The Latest on NW 253

Just to keep up with the details of the latest terror attack.

Obama is not mincing words.  His take on this is different from Janet ‘The System Worked’ Napolitano.

The reviews I’ve ordered will surely tell us more, but what already is apparent is that there was a mix of human and systemic failures that contributed to this potential catastrophic breach of security. We need to learn from this episode and act quickly to fix the flaws in our system, because our security is at stake and lives are at stake.

I fully understand that even when every person charged with ensuring our security does what they are trained to do, even when every system works exactly as intended, there’s still no 100-percent guarantee of success. Yet this should only compel us to work even harder, to be even more innovative and relentless in our efforts.

Obama is supporting Napolitano for now with the rationalization that she meant the system worked after the attack happened.  That’s not exactly the point, is it?

We’ve also found out from the bomber—who is singing like a canary without any torture—that two of the men who planned this were released by the Bush Administration to the Saudi’s terrorist release art rehabilitation program. The Obama Administration has also released people to this program. This mainly demonstrates how weak the Saudis are as allies in the WOT and how foolish we are to place much trust in them.

Update: Brilliance from Hitchens on TSA (which has apparently backed down slightly):

Why do we fail to detect or defeat the guilty, and why do we do so well at collective punishment of the innocent? The answer to the first question is: Because we can’t—or won’t. The answer to the second question is: Because we can. The fault here is not just with our endlessly incompetent security services, who give the benefit of the doubt to people who should have been arrested long ago or at least had their visas and travel rights revoked. It is also with a public opinion that sheepishly bleats to be made to “feel safe.” The demand to satisfy that sad illusion can be met with relative ease if you pay enough people to stand around and stare significantly at the citizens’ toothpaste. My impression as a frequent traveler is that intelligent Americans fail to protest at this inanity in case it is they who attract attention and end up on a no-fly list instead. Perfect.

There is no way to make air travel 100% safe from terrorism.  I’m all in favor of sensible steps—screening passengers, bomb detectors, X-ray machines.  But at some point, we will have to say, “This is the best we can do.” and rely on the intelligence and bravery of our fellow passengers.