Terrorist Attack Against the United States

Politics International Politics
21

Lots of interesting talk at the moment in the photo industry about new carry-on restrictions in the wake of this. Apparently some flights are banning all electronic equipment from carry-on, meaning cameras, laptops, iPods etc all have to be checked.

Pelican cases and the like can offer sufficient protection against bumps and knocks, but with locks not being allowed, people are talking about having to spend thousands of purchasing extra, redundant equipment and shipping via UPS. For a professional on assignment, that’ll be part of CODB and passed onto the client.

For everyone else however, it’ll either be out of pocket expense for shipping, or taking the risk that the gear is not stolen by baggage handlers etc.

I guess this’ll affect pretty much all business travelers and any tourists who wish to take a laptop etc with them on a trip.

22

[quote=“cfimages”]Lots of interesting talk at the moment in the photo industry about new carry-on restrictions in the wake of this. Apparently some flights are banning all electronic equipment from carry-on, meaning cameras, laptops, iPods etc all have to be checked.

Pelican cases and the like can offer sufficient protection against bumps and knocks, but with locks not being allowed, people are talking about having to spend thousands of purchasing extra, redundant equipment and shipping via UPS. For a professional on assignment, that’ll be part of CODB and passed onto the client.

For everyone else however, it’ll either be out of pocket expense for shipping, or taking the risk that the gear is not stolen by baggage handlers etc.

I guess this’ll affect pretty much all business travelers and any tourists who wish to take a laptop etc with them on a trip.[/quote]

thats probably only on trip to the USA, a place to be avoided anyways.

Local travel in Asia not affected afaik. I will find out as I go to China Korea Japan again this month. HAve to take my laptop and camera gear.

23

[quote=“Satellite TV”][quote=“cfimages”]Lots of interesting talk at the moment in the photo industry about new carry-on restrictions in the wake of this. Apparently some flights are banning all electronic equipment from carry-on, meaning cameras, laptops, iPods etc all have to be checked.

Pelican cases and the like can offer sufficient protection against bumps and knocks, but with locks not being allowed, people are talking about having to spend thousands of purchasing extra, redundant equipment and shipping via UPS. For a professional on assignment, that’ll be part of CODB and passed onto the client.

For everyone else however, it’ll either be out of pocket expense for shipping, or taking the risk that the gear is not stolen by baggage handlers etc.

I guess this’ll affect pretty much all business travelers and any tourists who wish to take a laptop etc with them on a trip.[/quote]

thats probably only on trip to the USA, a place to be avoided anyways.

Local travel in Asia not affected afaik. I will find out as I go to China Korea Japan again this month. HAve to take my laptop and camera gear.[/quote]

That’s what I figured. I’ve got a photo-related trip to Malaysia in a few weeks so hopefully it’ll be smooth.

24

Since 19 Nov 2009 until 2 Jan 2010 I have had 2 trips back to the USA.
I have had 0…thats ZERO friggin problems with TSA and Airport Security.

Yes, I’ve been screened and checked…No Problem.

I’m all for “profiling”

25

[quote=“Satellite TV”][quote=“cfimages”]Lots of interesting talk at the moment in the photo industry about new carry-on restrictions in the wake of this. Apparently some flights are banning all electronic equipment from carry-on, meaning cameras, laptops, iPods etc all have to be checked.

Pelican cases and the like can offer sufficient protection against bumps and knocks, but with locks not being allowed, people are talking about having to spend thousands of purchasing extra, redundant equipment and shipping via UPS. For a professional on assignment, that’ll be part of CODB and passed onto the client.

For everyone else however, it’ll either be out of pocket expense for shipping, or taking the risk that the gear is not stolen by baggage handlers etc.

I guess this’ll affect pretty much all business travelers and any tourists who wish to take a laptop etc with them on a trip.[/quote]

thats probably only on trip to the USA, a place to be avoided anyways.

Local travel in Asia not affected afaik. I will find out as I go to China Korea Japan again this month. HAve to take my laptop and camera gear.[/quote]

Gosh, what if you have no choice. I mean, I can’t afford a flight to Europe and then Central America, and there are not enough connections Mexico-Asia.

Rats, double rats, one more rat. I was hoping to take a couple of mini PC’s with me next time for my family.

26

Typical American over-reaction. Something smacking of terrorism happens, and suddenly the airlines ban things having nothing to do with what happened. Water? Nail clippers? MP3 players? Gone. :raspberry:

Someday soon we will all have to fly naked.

27

The wires in all the underwire bras need to be removed. They could totally be weapons!

(I just want to see them try)

28

[quote=“Chris”]over-reaction[/quote]Sadly true.

