Man Tries To Blow Up Transatlantic Plane

Discussion in 'Serious Chat' started by Luke, Dec 26, 2009.

  1. #21
    Luke

    Luke Mind Your Manners. LPA Addicted VIP

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    I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was propaganda, there's no doubt in my mind that 9/11 was.

    Think of how tightened the stronghold of fear over everyone would be if this attack was successful - having to know that Christmas day, the most important holiday in the western world would also be a day of rememberance. I can't begin to imagine how depressing that would be.

    Either way I'm gonna probably be stripped searched when I board my flight tomorrow, you know, brown skin and all.
     
  2. #22
    Chris

    Chris LPA Addict LPA Addict

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    9/11?

    Just kidding, don't wanna get that discussion again :lol:

    _______
    The website mlive.com talked with passenger Kurt Haskell from Michigan

    "Haskell said he and his wife were sitting on the ground near their boarding gate in Amsterdam, which is when they saw Mutallab approach the gate with an unidentified man. (..) While Mutallab was poorly dressed, his friend was dressed in an expensive suit, Haskell said. He says the suited man asked ticket agents whether Mutallab could board without a passport. “The guy said, 'He's from Sudan and we do this all the time."

    _______
    Were the proper security checks performed?
    Yes, say Dutch authorities, who say he passed through normal procedures and that "security was well-performed." He is known to have passed through a metal detector and his luggage was X-rayed. Extra attention is normally applied to passengers arriving from Nigeria because of concerns over fraud and smuggling. Nevertheless airports around the world have stepped up security procedures in the wake of the incident, increasing pat-downs and secondary searches.



    Is there any way of detecting these kind of explosives?
    A preliminary FBI analysis indicates the device contained PETN, also known as Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate, a highly explosive chemical. Experts say this would have been picked up using a swab commonly used in secondary screening. A body scan, particularly the new 3D imaging scanners being trailed at some airports, would also have spotted something strapped to his body, even in the crotch area.



    http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/27/airline.attack.qanda/index.html
     
    Last edited: Dec 27, 2009
  3. #23
    Omar

    Omar Administrator LPA Super Member

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    Huh? I boarded a plane in Europe bound for America a week after the suspected 2006 bombing plots. I did not wait in line for 6 hrs, and I was not given a pat down. And I'm Muslim.

    There was a regular security check, and an additional one at the gate where our carry-on luggage was searched (all passengers), and another metal/chemical detector. The additional time lost was maybe 45 mins.
     
  4. #24
    El Muerto

    El Muerto LPA Super Member LPA Super Member

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    I'm pretty sure 6 hours was intentional exaggeration, but it is a fact that the waits are long.

    And there's one thing I don't get. There's so much security at airports but you can board any any bus or train (even the international ones) with a nuclear warhead in your backpack and kill as many people and cause as much material damage. Or is it all just about protecting the super expensive planes? As I sad, I don't get it..
     
  5. #25
    Todd

    Todd FLǕGGȦ∂NKđ€ČHIŒβǾLʃÊN LPA Administrator

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    Terrorists don't bother with buses or trains because the potential death toll from setting off a bomb on one is relatively small. Maybe about 60 on a bus and perhaps about the same amount on a train (trains are long, and people outside the car where the bomb is set off probably won't be killed). Whereas the death toll from a bomb on a plane is much higher, a relatively small explosive device can blow out a hole in the fuselage which will kill everyone on board, and if they're lucky, the plane will crash into some houses or some buildings and take out people on the ground.

    Like with anything else, it's about return on investment, and I guess the terror groups don't want to waste a good suicide bomber on a bus with 60 passengers.
     
  6. #26
    Chris

    Chris LPA Addict LPA Addict

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    If I were a terrorist, I would rather blow up a bus than a plane. Not because of the death toll but because of the scary thought that terrorists are not only in the air but very close to you.
     
