The most worrying thing about the latest attempt at terrorism is the desperate attempt to play politics with airport security that almost inevitably followed. Obama introduced some hastily put together measures while Brown appeared on television talking about full body scans without having thought through the financial or practical implications.
For some reason Cuba ended up on a list of countries where extra screening is required, but does anyone really believe terrorists are more likely to originate from Cuba than the UK? All the measures are reactionary and hastily implemented, but once they’re in they’re rarely reversed. But how long will it be before the travelling public has had enough?
Interestingly, BBC’s Newsnight had an extended piece on profiling last night. Profiling sits uncomfortably with the woolly liberal inside me, yet at the same time I recognise how pathetic it is to see my six year-old son treated as a potential terrorist.
Ultimately, there will never be 100% safety and even body scanners will struggle to detect liquids or explosives concealed in the body. But it’s unfortunate that terrorists seem to be obsessed with air travel when much more straightforward and equally destructive targets exist.
More people will die from drunk driving in 2010 than from terrorist attacks on airlines, yet drivers won’t be targeted in the same way as air travellers by governments more intent on dealing with symptoms than causes. I said in a recent post that few people could have predicted in 2000 that air travel would be even more tiresome at the end of the decade than it was at the start. Let’s hope we’re not saying the same in 2020.
