That being said, let me ask:
Who in the name of Holy Moly would ever try to smuggle explosives through the one place in the entire country where they are actively looking for people smuggling explosives?!?
That's about as bright as trying to bring a pickup truck load of cocaine over the border from Mexico in the back of an open pickup truck, and driving right into the customs check point at the border, parking, and waiting for them to inspect your vehicle. Duh!
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/02/18/state1038EST0040.DTL
(02-18) 07:38 PST LOS ANGELES (AP) -- An inactive Army National Guardsmen was arrested early Monday morning at Los Angeles International Airport after tying to pass an inert military explosive through security, police said.
The man was arrested about 6:10 a.m. and the incident forced the bomb squad to be called out.
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/02/18/state1038EST0040.DTL
(02-18) 07:53 PST LOS ANGELES (AP) -- An inactive Army National Guardsmen was arrested early Monday morning at Los Angeles International Airport after tying to pass an inert military explosive through security, police said.
The man was arrested about 6:10 a.m. and the incident forced the bomb squad to be called out.
The man was placed under arrest for being in possession of an explosive device, said Officer Nadine Hernandez of the Los Angeles Police Department.
"The bomb squad had to respond to determine if the bomb was inert or not," Hernandez said.
The item resembled an M-80 firecracker and caused a screener to be concerned, said Sgt. Greg Glodery.
An official with the Federal Aviation Administration said the device was found in the man's carryon luggage.
No evacuations were ordered at Terminal 6, where the item was discovered, Glodery said. The terminal serves Continental Airlines and portions of the United Airlines fleet.
The screening station where the item was noticed in an x-ray machine was temporarily shutdown, Glodery said.
No flights were delayed, officials said.
A terminal at LAX was evacuated for an hour last Wednesday when a cylinder was found in a planter near a second-floor entrance. The plastic object turned out to be harmless and no flights were delayed.
The international terminal also was evacuated Dec. 25 after someone reported finding a "suspicious package" that turned out to be wrapped Christmas presents.
This inert IED can be supplied separate from the attaché case (ITA-179-A). Thirty-three of these were purchased by Transport Canada in 1998 for use in their upgraded security training and test program in all Canadian airports, and are now the Canadian airport standard inert test IED set.
ITA-179-B is an inert military explosive demolition block, containing an inert electric detonator, electronic countdown timer and battery pack of 2 rechargeable "AA" 1.5 volt batteries with connecting wires.
The inert IED has been designed and x-ray tested by Transport Canada for accurate definition and excellent colour imaging on the latest x-ray luggage screening screening equipment. The inert gel simulant representing explosives has the correct density and other characteristics to represent live explosives on the x-ray monitor.
Here's a link: SecureSearch, Inc.
Oh wait, we've already got it...
Silly me.
Question: This guy was National Guard? I wonder how many more like him are floating around out there.
FWIW, either this guy was a complete and utter idiot, or he was a "self appointed " security screen tester. Perhaps he was hired by a media agency to try to get a story, or, even more scary, this is the best selfcheck the fedgov can come up with.
Question: Where the heck is Tom Ridge? I have not seen that guy more than one appearance since he was made "homeland security director". What is he doing? Is he actually acomplishing anything? And the BIG one: Was the anthrax a self inflicted injury by the DNC???. Funny how the distribution of that went.
Question: How many more times will the Sheeple heed the cry of "Alert, Alert" before it turns into a full blown wolfticket scenario. There are only 2 reasons for not releasing details about an alert of activity to the public (1.) Telling the public would cause more deaths than if they were kept ignorant (I call this the "gridlock nightmare scenario). or (2.) Telling the public would somehow reveal details of how the information was obtained (probably over their Official Maxwell Smart Shoe Phones (I call this one the "We really dont know a darn thing, we cant even figure out our job descriptions scenario) < /sarcasm>
Comments, as always are welcome. MAY GOD BLESS AND PROTECT THIS HONORABLE REPUBLIC
Greg