  7. #27
    El Muerto

    El Muerto LPA Super Member LPA Super Member

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    Todd, I wrote a huge reply to you but my fucking firefox crashed and I can't be bothered to write it all again. To cut it short, you can produce as much fear, material damage and causalities with a bus or a train or even a car in a place with a lot of people around (tourist places, markets, ultra high speed trains that run trough city areas, etc.). Not to mention that most of the attacks worldwide are done in buses and cars, actually the only plane related terrorist attack I can think of right now is 9/11, and it's highly likely it was sponsored by someone from the US government.
    And I'm not advocating general tightening up of the security because that leads to even more panic and a Big Brother society. I'm just saying.. Planes are expensive, buses are cheap, and the death toll outcomes are not that much of a difference..
     
    Last edited: Dec 27, 2009
  8. #28
    Dedicated

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    If they blew up the Euro Tunnel it'd be a huge catastrophe. I think security for them needs to be increased.
     
  9. #29
    Louis

    Louis Message me if you need to talk. We love you all. LPA Team

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    I'm just glad everyone's okay and that this man is being dealt with.
     
  10. #30
    Derek

    Derek LPAssociation.com Administrator LPA Administrator

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    Is it possible for us to have a serious political talk about terrorism; or national security without someone coming into a thread, and claiming 9/11 or any other terrorist attack is a government conspiracy?

    People need to take off the tinfoil hats. This wasn't Obama's doing...it was some Nigerian moron who probably was mad that he wasn't wired money for his 'legitimate business proposal'.
     
  11. #31
    Louis

    Louis Message me if you need to talk. We love you all. LPA Team

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    Well, I think it's fair to say that it's okay for people to postulate their theories. I agree that it's not fair to just go and declare that the government supported or initiated a terrorist attack on its own country, but, I don't think it isn't serious to talk about potential conspiracy theories. At least, one should explain his or herself if they truly think that a conspiracy is in place.
     
  12. #32
    El Muerto

    El Muerto LPA Super Member LPA Super Member

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    What's wrong with that? I know that many people died there and that some of you guys are still sensitive about that, but you have to acknowledge that there are pretty good that 9/11 was a conspiracy. Of course, I don't want to argue about that here and now, or go on with that discussion, there's plenty material online to see and watch so everyone can make a judgment on their own.


    Of course it wasn't Obama, there are always people in the shadow who have more power than even the president himself. It's like that in every country. Always has been and always will.
     
  13. #33
    Nikki

    Nikki I have no idea what is going on LPA Super Member

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    Nah he's not having a go at the 9/11 conspiracies (which I admit are actually very plausible), just the fact that for some reason there's always someone who feels the need to call CONSPIRACY111!!11 whenever anything bad happens.

    What's making me laugh - well perhaps that's the wrong word, but you get what I mean - is the fact that the UK is feeling the need to go "YEAH GUYS HE WAS ON OUR WATCH LIST".
     
  14. #34
    Chris

    Chris LPA Addict LPA Addict

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    Well, you gotta admit that someone without a passport, poorly dressed and with some sort of 'bomb' in a condom/plastic bag can go on a plane... kinda makes you wondering.
     
  15. #35
    Nikki

    Nikki I have no idea what is going on LPA Super Member

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    Oh of course, but what I'm wondering is why the information the UK had on this guy wasn't shared and also why on Earth didn't the folks pick up on the fact he had no luggage and a one-way ticket.

    I don't say this is a conspiracy, not at all - just a complete and utter failure of security. It is a shame that this knee-jerk reaction to this failure is costing so much time/money for those with nothing to hide.
     
  16. #36
    Todd

    Todd FLǕGGȦ∂NKđ€ČHIŒβǾLʃÊN LPA Administrator

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    Are we certain he didn't have a passport or is that just hearsay? It seems very unlikely given the fact that your passport is checked many times when boarding a plane and probably would've been checked by immigration in Amsterdam.

    Also, airport security in Lagos is a joke so any failures there are not surprising. It sounds like most of the failure here occured at Schiphol.
     
  17. #37
    esaul17

    esaul17 antichrist

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    I will for one dismiss 9/11 conspiracy theories as tinfoil hat garbage, even if Derek isn't.
     
  18. #38
    Todd

    Todd FLǕGGȦ∂NKđ€ČHIŒβǾLʃÊN LPA Administrator

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    Why new security regulations are bullshit, and why you should not be scared to fly, courtesy of Gizmodo:

    [​IMG]
     

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