Your Tax Dollars At Work
A lunatic at the Miami International Airport got himself killed yesterday after running from Air Marshals and reaching into the bag he claimed carried an explosive device. See the news article at Fox.
Now you know civil rights groups are going to have a field day with this one, not to mention he's Ecuadorian-American by decent. The press and certain leaning politicians will call this an atrocity that the innocent man was murdered by a federal officer and never had the life-threatening explosives he announced he had.
To the Air Marshal that shot him, I say job well done. Now that sounds harsh and I don't proclaim the victim's death like some battlefield victory or college football win, but it's admirable and comforting to see the systems put it place after 9/11 actually functioning at an effective level. We had been told air security systems were put it place for our protection, but that one averted would potentially could have lead to another national tragedy, amist all the criticisms recently plastered by the media over the lack of security improvements discussed by the 9/11 commission, instills a bit of faith in the system.
Now you know civil rights groups are going to have a field day with this one, not to mention he's Ecuadorian-American by decent. The press and certain leaning politicians will call this an atrocity that the innocent man was murdered by a federal officer and never had the life-threatening explosives he announced he had.
To the Air Marshal that shot him, I say job well done. Now that sounds harsh and I don't proclaim the victim's death like some battlefield victory or college football win, but it's admirable and comforting to see the systems put it place after 9/11 actually functioning at an effective level. We had been told air security systems were put it place for our protection, but that one averted would potentially could have lead to another national tragedy, amist all the criticisms recently plastered by the media over the lack of security improvements discussed by the 9/11 commission, instills a bit of faith in the system.
posted by Jonathan at 1:40 AM
2 Comments:
I don't think this shows that our tax dollars are at work in the form of improved security, rather that insiders, including air marshals, know that security is NO better than pre-9/11. They must know that it is possible for passengers to still sneak bombs onto planes to react this way. I'm not implying that the marshals did anything wrong or right, just that this should alert us to the fact that despite the volumes of our tax dollars spent, officials know we are still vulnerable and that our airline security is a mere illusion. This incident, coupled with recent softenings in prohibited travel items (knives, blades, scissors) and the masses of unscreened cargo on passenger planes that Congress doesn't deem necessary to screen, should all make us feel even less secure.
David,
I think your missing the big-picture here. It's not that we have Air Marshals onboard flights because we lack faith in our systems prior to boarding, but rather that we have systems in place at EVERY point, right down to post-flight baggage claim. You'll say that we shouldn't need the onboard security if the pre-board screening was flawless, and to that I tell you that as we install and upgrade new safety systems the terrorists are attempting to beat us to the punch; like saying we need not have police on the streets, but rather we set up security checkpoints at the grocery store, bank, post office, soccer field, etc. and expect everyone to behave themselves thereafter. A lot of systems, including air marshals came about after 9/11, so to say that security hasn't heightened after the attacks is ignorant.
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