TSA searches toddler in a wheelchair

[fuelair]

The TSA is worthless to begin with.

There's no evidence they prevent terrorist attacks. And we all certainly know they haven't caught one yet.

This^^^^is still the point. If I have to fly, I won't go. I loathe TSA.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Terrorists have hidden bombs and weapons in Prams and Strollers before, what makes you think they wouldn't hide one in a wheelchair?

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Terrorists have hidden bombs and weapons in Prams and Strollers before, what makes you think they wouldn't hide one in a wheelchair?

My first thought was the chair would be the problem, but they spent more time patting down the kid and not looking at the chair.

 

[crimresearch]

My first thought was the chair would be the problem, but they spent more time patting down the kid and not looking at the chair.

The chair didn't give them attitude...

 

[Darat]

My first thought was the chair would be the problem, but they spent more time patting down the kid and not looking at the chair.

Hard to tell but perhaps the chair was an airport/airline provided chair? So the kid would be the one being paid more attention to.

There are two issues to deal with in regards to the video and they are really unconnected.

First of all there is emotional "poor wee kiddie" which I think can be easily dismissed - the kid was treated in a way that was not at all unprofessional or harmful (from the security staff - the father's actions are another matter) and then there is whether the security procedures are effective.

The problem with gauging the effectiveness of security procedures is of course of proving a negative, we don't know how many potential terrorist acts have been prevented by the procedures in place. I suspect many people share the view I have that a lot of it is "security theatre" but then again I know many of the weak points I used to see when travelling by air have been closed or significantly strengthened over the years.

 

[Halfcentaur]

Not many people seem to agree on what the issue even is with this story, there are several worth noting after the fact, but it seems to me this was not worthy of reporting in a news outlet.

 

[Rasmus]

Hard to tell but perhaps the chair was an airport/airline provided chair? So the kid would be the one being paid more attention to.

That would explain the bad fit that I seem to see there.

 

[WildCat]

That incident didn't even happen at O'Hare (ORD) like the guy claims, it was at Midway airport in 2010.

 

[leftysergeant]

And then there are the people who think that it is unneccesary to worry about terrorists other than Arabs and Africans, so white people are not worth checking. This, of course, ignores the number of white nationalists who have, over the years, committed acts of terrorism and who have more motivation today to cause a problem.

An old lady about to die of cancer might want to get back at the world for letting her get sick, maybe she wants to start a race war because a daughter married a black man. You never know.

 

[Corsair 115]

All of a sudden, all a suicide bomber needs to effortlessly blow up a plane is a toddler in a wheelchair.

Finding a parent willing to see their toddler in a wheelchair blown up might be a bit difficult however.

 

[leftysergeant]

Finding a parent willing to see their toddler in a wheelchair blown up might be a bit difficult however.

Kidnap one.

 

[Darat]

Finding a parent willing to see their toddler in a wheelchair blown up might be a bit difficult however.

Very sadly although it may be difficult it's certainly well within the spread of known and all to frequently observed human behavior.

 

[Rasmus]

Finding a parent willing to see their toddler in a wheelchair blown up might be a bit difficult however.

They might not ask permission, you know. Or even tell the kid and the parents what they are up to.

 

[nvidiot]

Children are evil incarnate anyway, and most of them are tech geniuses who could build a workable nuclear weapon with kitchen tools.

Parents? They don't need no stinking parents! They'll take the whole damn thing down from within!

 

[Corsair 115]

Kidnap one.

That just starts a whole other level of problem. Generally, when a child goes missing, it typically becomes a big media and police event.

Very sadly although it may be difficult it's certainly well within the spread of known and all to frequently observed human behavior.

Sure. But the number of toddlers who are confined to a wheelchair must be a relatively small number to begin with. Then factor in the proportion of those toddlers in a wheelchair who have to fly from one destination to another. The odds keep dropping, it seems to me.

They might not ask permission, you know. Or even tell the kid and the parents what they are up to.

Again, this strikes me as falling into the low probability area. You first have to find a suitable family who has toddler in a wheelchair, befriend them, get them to take a flight somewhere, then secret a bomb into the wheelchair without arousing suspicion. If the family is supporting the act, we're still left with the small pool of children from which to draw. Presumably, that pool diminishes even further since it involves such children whose parents don't mind them being blown up.


Let's be realistic here: there are a myriad of other ways terrorists could cause havoc without resorting to the old tactic of bombing an airliner. Ways that involve much less effort and targets that are much easier to penetrate.

A few suicide bombers in a crowded shopping mall, for example. Plenty of carnage. Or emulate the Beltway sniper attacks of 2002. Imagine if something like that happened in five or six major U.S. cities at the same time. The amount of fear it would cause, the amount of law enforcement resources it would consume, would be enormous. And it'd be something very difficult to stop (the Beltway snipers only got caught because they made some dumb mistakes).

 

[HawaiiBigSis]

I also have a very different definition of "body cast" as indicated in the OP quote...

 

[Walabio]

¡More security-theater!

¡Stupid security-theater!

 

[Rasmus]

Again, this strikes me as falling into the low probability area. You first have to find a suitable family who has toddler in a wheelchair, befriend them, get them to take a flight somewhere, then secret a bomb into the wheelchair without arousing suspicion.

I can think of a number of different ways of getting there.

None of them trivial - but if i wanted to blow up a plane, I shouldn't expect it to be easy, right?

If the family is supporting the act, we're still left with the small pool of children from which to draw. Presumably, that pool diminishes even further since it involves such children whose parents don't mind them being blown up.

And if I was willing to kill a child, I would shy away from breaking their bones because...?

Let's be realistic here: there are a myriad of other ways terrorists could cause havoc without resorting to the old tactic of bombing an airliner. Ways that involve much less effort and targets that are much easier to penetrate.

Yes.

A few suicide bombers in a crowded shopping mall, for example. Plenty of carnage. Or emulate the Beltway sniper attacks of 2002. Imagine if something like that happened in five or six major U.S. cities at the same time. The amount of fear it would cause, the amount of law enforcement resources it would consume, would be enormous. And it'd be something very difficult to stop (the Beltway snipers only got caught because they made some dumb mistakes).

I don't know. Maybe you get extra points for airplanes or something?

 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

Give all the passengers a handgun before boarding the plane and let chemical sniffers do the rest of the job.

 

[Cainkane1]

They ae only trying to save innocent lives. Do you think the taliban or some other terrorist organization would hesitate to plant a bomb on an infant baby?