the absurd conclusion of the matter, and the solution of getting passengers to dump their liquids before boarding results in the following strange scenario (explicit language at the link):
Sir, I'm going to have to take this bottle of water away from you since it might be a liquid explosive, and I'm going to have to mix it with all of these other bottles of possibly liquid explosive, and I'm going to have to dump them all in this trash can... together. Nevermind that the plot specifically mentions mixing chemicals and/or nitroglycerin... which explodes if handled too roughly.
However... I don't know the solution. If mothers are told that they're allowed to bring baby food on planes, suicide-bombers will start recruiting women with children to board planes with explosive gels in baby food jars.
And I guess that's the problem, really -- laws and policies restricting freedoms don't really stop terrorists who generally look for ways to get around those policies. Next year, people will be required to board planes naked and drugged, and terrorists will insert bombs into one orifice or another set to a timer... there's not much you can do. It's like gun control -- taking away guns from law abiding citizens doesn't do a thing to stop criminals. Tracking the purchase of Sudafed doesn't stop the production of meth. These solutions simply don't work, and yet it's the only solutions governments use... and in the end, it's average joe that suffers.
So... I'm looking for reasonable solutions. I don't know the answers, but I do know that the currently implemented procedures aren't it.
A few notes, before I go into my rant.
There's a difference between suicide bombers who seek the destruction of America for ideological and religious reasons, and members of Hezbollah who have vowed to protect it's people by attempting to overthrow an oppressive regime. While I don't defend the tactics Hezbollah utilizes in their goals, the average Lebanese person views Hezbollah as freedom fighters, and perhaps rightly so. Many members of Hezbollah have personally suffered injustice, so their response makes sense. As I've stated before, a rebellious uprising is often a statement about the ruling class, and not about the rebellion itself.
The only folks that defend the 9/11 attackers (and now these attempted bombers) are fundamentalist religious zealots who have personally suffered nothing from America, but are so entrenched in their ideologies that they've dehumanized Americans and are willing to kill them with no real objective other than to cause civilian casualties and to destabilize the US economy. These are the "bad guys."
So... the what to do about these bad guys?
In the midst of this recent attempted attack, I am concerned that the "terror" aspect of terrorism has already occurred, making the term "terrorism" rather pointless. Calling the would-be bombers "terrorists" ignores the fact that the policies put in place by America and the UK are serving to perpetuate the very terror they decry. Banana-induced fear is the absurd conclusion of the matter, and the solution of getting passengers to dump their liquids before boarding results in the following strange scenario (explicit language at the link):
Sir, I'm going to have to take this bottle of water away from you since it might be a liquid explosive, and I'm going to have to mix it with all of these other bottles of possibly liquid explosive, and I'm going to have to dump them all in this trash can... together. Nevermind that the plot specifically mentions mixing chemicals and/or nitroglycerin... which explodes if handled too roughly.
However... I don't know the solution. If mothers are told that they're allowed to bring baby food on planes, suicide-bombers will start recruiting women with children to board planes with explosive gels in baby food jars.
And I guess that's the problem, really -- laws and policies restricting freedoms don't really stop terrorists who generally look for ways to get around those policies. Next year, people will be required to board planes naked and drugged, and terrorists will insert bombs into one orifice or another set to a timer... there's not much you can do. It's like gun control -- taking away guns from law abiding citizens doesn't do a thing to stop criminals. Tracking the purchase of Sudafed doesn't stop the production of meth. These solutions simply don't work, and yet it's the only solutions governments use... and in the end, it's average joe that suffers.
So... I'm looking for reasonable solutions. I don't know the answers, but I do know that the currently implemented procedures aren't it.