Retraction on Terrorism

Napolitano originally stated that the system had worked when passengers on a flight bound to Detroit stopped a terrorist who attempted to blow the plane up.  Today, Napolitano was forced to retract her rash and foolish statement and has since stated that the system failed when a suspected terrorist was allowed to board a plane with explosive material strapped to his body.  The question then became when did the system work? When it allowed a suspected terrorist on a no-fly list to fly? When it allowed a man with no passport from Nigeria to travel internationally to America? Or did the system work when it allowed this jihadist to board an airplane and attempt to blow him up? Well even Napolitano that paragon of intelligence and insight had to backtrack and admit that the system had failed in light of all the evidence of failure. It is scary that a person with known terrorist ties and affiliations was allowed to travel internationally with no passport and explosives while he was on a strict no fly list. Furthermore, the man's father had warned the authorities that he suspected his son was engaged in jihadist behavioral and espoused that violent ideology. What did the authorities in the Netherlands and America do the answer is nothing at all! They allowed this man to endanger the lives of innocent people by allowing him to fly in the first place.




This whole situation is laughable because this suspected terrorist on a terror watch list was allowed to board an international flight without a passport and fly. Around 2001, I attempted to enter Canada without a birth certificate and I was detained, questioned and forced to leave Canada. Subsequently, I was informed by a friend who worked for Canadian immigration that I was on a watch list. There are two points to this story: (1) we are less safe in 2009 than we were in 2008 and (2) The arbitrary nature in which Customs and Airport Security works is arbitrary, capricious and ineffective.  People have complained about President George W. Bush and his hard handed tactics. I can say this though between President Barack Obama and G.W. I felt much safer under the former POTUS than this current POTUS.

The knee-jerk reactions have already caused airport security around the U.S. to implement more restrictive and ineffective measures designed to make air travel safer, but as the past has show the new measures will only result in two thing frustration and delays.  The problem is that terrorists will never stop planning and contriving ways to overcome their perceived enemies and wreck havoc.  There was one simple way to prevent this near disaster without causing any discomfort or inconvenience to innocent passengers.  DO NOT ALLOW SUSPECTED TERRORISTS ON NO FLY LISTS TO BOARD PLANES!

Finally, arguments that state that focusing on people of Islamic faith and forcing them to go through extra scrutiny is also offensive and will be ineffective to preventing terrorism.  We do not need to focus on Islam we need to focus on terrorists and put these people of whatever faith on watch lists and no fly lists to prevent them from harming innocent people.  Religion is a red herring it has little to do with terrorism or probability of adhering to violent ideology.  Even if you could prove that Muslims are more prone to being terrorists and gut the personal freedoms of Muslims in America the country would not be one percent safer.  If we take away people's rights without cause or reason we cease to be a free country.  If someone is a known or suspected terrorist then strip search them interrogate them or ban them from flying but do not generalize stereotype or take innocent people's freedom regardless of their religious beliefs.