Originally Posted by VideoPaul
Respectfully, you could not be more incorrect. Airports represent freedom of moement, freedom of commerce and freedom in general, all things the islamofascists are upset with. They seek a subservient world run by the iron fist of their religion;s laws. They seek to damage and destroy things that run opposed to that, and anything prepresenting freedom is a fabulous target.
I fail to see how the airport represents "freedom" any more than the cinema, the night club, the train station or the shopping mall. Heck, the airport is one of the
least "free" places you can be in the US. The First Amendment doesn't fully apply (the Supreme Court says that airports are not "public forums" and therefore the gov't can curtail speech--including religious speech--there). The Second Amendment (right to bear arms) doesn't apply beyond security. The Fourth Amendment (right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures) is arguably violated by any number of TSA policies. Your islamofascist terrorists have arguably already won the "fascism" part of the battle at the airports.
Want to get the point across? Send in a suicide bomber int oa tiny area (baggage claim) that is now more packed with people than ever due to the asinine carryon restrictions. You could kill 200 or 300 capitalist infidels with one smallish device. No security to get into bag claim. The OP's assertion that someone could set off 10,000 gallons of fuel is 100% correct and would be exceptionally easy to do.
You could do just as much damage blowing up a tanker truck in the downtown area of any major city. But as you point out, why bother with the tanker truck? It's much easier to simply strap on a few sticks of dynamite coated in ball bearings and walk into ANY crowded area.
Say we move all rental cars off-site at PDX so the gas truck doesn't have to be close. It still doesn't stop your suicide bomber at the baggage claim. So say we move the security checkpoints outside the terminal so that all indoor areas are "sterile" (including the baggage claim). That still doesn't stop your suicide bomber from attacking the TSA queues, which will now be just as crowded as the baggage claim.
I agree with the OP that certain "security" policies are ridiculous. But I still maintain that airports are not very high on the terrorist target list.