[quote=“RawStory”]January 3rd, 2010
Appearing on Fox News Saturday, a retired U.S. general called for “very serious, harsh profiling,” singling out in particular all 18-28 year old Muslim men, calling for them to be “strip searched” at airports.[/quote]
Whole body imaging. Whole new bag of public perversion.

And from that “strip searched” article the retired General said…[quote]“We’ve got to go to more than just the normal process that they’re talking about now,” he opined on Saturday. “We have got to go to very, very strict screening and we’ve got to use profiling. And I mean, be very, very serious about the profiling. If you are an 18-28-year-old Muslim man, then you should be strip searched. If we don’t do that, there’s a very high probability that we’re gonna lose an airliner.”

The general’s comment comes one day before that the Transportation Security Administration announced new, “enhanced screening” tactics at U.S. airports, with a renewed focus on foreign travelers.[/quote]

29

patriotpost.us/edition/2010/01/04/brief/

It’s real scary that this thread and this issue makes me agree with her. Dammit, I’
d rather have terrorism than agree with ANn Coulter. :frowning:

30

This cartoon makes me feel better. I hope the cartoonist lives long.

31

[color=#008040]Chuanzao El Ale Destroyer[/color]:

“[color=#800040]It’s real scary that this thread and this issue makes me agree with her. Dammit, I’
d rather have terrorism than agree with ANn Coulter[/color]”

What you might find even scarier is realizing that she relies on a fix of lies in garnering your general approval of that deception-laced statement of hers.

Coulter Article:

[color=#FF0040]"Since Muslims took down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, every attack on a commercial airliner has been committed by foreign-born Muslim men with the same hair color, eye color and skin color. Half of them have been named Mohammed. An alien from the planet ‘Not Politically Correct’ would have surveyed the situation"[/color]

Re: [color=#4040BF]network54.com [/color]- WAFF 8/20/09
[color=#800000]MOSSAD AND LOCKERBIE [/color]
network54.com/Forum/211833/t … +LOCKERBIE.

[color=#8000FF]Mossad agent may testify in Lockerbie case [/color]
Libya-Israel, Politics, 8/11/1999

[color=#4000BF][b]Former Mossad agent Victor Ostroviski has proposed to be a witness in the defense of the two Libyans suspected of being involved in the Lockerbie incident of 1988.

The London based al-Sharq al-Awsat daily quoted Ostroviski as saying that he has evidence which will prove innocent the two Libyans, Abdul Bassit al-Miqrahi and al-Amin Khaleifa Fahima. He indicated a role played by the Israeli foreign intelligence in the explosion, which resulted in killing 270 persons.

The paper added that Ostroviski told the defense lawyer for the two suspects that he maintained firm relations with former colleagues, who told him the secrets of this crisis and leaked information to him that might cause great embarrassment for Israel.

Al-Sharq al-Awsat said that Otroviski, who will give his testimony through a sattelite television channel, asked a British army officer who held a meeting with him just a short time after the Lockerbie incident to contact an officer in the Mossad who had told Ostroviski that the Israeli security system had a hand in the Lockerbie incident.[/b][/color]

[color=#004080]ostrovsky[/color]

On the other hand, you could be nearly as disengenous deep down yourself - even knowing what a messed-up and evil little bot that Coulter witch is - in which case you’re not really all that scared … after all.

The profiling campaign keeps on making special exceptions to Arabs and Muslims … in the public mind. People forget, though … about who’s on first, and completely ‘nevermind’ who’s really been invaded, had their country, culture and society all torn down by useless, unnecessary war … which ‘some people’ insisted was what … 9/11 really meant … we had to do.

Ann was distinctly pro invasion vis-a-vis Iraq as I can recall. What makes me think you let her off the hook that time, too?

The whole Muslims-did-it-and-are-definitely-the problem attitude leaves so little room for those of us who’d much rather have averted … not just perpetual war … ever leading back to contentious disputes over Jerusalem … but rather to have also averted a whole ‘new age’ of prejudice and class struggle based on bad stereotypes … and manuevering now around how they function by ‘building’ mistrust.

What exactly is it you agree with her on?

See how far you get trying to make parallel classifications of the cultural traits of the many friends of Mossad, regardless of birthright or ardent support for the ‘War on Terror’.

To me, Ann Coulter is more like that old Citroen model … the one … you either love it or you hate it.

32

Well-done, Mallard. I don’t take Ann Coutler seriously, she is just a shiock jock out to get attention. You don’t have to prove to me that she lies and distorts the truth, either, this is a given. In my opinion, she’s a crazy beee-yotch. I don’t think she’s “love or hate”, I think she;s “love TO hate”. Dis is where she makes her money.

