In the wake of the latest terrorist incident Janet Napolitano proved she is the wrong person to head Homeland Security. Her flip-flop statements signal two things. One, the flow of information up the ladder is seriously flawed. Two, once the information reaches the top nothing but garbage comes out of the mouth.
Karl Rove was on Hannity last night outlining how this administration blew a chance to interrogate the suspect. Instead they allowed him to lawyer up and shut up as a criminal and not treated as a terrorist. We lost the opportunity to find out who trained him, who sent him, who funded him, who fed him, and who he answered to.
Right now Fox News is reporting there were 17 full body scanners at Amsterdam airport. An Israeli spokesperson stated he would not use full body scanners on Muslims due to their faith. He made a compelling and convincing argument that Muslim distrust of the western world would only be heightened if goverment mandates a full body scan of their women and children.
This mess points to a systemic failure in our security policies. Profiling behavior, not skin color or faith, is a much better approach than scanning. Terrorists come in all forms and styles. Behaviors will be easier to spot.
Here is an editorial from the Tribune Review out of Pittsburgh.
Flight 253: Failure
Buzz up!Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Welcome back to reality, America. Nasty people seeking to do nasty things in any nasty way possible remain alive and despicably well as we put the wraps on 2009.
Witness the passenger-foiled attempt by a Nigerian man to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day. But witness first the horrible failure of a very expensive worldwide security apparatus to keep Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab off Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit.
The suspect was on terrorist watch lists in the United States and Great Britain. He was refused a student entry visa to the U.K. in May after applying for a bogus college course. He paid cash for his Northwest ticket. He had no checked baggage. There's a report that he didn't even have a passport. The explosive he carried in his underwear is supposed to be easily detectable through screening. The terrorist's father even warned authorities that his son was a risk.
Thus, it was outrageous when Homeland Security boss Janet Napolitano went on TV on Sunday to claim "the system worked." She was in full retreat Monday, claiming her contention was taken out of context. Hardly. Her boss, President Obama, has ordered a full review of security measures. He should fire Ms. Napolitano as a start.
The Flight 253 debacle is a sobering reminder that the world remains a dangerous place requiring eternal vigilance. The people know that. Sadly, government doesn't.
Politics aside, let's get the system fixed to restore the faith of the travelers. If government can accomplish that goal then maybe, just maybe, politics on both sides can cease fire and get on with the business of putting people back to work so our economy will recover.
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