Conspiracy? BBC news nonsense

[rallycross]

Yesterday the head of BA said its time we get rid of some (most?) of these stupid airport security checks (eg getting your granny to take off her shoes in case she is a bomber).
And today the BBC news leads with stories about plane bombs being discovered and we are all saved, and for good measure they were targetted to jews in chicago.


There not much on the news today other than this story and thinking about this

1) if a cargo plane goes down it never makes big news anyway
2) if there were bombs aboard it wouldnt have reached its (apparent) target
3) cargo does not go through passenger security checks so it would not affect our current system.

Also what are the chances of security picking up 2 similar bomb attemts one in uk and one overseas on the same day?

[sneijder]

Normally I would scoff, but I work in an airport, I work with US carriers. BA were correct in what they said.

International terrorist organization wanting to blow up a specific target ? Post a bomb internationally ? I don't think so.

[ali_kat]

sneijder said:

BA were correct in what they said.

International terrorist organization wanting to blow up a specific target ? Post a bomb internationally ? I don't think so.

Have to agree

[tubbystu]

Well they have managed to make air travel as painful as it has become by mere threat and a few unlikely to succeed attempts (after the initial 911 attack of course.)

So now are they looking to disrupt our lives and world trade by making air freight as security liable as human journeys have become

Air freight is usually x-rayed already, but if they have found ways of making devices less susceptible to discovery by x-ray or just know they will get found, that could be enough to cause international disruption - particularly as now there are more international packet type shipments because of the internet.

[King Herald]

As an airline spokesman said today on tv: 'we only scan packages if there is a suspicious object inside'.

Yes, right, very intelligent statement.


I honestly believe this 'war on terrorism' is simply a war on personal freedom, topped up every six months with a little 'drama' spewed across the media, to keep us all in subservient groveldom to the great god of security: the government. They love being able to track and follow and inspect and check up on everything everybody does.

[Sunglasses Ron]

King Herald said:

As an airline spokesman said today on tv: 'we only scan packages if there is a suspicious object inside'.

Yes, right, very intelligent statement.


I honestly believe this 'war on terrorism' is simply a war on personal freedom, topped up every six months with a little 'drama' spewed across the media, to keep us all in subservient groveldom to the great god of security: the government. They love being able to track and follow and inspect and check up on everything everybody does.

And there's absolutely fk all we can do about it!

[everGreddy]

King Herald said:

I honestly believe this 'war on terrorism' is simply a war on personal freedom, topped up every six months with a little 'drama' spewed across the media

There was a nice little piece in 'The Georgia Straight' the other day about BLiars fixation and continua=ing crusade to continue to convince us that 'terrorism is the greatest threat we face today'.

The article pointed out that on average, 3,800 people a year die worldwide from terrorist plots. Not three pages later, I noticed a charity appeal for African mothers who are dying at the birth of their child, one every 90 seconds apparently (or about 10x as many as from terrorism).

Someone should tell Tone he's got bigger fish to fry

[CoopR]

everGreddy said:

The article pointed out that on average, 3,800 people a year die worldwide from terrorist plots.

So in other words... terrorism is a little more dangerous than canoeing and a little less dangerous than falling down stairs.

[youngsyr]

CoopR said:

everGreddy said:

The article pointed out that on average, 3,800 people a year die worldwide from terrorist plots.

So in other words... terrorism is a little more dangerous than canoeing and a little less dangerous than falling down stairs.

...or nearly twice as many people in the UK deliberately kill themselves each year as die worldwide due to terroism.

[Devil2575]

So the recent bomb plot was a conspiricy was it?

You lot are a bunch of fking idiots.

Security may be a bit over the top at times but have you all forgotten about the bombs that went off in London?

There will be lots of people claiming that all this security isn't needed and that it's just a waste of time etc, especially those who would make more money out of it not being there. Trouble is when it all goes wrong the same people will be blaming the government for dropping the ball and demanding a public enquirely.

[Marf]

And they'll probably demand a public inquiry too!

[rs1952]

Devil2575 said:

So the recent bomb plot was a conspiricy was it?

You lot are a bunch of fking idiots.

Security may be a bit over the top at times but have you all forgotten about the bombs that went off in London?

There will be lots of people claiming that all this security isn't needed and that it's just a waste of time etc, especially those who would make more money out of it not being there. Trouble is when it all goes wrong the same people will be blaming the government for dropping the ball and demanding a public enquirely.

The difficulty is that there has been a lot of knee-jerk reaction going on, especially when it comes to liquids.

It is always a good idea, when ideas are introduced piecemeal as a gut reaction to things that have just happened, to stand back a bit to establish what you want to achieve and what you need to do to achieve it.

[ali_kat]

Devil2575 said:

So the recent bomb plot was a conspiricy was it?

You lot are a bunch of fking idiots.

Security may be a bit over the top at times but have you all forgotten about the bombs that went off in London?