But I do agree that pretty much all measures to avoid terrorism are useless, if you’re going to America, cuz they’re going to get you anyway. This convo is depressing and I think we should just all go look at the cartoon of the underpants bomber aghain.

This cartoonist is a brave man.

33

[quote]This convo is depressing[/quote]Bright side…
Good for business?[quote]The Airport Scanner Scam (Jan. 4, 2010)
…
Known by their opponents as “digital strip search” machines…A British defense-research firm reportedly found the machines unreliable in detecting “low-density” materials like plastics, chemicals, and liquids - precisely what the underwear bomber had stuffed in his briefs.
…
The body scanner is sure to get a go-ahead because of the illustrious personages hawking them. Chief among them is former DHS secretary Michael Chertoff, who now heads the Chertoff Group, which represents one of the leading manufacturers of whole-body-imaging machines, Rapiscan Systems. For days after the attack, Chertoff made the rounds on the media promoting the scanners, calling the bombing attempt “a very vivid lesson in the value of that machinery” - all without disclosing his relationship to Rapiscan. According to the Washington Post:[quote]Chertoff’s advocacy for the technology dates back to his time in the Bush administration. In 2005, Homeland Security ordered the government’s first batch of the scanners - five from California-based Rapiscan Systems.

Today, 40 body scanners are in use at 19 U.S. airports. The number is expected to skyrocket at least in part because of the Christmas Day incident. The Transportation Security Administration this week said it will order 300 more machines.

In the summer, TSA purchased 150 machines from Rapiscan with $25 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.[/quote][/quote]Bingo![quote]Ottawa ordered airline scanners months ago: Baird (Jan. 06 2010)

Transport Minister John Baird…announced…that body scanners that can see through the clothes of air travellers will be installed at airports across Canada over the next two months. Under the new system, travellers who are singled out for extra screening will be able to choose whether they prefer to undergo a pat-down search or to be scanned by trained security staff…

…Canada chose to pursue the high-tech scanner technology months ago, putting an order in to manufacturers “before the United States were in the queue…and before some of the countries in Europe.”

“We’re taking the leadership in this. We have to move quickly and expeditiously, we’re confident that these are the best machines available on the market and they are the only ones recognized by the (U.S.) Transportation Security Administration, so that was an important part of our decision,”…
…
“We’ve always got to be raising our game, because the terrorists are always going to be changing theirs,” said Baird. [/quote]

34

J Scholl, are you suggesting that the Nigerian who was witnessed lighting his crotch on fire on an airplane, and whom will do life in prison, was motivated to do so by a need to make more money for make more money for an airport scanner company?

35

LOL LOL LOL no LOL LOL LOL I’m not suggesting such.
Simply stating that others will profit quite handsomely.

On another note… I read another poster referenced the same article in a different thread about a witness who says the underwear bomber had a guy with him maybe helping him board without a passport. Not sure if that was you.

That story has spurred some follow up.
Dutch police investigating report of accomplice in Northwest Flight 253 terror plot
[color=#0040FF]The military police have already said Abdulmutallab did not go through passport control at Schiphol when he arrived from Lagos.

But the spokesman said it would be unlikely the man could board the plane without showing his passport at some point in the boarding process.[/color]

Videos: Kurt and Lori Haskell talk Flight 253, passport ‘accomplice’ and FBI questioning

Pretty messed up to blame terrorist watch list failures IF its not yet sure his real name/passport wasn’t even used in boarding.

There’s also talk that someone domestically was informed of the threat in mid-flight? Wonder if that ever gets clarified.

Does it really have a scary eerie ring?
The Christmas Underwear Bomber.

36

This guy Kurt who witnessed the underwear bomber’s mysterious boarding doesn’t seem to want to go away, despite the followup visit from the FBI. He’s apparently concerned enough to stick to his story. Good for him.

He seems to be openly describing the US Customs rep a bold-faced liar, the FBI eerily untrustworthy and taunting Dutch authorities to prove him wrong about the underwear bomber’s accomplice/handler trying to get him on board without a passport.

[quote]Flight 253 passenger Kurt Haskell: ‘I was visited by the FBI’
For the last five days I have been reporting my story of the so called “sharp dressed man.” For those of you who haven’t read my account, it involves a sharp dressed “Indian man” attempting to talk a ticket agent into letting a supposed “Sudanese refugee” (The terrorist) onto flight 253 without a passport. I have never had any idea how it played out except to note that the so called “Sudanese reefugee” later boarded my flight and attempted to blow it up and kill me.
…
By the way, Amsterdam security did come out the other day and admit that the terrorist did not have to “Go through normal passport checking procedures”.

