Yesterday, an airline passenger was shot and killed by an air marshal. The dead man shouldn't have gone on an airplane without his medication, but he doesn't deserve the death penalty for this oversight.
The blogosphere has been too quick to forgive the air marshal without really knowing the facts. Statements like "Now we know that the air marshal system worked, and the terrorists have to consider it." (Counterterrorism Blog)
Anyone smart enough to obtain a bomb and sneak it aboard a plane is smart enough not to run around the plane yelling "I have a bomb!" Compared to all the other crowded places in which I regularly find myself, such as subway stations, the Staten Island Ferry and movie theaters, an airplane is the least likely place in which someone would actually be carrying a bomb.
The air marshal shouldn't have shot a guy in this situation with a woman screaming that it's her husband and he didn't take his medication.
So, if a terrorist manages to smuggle a bomb onto a plane and wants to make sure he has ample time to detonate it, all he has to do is declare he has the bomb, and then have an accomplice shout 'he didn't take his medication!' Once you tell the terrorists what'll stop air marshals from shooting, you've just told them what to do in order to pull off a successful attack.
You sir, are a moron.
Posted by: Croox0r | December 12, 2005 at 11:33 AM
A terrorist who wants to set off a bomb would just wait for the plane to take off and quietly do it.
Posted by: Half Sigma | December 12, 2005 at 03:19 PM
we are only doing what we were trained to do.
Posted by: tony lawson-usms | March 27, 2006 at 04:18 PM