'the system worked'

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Dec 28, 2009

If not for a failed detonator, an airplane would have been destroyed and another 278 victims would have been added to the terrorists' tally. And the top security official in the federal government tells us that "the system worked." Can you imagine any equally inappropriate response to a crisis?

You can't? Well, I can.

So what will US security officials do to restore confidence in air travel? Will they begin revoking visas from men with known terrorist connections? Will they pay attention when a foreign diplomat warns that his son has been radicalized? Will they become suspicious when someone pays for an overseas flight in cash and checks no luggage? Will they stop people from flying if they are on the “no fly” list? In short, will they enforce the policies that are already in place?

Or instead will they force all of us to shut off our laptops, close our books, and sit at attention for the final hour of every flight, like schoolboys in detention?

It’s an absurd reaction. It would be comical if it weren’t so infuriating. It’s almost as if the US bishops, having allowed known molesters to work with children for years, decided that the most appropriate remedy was to force parents to undergo background checks before serving as playground monitors.

Can you imagine that happening? Funny, I can.