Comments on: Clinton: I'd Avoid Airport Pat-Down if Possible
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- Scanners are the only democratic way of maintaining adequate airport security. An increasing number of us now have metal joints, and thus have to endure pat-downs every time we fly. It was great not to have to go through this process prior to a recent flight out of SF. The Secretary of State must be prosthesis-free.
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- Profile, profile, profile.
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- It is pointless to attempt to disarm everyone getting on an airplane, as it is a task that cannot really be accomplished.
Worse, the cost of attempting to do it is crippling, compared to the cost of evading the searches, or even attempting to do so. For every 1000 dollars spent in a new angle, we spend a billion dollars on new techniques to stop it.
Instead, what we should do is deliberately ARM everyone getting on a plane. Hand out 32 caliber revolvers with rubber bullets, capable of stopping anyone it hits but less likely to kill or more importantly, to rupture cabin pressure containment.
4 planes were taken on 9/11, the first three were populated by people who'd been told that the way to deal with a hijacking was to remain calm and give the hijackers whatever they want. The fourth plane was filled with people who learned what happened when this approach was used, and they instead resisted, successfully, preventing a fourth tragedy at the cost of their own lives.
Would this stop someone bent simply on destroying the plane? No, but the dirty little secret there is that nothing will, and trying is outlandishly expensive.
What it will stop is anyone using the plane itself as a weapon, because it will only take one passenger to stop them.
An armed society is a polite society. - Reply to this comment
- I vote that we all just start flying naked. We can also use FedX TO send all of PRIDE, Self-esteem and courage to Osama bin Laden. These people are making absolute idiots out of the most powerful country in the world. I refuse to submit to this humiliation. As long as this is mandatory I will never fly again. No one is disrespecting me in this manner. We are rapidly becoming a "Prison Country"!
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- Before our government purchased these machines, I read an article which stated that another government tested them and they could get things through without detection (they didn't work), that they were being pushed by Chertoff (conflict of interest) and finally that the cost was going to be about 750 million dollars.
Our government says they don't have any other way to protect us - BS. One way is the use of metal detectors and dogs which can stiff out explosives, this would do a better job. Problem is they would not fill certain peoples pocketbooks and they woud not humiliate the general public.
And lastly, they let most of the cargo go into the plane unchecked. What is that about? - Reply to this comment
- She is also not being honest. She says she would "avoid them if she could", trying to make it sound like she can't. But in fact she does!
Even if she were to fly commercial, TSA rules exempt goverment officals traveling with armed security details, which the secratary of State would obviously have! - Reply to this comment
- I just still find it amazing that we have to be put through this invasive search, because our goverment terrofied of offending Islam by profiling.
That is really what this is all about! They would rather grope my breasts and genitials in an airport then profile Achmed Hussian Mohhammad Abdula. - Reply to this comment
- So when terrorists insert bombs up their anal cavities, or even have them surgically implanted inside their stomachs, how will we check people for that?
The terrorists are smart and know, that they can put bombs in trains, buses, everywhere and that the US will go broke trying to outsmart them. - Reply to this comment
- AmericanWolf Let's weigh the consequences of not having security at an airport. Take away the pat-downs, the luggage screening, the metal detectors, the body scanners. OK. Let's not worry about knives (for hunting, or scissors for sewing, or for that matter handguns for personal protection. Where is the "line"? Who determines the "line" You? Me? Then what? Do you still believe that you will be safe on an airplane? If you don't have security who how can safety on the plane be addressed? The Israelis have personal interviews and don't rely on technology, but if we have interviews we also have "prejudices" at work that may or may not be helpful. And the bottom line is that if you have explosives taped to your body, only a pat down or a screen of some type will detect this. Yes, terrorists have won our freedom to travel without being "searched". It is annoying to take off my belt, shoes and move my computer to a box to be x-rayed. I hate the lines, the inconvenience. I have been patted down and searched by the TSA (I am a woman). Every time it has been respectful and professional. Frankly, I would much prefer a safe plane ride than the alternative of perhaps blowing up mid air.
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- I wonder if I show up in Muslim garb, will I be able to refuse a pat down on religious grounds?
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