There will be lots of people claiming that all this security isn't needed and that it's just a waste of time etc, especially those who would make more money out of it not being there. Trouble is when it all goes wrong the same people will be blaming the government for dropping the ball and demanding a public enquirely.

Most likely, yes - very strange that no one has come forward to claim it was them (unusual); the timing is suspect.

Why does believing this make us "fking idiots"? Simply because we don't blindly beleive everything we hear?

Which bit of the bombs used on 7/7 came via plane? All of the ingesdients for them could be carried through security into an airport even now in separate bits.

Don’t forget, these were examined by experts who initially suggested they did not contain explosives.

"Even when it was examined, the sniffer dogs couldn't detect it," a security source said. "It was only when they [forensic experts] had a second look at it they realised what it was." They only knew it was there due to a tip of from Saudi.

Who makes more money due to laxer security? Certainly not those that will become unemployed if it is relaxed!

If terrorists want to bomb a plane, they will bomb a plane - not that it actually gets them anywhere which is why it isn't done very often. What is the point of blowing up a cargo plane? Unless it goes up over a city there isn't going to be a spectacular death toll - which is what they are after surely? (the 1988 PanAm flight killed 11 on the ground)

Terrorists of various political stripes attacked passengers and commandeered planes through much of the 1970s. But it is not common as the figures below show :-

For six days in the summer of 1976, terrorists held 258 Air France passengers hostage on a runway in Uganda, before Israeli commandos freed them in a nighttime raid.

The first large-scale bombing of a commercial aircraft occurred June 23, 1985, when a bomb exploded on an Air India plane bound for New Delhi, plunging the plane into the Atlantic Ocean and killing all 329 passengers.

A second Air India flight from Canada was targeted on the same day, but the bomb exploded at the Tokyo airport, in the luggage outside the aircraft. Two baggage handlers are killed, bringing the total death toll of the act to 331.

On Dec. 21, 1988, a Libyan man backed by his government planted a bomb that blew up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, as it travelled from London to New York, killing 270 people. The perpetrators used a barometric detonator to set off a bomb hidden in a radio-cassette player. The device was meant to have exploded over the Atlantic.

Sept. 19, 1989: A suitcase bomb destroys UTA Flight UT-772 en route to Paris, killing all 171 passengers and crew.

Dec. 11, 1994: A small bomb explodes aboard Philippine Airlines Flight 434, killing a Japanese businessman.

Jan. 6, 1995: Operation Bojinka plot to bomb 11 U.S. airliners is discovered on a laptop computer in a Philippines apartment by authorities after a fire.

Dec. 22, 2001: Richard Reid, attempting to destroy American Airlines Flight 63, is subdued by passengers and flight attendants before he can detonate his shoe bomb.

We've has increased security at Airports since 9/11 and 7/7 but the elements used to create those bombs would still be able to be carried through security and a bomb made t'other side if someone had the idea & the willing suicide bombers to do it

Edited for typos

Edited by ali_kat on Wednesday 3rd November 12:33

[eztiger]

Didn't I hear that as a result of the recent shenanigans toner cartridges were now banned from planes in one form or another?

I agree about the suspect timing, and find all the security theatre faintly ridiculous but the above actually had me burst out laughing.

Poor travelling toner salesmen.

[King Herald]

If a terrorist simply wanted to drop a plane from the sky, they wouldn't find a simpler method than just hang about a mile off the end of the runway, with a simple and cheap throwaway surface to air missile.

They don't have to faff about sneaking anything onto the plane, risking getting caught, getting killed etc.

But, they have never done this, ever, so what is the major drama where security bods are convinced everybody and their dog is trying to sneak stuff onto planes????

[Hugo a Gogo]

these packages were (allegedly) sent airfreight, but they go in the holds of passenger planes, not cargo planes

[sneijder]

King Herald, IIRC a DHL plane was hit this way in Iraq.

You are correct though, if they want to do it, then they'll do it.

[youngsyr]

King Herald said:

If a terrorist simply wanted to drop a plane from the sky, they wouldn't find a simpler method than just hang about a mile off the end of the runway, with a simple and cheap throwaway surface to air missile.

They don't have to faff about sneaking anything onto the plane, risking getting caught, getting killed etc.

But, they have never done this, ever, so what is the major drama where security bods are convinced everybody and their dog is trying to sneak stuff onto planes????

It does make you wonder why they haven't done it, imagine if an airliner were brought down, or even damaged, by portable SAMs at JFK, Heathrow and Schipol on the same day.

It's not as if the US has been particularly cautious on who they supply Stingers too and apparently Pakistan has a load of them.

[mattviatura]

Marf said:

And they'll probably demand a public inquiry too!

[mattviatura]

King Herald said:

If a terrorist simply wanted to drop a plane from the sky, they wouldn't find a simpler method than just hang about a mile off the end of the runway, with a simple and cheap throwaway surface to air missile.

There is a place near here which would seem to be ideally suited for that sort of thing. A few years back a mate was sitting there having his lunch and the police pulled up and checked his van for exactly that reason.