Originally Posted by law dawg
The 9/11 attacks saw an impact upon the US unprecedented in the history of this country. Nineteen men, armed only with a small blade and their will, changed the course of our history and hurt us in a way never before seen. Why would they give that up? The world has seen time and time again that terrorists return to hijackings, even after the hijacking ends in utter failure. So why, after their most spectacular success, would they give up this tried and trued method of creating terror and getting worldwide media attention?
The reason these attacks succeeded is because we are unprepared for them. Thanks to the federal air marshal program, we are now prepared for 5 terrorists armed with knives who attempt to hijack a plane while the passengers and crew do nothing. Brilliant!
Unfortunately, the event we are now prepared for will never occur again. Knives cannot be used to hijack a plane. Passengers and crew will fight back and the pilots will not open cockpit doors.
It's reliance stupid, useless, expensive feel-good "security" crap like this that makes it pitifully easy for a terrorist to shove some plastique up his/her butt, hide a blasting cap in a laptop, and then blow the plane apart in the lav. Meanwhile, 2 useless sacks of ballast got a free lunch, two revenue passengers sat in coach, and no explosives detection equipment was ever installed at the security checkpoint. How comforting.