[Land_of_Lincoln_John]

So Mr. Rahim's almost fatal stunt was not done a whim....

[blam]

Hang'em.

[litany_of_lies]

"Turned away the previous day...." "TURNED AWAY?"

Why wasn't he taken into custody? Detained? Shoes checked? Identity verified?

Can you imagine the outrage against French security if this gut had been successful on Saturday?

The French had better buy a clue....FAST.

[thucydides]

This may well have been an Al Qaeda experiment. Had the plane blown up over the ocean, no one would have known the cause. This would mean that a wave of suicide bombers could be sent to board aircraft with explosives in their shoes. The alarming thing is that a suspect turned away on one day, should be allowed to board the next, and that an obvious third worlder with a freshly minted UK passport, issued out of country (in Belgium) should not have been given a thorough search. In the current circumstances, I believe all male persons of middle eastern appearance need to be given a very exhaustive search, and be required to submit their names in advance for pre - clearance. It may be that we are not far from having to implement the Chinese government's solution: our airlines will not sell tickets or board passengers from a list of muslim countries.

[Bullish]

Glaring example of pathetic security.
This guy fit every concievable profile of a terrorist, yet he's still able to board a plane.

[Rockyrich]

I first picked this up from the Miami Herald via WorldNetDaily and it's interesting, but not surprising they did not refer to the person's profile - Muslim as reported here. All the Herald quoted was, "Laura White, a spokeswoman for the airport authority, said the man was carrying a British passport that identified him as Richard Reid, 28, but she said U.S. immigration officials believe the passport -- issued in Belgium -- might be bogus." I'm sure much of the detail was in the AP coverage, but ignored. Seems were getting back into the PC mode.

[monday]

"Sri Lankan national Abdel Rahim, a Muslim. "

You know if I were Muslim I would be embarrassed. Not only does the religion have a high number of crazys who want to kill themselves, as well as large numbers of innocent people, but they apparently are the most incompetent people on the planet. 9-11 is beginning to seem more and more like a lucky shot. This loser is not smart enough to buy a lighter, so it wouldn't smell? or at least lock himself in the rest room? Also I'm not an explosives expert but even I know that c-4 can't be ignited by lighting it. Am I wrong? Isn't det cord needed, along with an electric power source?

[Amerigomag]

A US senator said

And these juveniles in the U.S. Senate wonder why 43 is hestitant to share any intel with them.

[lowbridge]

The shoe salesman who sold the terrorist the lethal shoes declined to talk to reporters.

[MinuteGal]

Although luckily no one was killed, I hope they try this maniac under some charge that carries the death penalty. It's my opinion that the American public is so preoccupied with the holidays they are not even concentrating on what a horrible tragedy could have happened here.

I also feel that the government and the media are soft-pedalling this story till after the air-travelling public is back from wherever they went for Christmas. Am I off-base here?

Leni

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Here is an interesting question. Does France have a federally run security system at its airports? If so, why didn't the Feds of France handle this better? This makes our private system look 10 times better. Sheer madness. He was turned away the day before and gets on the next day??!! And this is what we are modelling our new system after?