[fogofbobegabay]

It seems that the two gentlemen had also drawn the attention of airport security, "even though he had been security-checked twice before boarding". The passengers just took the next logical step, one I hope that is adopted by all airlines-suspicious Arabs just don't fly, no matter if they are searched or not. They may or may not be up to no good, but who can risk it now.

[Young Scholar]

It seems that the two gentlemen had also drawn the attention of airport security, "even though he had been security-checked twice before boarding". That was a different person on a different flight.

[supercat]

It seems that the two gentlemen had also drawn the attention of airport security, "even though he had been security-checked twice before boarding". The passengers just took the next logical step, one I hope that is adopted by all airlines-suspicious Arabs just don't fly, no matter if they are searched or not. They may or may not be up to no good, but who can risk it now.

I've tended to wonder whether the jihadists are trying to do various "tests" to figure out how to maximize the likelihood that their next attack will work. Try something that should be deemed suspicious, but in such a way as to maintain plausible deniability, and see what the reaction is.

This does raise an interesting question, though: suppose that one knows that a jihadist is testing X-ray equipment/personnel by bringing on packages whose image will look like that of a bomb one has tried to obscure, but whose contents are all perfectly legal. In what cases is it better to let the terrorist know his package has been noticed as suspicious, and in what cases is it better to let him think it hasn't?