"Very astute idea!How many coins do you think would suffice to be a good deterrent?
And what do you think of the marshals wearing a blindfold too?"
Posted on 12/08/2005 8:08:10 AM PST by skyman
Has Katie Couric watched too many westerns? You know, the kind where the sheriff shoots the gun out of the bad guy's hand?
You'd think so, given the repeated questions she posed to a former air marshal in the wake of yesterday's shooting of a frantic passenger claiming to have a bomb aboard an American Airlines flight .
Katie's guest was former air marshal Tony Kuklinski, who stated that "by all accounts I've seen, what [the air marshals] did was necessary."
Katie wasn't so sure:
"Do they always shoot to kill, Tony? In other words, I guess the average person hearing this [on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Katie?] might think: isn't there a way where they could have shot this person and not killed him? Wounded him or incapacitated him in some way without killing him?"
As Kuklinksi patiently and professionally explained:
"law enforcement officials aren't trained to shoot to kill; they're trained to shoot to prevent the action from taking place. We're not trained to precision-shoot in the knee or in the arm or in the finger to prevent something from taking place. Your accuracy goes down, the potential for a stray bullet or a missed shot hitting a bystander goes up tremendously."
That wasn't enough to satisfy Katie:
"I know that last July, London police shot and killed a Brazilian electrician because they'd mistaken him for a terror suspect. It raises the question: should there be further training? Do you think that air marshals should be taught to shoot at a specific location on a body?"
One sensed Kuklinski's rising frustration. Yet he remained patient and polite, and gave what is really the key answer:
"Federal air marshals have one of the best training programs anywhere in the country. [Precision shooting creates] too much potential for secondary casualties. There's no time to sit there and take precision aim. [Attempting a more precise shot] - to shoot him in the shoulder, shoot him in the leg - it may not prevent the crime from being committed.
It makes you wonder: what questions do you think Katie might pose if an air marshal, following her recommendations, shot a terrorist in the hand, who as a result was capable of detonating his bomb that in turn brought down a jumbo jet filled with passengers?
The fatality was incidental to the goal of terminating the threat.
Actually, no. The air marshal should have thrown a handful of loose change in the air and fired a round through every coin before they hit the ground, just to show the lunatic he meant business.
I guess this would be the same Katie Couric that CBS wants to lure away from NBC to replace the estimable Dan (the documents are real) Rather? That's gonna go well [rolling eyes].
Is she kidding? Like a man couldn't still activate a bomb with a broken leg, etc. If she or anyone she gave a damn about had their life haning in the balance while some air marshal played chicken with a terrorist, would she feel the same?
"Very astute idea!Hasn't she ever seen the Black Knight in Monty Python's Holy Grail?
Doesn't she know that bad guys will just keep begging for more 'flesh' wounds?
God Almighty, Katie Couric is STUPID! Perky, but incredibly stupid. How did this brainless, vapid, intellectually and morally bankrupt cheerleader get a job that pays her millions to proclaim her idiocy on TV?
er... if someone has a bomb, shooting them in the foot won't be very effective, Katie.
Wow, can't wait for her to take over the CBS evening news. Talk about a seamless transition from Dan Rather!
I propose that perky Katy report from the Netanya shopping mall in Israel.
I believe the idea with potential suicide bombers is to take shots at the center of mass, and then if you can, take a few head shots. From as close as possible. It is kinda gruesome, but they need to take him OUT before he (wounded as he might be) can push the button to detonate.
Will someone put a cork in her mouth before everyone knows how stupid her comments really are. What a moron.
If only this man had listened to TOM CRUISE and taken those multi vitamins then this wouldn't even be talked about.
Maybe they should have shot him with multi vitamins instead. ;)
Katie is twice the newsman Dan ever was.
2x0=0
Right answer. He was perceived as a deadly threat. At that point, he must be killed or you may get yourself and your passengers killed. The person that bears responsibility for this tragedy is his wife. The dead man was bipolar and off his meds. He should not have been on that plane and it is his wife's fault. A close member of my family has the same problem. I would not hesitate to go on a plane with her as she takes her meds. I would not consider even for an instant of taking her on a plane if she was not taking her meds. The air Marshal did not kill this man, his wife's stupidity killed the man.
Is this the same Kookie Couric who used to be a TeeVee personality back in the 20th century? It must be her daughter.
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