Poetic justice

[fpb]

According to the latest news, the terrorist that tried to blow up an American plane over Detroit airport only managed to get severe burns to his "inner upper legs" for his pains. If this means that he has deprived himself of the possibility of passing on his genetic material, that really is poetic justice.

Comments

[inverarity.livejournal.com]

Most "terrorist plots" turn out to be planned and executed by idiots.

Unfortunately, so is the TSA. I have to fly today, so I am not looking forward to their latest embellishments to our national security theater over this incident.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Most "terrorist plots" turn out to be planned and executed by idiots.
Not in my experience. Remember, I was around when the Red Brigades were literally terrorizing Italy and when Britain had been reduced to dumb, bestial endurance by the continuous violence of Republican and Loyalist gangs. The reason why this lot do not seem as efficient - apart from the fact that we have had thirty years of learning how to stop them - is their obsession with suicide plots. These are effective enough - God knows, much more effective than our terrorists used to be - when it is a matter of being one person just like any other person in a crowd, in Iraq, Pakistan or Afghanistan; but in an environment where subtlety and understanding are called for, it means that there is no learning curve and no build-up of experience. The North Irish were especially effective because of the decades if not centuries of accumulated experience that they had, and continental terrorists of my time learned not only from Arafat's Palestinians (who took in hundreds of European extremists for training) but also from aged Communist partisans who had learned to kill in the Second World War, and regarded it as an incomplete revolution and terrorism as the next wave. Because most Al Qaeda terrorists expect to strike only once, this collective and shared experience is much weaker.

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

"The incident prompted a significant change to airline security. International passengers will not be allowed to move about aircraft during the last hour of a flight, and there will be extra screening of baggage at airports." via the NYT.

After the next terrorist flight, I look forward to the announcement that we shall all be shackled into our seats for the entirety of the journey. First and business class passengers will be provided with urine bags.

[mentalguy.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely not looking forward to my next overseas flight as it is. Not going to the bathroom is one thing, but enduring the last hour of an intercontinental flight without so much as a book or a blanket (they're not letting people use electronics or have things in their lap) is a little too much.