Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, informed us today that children under 12 may soon be able to skip the tedious pat downs and mandatory removal of shoes, but is that really the best idea? Especially considering the fact that the federal government has implemented countless laws to protect US flyers from being in potentially dangerous situations. "Today, 14 million passengers fly to, from and within the United States each week." --"Children may soon be spared airport patdowns: Napolitano"
With the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks fresh in our minds and the knowledge that in Iraq and Afghanistan, little girls are used as suicide bombers (some are coerced and some want to do it) is it reasonable or justifiable to allow children to skip a pat down and removal of shoes? Do you really think it's going to be possible to find enough support for this proposal?
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
First of all, there won't be any need to find support for this proposal because it isn't a law that is being passed in Congress; rather, it is a new policy that is going to be put in place by the TSA. After reading more articles on this topic, I still feel very comfortable with the safety of our country because children won't be exempt from going through metal detectors and the whole sha-bang. Also, children are not exempt from random searches that are preformed throughout the day. Finally, to the point about the little girls used as suicidal bombers, I don't think that will be an issue because from what I have read, this policy is only going to be put in place for domestic flights, not international.
In regards to Dustan's last point, I agree with him, but not for the same reason. Little suicide bomber girls sent from the Middle East could still first go through Canada into the US and then take a domestic flight, where this new policy would be implemented. However, it's not every day that you'd see such girls walking around the airport, and given effective security measures such as "metal detectors and the whole sha-bang" that Dustan referred to (not to mention full-body scanning machines, which are popping up in airports all across the nation), I don't think this new policy will spark much controversy. Rather, I believe it would partially satisfy those who have complained about the "inappropriateness" of pat downs, and also comfort sensitive parents of children under 12.
I feel that policy is acceptable n that 12 year old and younger dont need to be patted down but i dont feel the same if they are coming from foreign countries I believe they should be patted down if they are flying in to america just because u never know what they could do since it has happen younger kids have done suicide bombing. but with in our own countries i dnt think they need to be search like that
I agree that the change in TSA policy will not have many negative effects, since the TSA will, as Dustan pointed out, keep the metal detectors and full body scans in circulation. But I have to point out that Robert's post conveys an inappropriate amount of favoritism and American egotism. It seems that Robert has apparently forgotten that all of the 9/11 flights were domestic flights originating from Boston, Washington, and Newark. Anyways, in the past, most of the airplane problems that have occurred in the past were domestic incidents. I believe that it would be in TSA's worst interest to enact favoritism policies, since a well informed person would not be able to make the argument that doing so will help to prevent more acts of terrorism.
Post a Comment