Amsterdam security, please define to the American public “Normal passport boarding procedures”.[/quote]

37

Re: Haaretz
Israeli firm blasted for letting would-be plane bomber slip through
Yossi Melman
haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1141434.html

[b]’[color=#004080]The Israeli firm ICTS International (not to be confused with ICTS Europe, which is a different company), and two of its subsidiaries are at the crux of an international investigation in recent days, as experts try to pinpoint the reasons for the security failure that enabled Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board Northwest flight 253 and attempt to set alight explosives hidden in his underwear.

‘A Haaretz investigation has learned that the security officers and their supervisor should have suspected the passenger, even without having early intelligence available to them. [/color]’[/b]

The Israelis remain the most trusted partners in the post-9/11 world … when it comes to securing us all against the threat of terrorism. They have the most experience, after all.

[color=#800040]mileage means a lot[/color]

38

[quote=“mallard”]Israeli firm blasted for letting would-be plane bomber slip through
… haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1141434.html[/quote]Nice article, except NOT a single mention of the no-passport check. Doesn’t surprise me though. Not easy to get all the tough questions answered at once.

How many studs here can get through international airport checks without showing their passport? Name just one (besides the Christmas underwear bomber) and I will be very excited to hear how and why.

In the article, the profiling portion may or may not shake some flake…[quote]Two decades ago, ICTS adopted the system used in Israel, namely of profiling and assessing the degree to which a passenger is a potential threat on the basis of a number indicators (including age, name, origin and behavior during questioning). At the same time, a decade ago, the company developed a technological system called APS (Advanced Passenger Screening).

This system is based on a computerized algorithm, and is fed passenger information from the airline company. The system was offered to the Israel Airports Authority and the Shin Bet in the past, but rejected. According to the company’s Web site, most of the large airlines in the United States use the system.

However - in real time - the system of ICTS failed. Even if U.S. intelligence failed and the name of the Nigerian passenger was not pinpointed as a suspect for the airline, he should have stirred the suspicion of the security officers. His age, name, illogical travel route, high-priced ticket purchased at the last minute, his boarding without luggage (only a carry on) and many other signs should have been sufficient to alert the security officers and warrant further examination of the suspect.

However, the security supervisor representing I-SEC and PI allowed him to get on the flight.
[/quote]Kind of kicks the flakiness out of the recent forumosa poll about profiling acceptance through public presumption. The buzzword ‘profiling’ really has more than one escape hatch. Did I already say flakiness? Look, here’s a story about the “expert” profiling firm, ICTS, who either ineptly or covertly failed to profile and prevent a potential threat. Tada! Christmas Underwear Bomber just in time to renew fears in time for the Patriot Act renewal! Yes 75% of polled forumosans vote for more profiling! Yippee! Power to the perps!

Oh and by the way, we should expect the right to request a pat down in lieu of the DNA splicing xray strip search machines, which is not even close to the microwave you cook your 7-11 biandangs in. Unless of course if you’re a flame forum candidate – feel free hang out in its rays.

39

Too cool.

German ‘Fleshmob’ Protests Airport Scanners (with video)[quote]The underwear bomber’s Christmas Day attack has prompted calls for the increased use of full-body scanners at airports that would strip-search passengers down to their naked bodies.

So to protest the use of the so-called Nacktscanner (naked scanner), members of the Pirate Party in Germany organized a “fleshmob” of people who stripped down to their skivvies last Sunday and converged on the Berlin-Tegel airport. They posted a video of their protest to YouTube, with soundtrack provided by Muse’s song “Uprising.” The lyrics articulated their protest: “They will not force us. They will stop degrading us. They will not control us. We will be victorious!”

Warning: The video above has mild nudity so may not be safe for work.
…
German and Dutch authorities announced this week that they would be working together to test and possibly deploy full-body scanners in the two countries over the next year. The move comes in the wake of concerns that a would-be bomber was able to board a flight from Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on Dec. 25 wearing packs of chemical explosives concealed in his underwear.
…
The scanners are currently being used in about 19 U.S. airports, though the Transportation Security Administration has plans to deploy about 300 more. The machines are used on a voluntary basis only; passengers can opt to have a full-body pat down instead of being scanned.[/quote]
Hope the non-radiation non-porn pat-down option remains available.

40

Nice catch, j.

Got the video to go with c/o that windbag Alex Jones:

Re: [color=#4000BF]Prison Planet[/color] [YouTube] 1/13/10
German ‘Fleshmob’ Protests Airport Scanners

prisonplanet.com/german-%E2% … nners.html