GUESS WHEN THIS CARTOON WAS CREATED?

You may think the cartoon is having a dig at the lapse in security over this weekend. And you would be wrong. This cartoon, courtesy of Cartoon News Magazine.Com is from December 2001, in the aftermath of the Richard Reid fiasco (the shoe bomber) who attempted to detonate explosives hidden in his sneakers on an American Airlines flight from Paris, France, to Miami, Florida.

Like the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day 2009, Reid had thwarted every security procedure that the TSA had put in place just two months after the September 11 attacks, and like the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day 2009, it took quick thinking by fellow passengers to subdue Reid and eliminate the bomb threat.

So, has there been any real improvement in security at airports since 2001? Well, it would seem that way. Just ask anyone who takes a flight these days  and they will tell you that they have been arriving at the airports earlier and earlier as the security checks have got more and more involved.

But the problem is that a lot of these security checks were put in place, not because the US predicted terrorist bombing strategy, but because they failed to recognize it altogether.

You take your shoes off at the check in desk and put them through a machine only because Reid had successfully breezed through all security checkpoints with his shoes on.

You can only take a certain amount of liquids on board in certain types of containers, not because of  US  intelligence, but because British intelligence uncovered a plot in 2006  to detonate liquid explosives carried on board at least 10 airloners travelling from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada. Where were the Americans? Asleep at the wheel while the British conducted one of the biggest surveillance operations ever involving over 220 police.

So now we have yet more rules issued by the TSA ( Transportation Security Administration) following a lone terrorist Christmas eve’s attempt to bring down a Delta Airlines aircraft. They include a “thorough pat-down” at boarding gates, focused on the upper legs and torso. And all passengers must now remain seated for the final hour before landing. During that time, they may not have access to their carry-on baggage or hold personal items on their laps. While over US airspace, flight crews may not make any announcements to passengers concerning the flight path or the airplane’s position over cities or landmarks,” the new rules notified by the US authorities said.

Will these additional measures sort the problem out once and for all?

I am not at all convinced. At all. Not only did the Nigerian terrorist get through with explosives, he also got through a syringe, which was found as an essential piece of bomb making equipment in the London plot. So there were at least two bomb making items that we know of that got through on Christmas eve. A total failure by the security checkpoint in Holland.

Then there is the much publicized fact that the would be terrorist, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was already on a government watch list and the father of the terrorist had shopped his son to authorities, concerned that he would do something dreadful. And yet, he was allowed to fly. I am not sure how much worse an indictment you can get on the American security apparatus.I am betting that Umar could have boarded the flight with a “I love Osama Bin Laden” T-Shirt.

Until we stop playing catch up and starts predicting, analyzing and bugging  terrorists intent on destroying America, two things will happen. More devastating terrorist attacks will occur on American soil. And if you think that flying now is a drag, god help all of us when the terrorists eventually succeed.

We also need the head of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, to take the threat much more seriously. For her to go on TV this Sunday morning and say that “the system worked” is both jaw droppingly stupid and frightening at the same time. It didn’t work at all. In my opinion, she should be fired immediately and replaced by someone  who understands that there was a massive breakdown of security on Christmas Day and well before Christmas Day; the moment the bomber was put on the list of potential radical Islamists.

And it would also help if the Secret Service could stop any further party crashers from shaking hands with the President – just for my peace of mind.