Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday that the thwarting of the attempt to blow up an Amsterdam-Detroit airline flight Christmas Day demonstrated that "the system worked."And you know what? I can actually see the argument here for once. This guy should have been on the no-fly list. He never should have been allowed on that flight out of Amsterdam. He got on board there with this device. That's a mistake.
Asked by CNN's Candy Crowley on "State of the Union" how that could be possible when the young Nigerian who has been charged with trying to set off the bomb was able to smuggle explosive liquid onto the jet, Napolitano responded: "We're asking the same questions."
Napolitano added that there was "no suggestion that [the suspect] was improperly screened."
It became a full-fledged error in judgment when Napolitano said "the system worked." It didn't work. Nobody believes that, left or right.
Horse raddish, the no-fly list is overburdened with people who have no reason to be on there (including Ted Kennedy at one point I believe). These people can still get on planes, and while he managed to get a substance on the plane it was of such a nature as to ultimately not be a threat to the plane.
ReplyDeleteBesides, cabinet reshuffling is all a sham anyways. The institutions you are calling to be changed would remain so whether it is janet or another at the helm barring reform by.... wait for it.... Congress!
A lot of stuff didn't work if this clown got on board with a device.
ReplyDeleteThat's true, but I'm more inclined to see this as a wake up call and a first strike rather than means for immediate firing. Actions like that strike me as the "do something just to do something" type, which frequently make people feel better but don't help solve underlying problems.
ReplyDeleteWell, ideally, what Obama does here will actually help the situation. More air marshals and new screening procedures aren't it.
ReplyDeleteExactly, better intelligence, better communications between international agencies and domestic agencies (internally and externally), and a severe audit of the no-fly list just off the top of my head. When does our president get to operate in a world like The West Wing btw?
ReplyDeleteI'm tired of waiting to be told by anybody but a handful of blogs that the good guys are back in charge.