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Istanbul Attack: A Grim Reminder Of Why Airports Are Easy Targets (firstpost.com)
An anonymous reader shares a FirstPost article:Even as I write this the echo of gunfire continues at Ataturk International Airport. For reasons that defy logic, Istanbul's main airport has always been seen as a vulnerable target which only underscores the fact that all airports in the world are open to attack and fail-safe is not a viable option. At Ataturk, security is usually high, but the weak underbelly lies in vehicular traffic entering the airport being given cursory checks, pretty much like most airports which is why President Erdogan was able to say this sort of attack could have occurred anywhere. That is true. Airports are easy targets. That even though Turkey was aware of the chinks nothing much was done to up the security levels. If you take Delhi International as a prime example, the access to the terminal is scarcely blockaded and one can reach the entry points with ease, crossing a couple of indolent checkpoints and a roller fence. (Editor's note: the article has been written by an Indian author, and so he uses an Indian airport as an example.) Indian airports are as porous as a sponge. Most of our airports are red-starred which places them in the inadequate category. Add to that the fact that several thousand VIPs are given privileges that make a pudding out of security and it indicates how easy peasy it would be to amble up to the terminal entrance. The weakness primarily lies in the absence of X-Rays and deterrent technology on approach. You practically can check in and get to immigration before being cleared for hazardous material.
"The weakness primarily lies in the absence of X-Rays and deterrent technology on approach. "
No. Adding xrays just moves where people will be lined up.
No matter how far from the airport you put the security, if there is a crowd in line outside that security point, it's vulnerable to attack. The only way to make this impossible is to have a sufficient number of checkpoint personnel that there is never a line. Which is expensive. Too bad.
Just look at SFO or ORD on a busy holiday weekend. The useless TSA clowns make people stand in serpentine lines with hundreds of people all bunched up waiting to take off their shoes and belts and spread their legs for the obedience ritual. A perp could easily get to the center of that mass of people and do just as much damage as they could by crashing an airplane.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
President Erdogan was able to say this sort of attack could have occurred anywhere.
Well, technically it could have occurred anywhere. But it really helps people to target you if you are working towards a totalitarian state, with an emphasis on religion no less. Also, if you consider an oppressed minority as "terrorists" for long enough, don't be surprised when they start acting like terrorists (although the Kurdish militants usually have government-related targets - so this looks more like the "classic" IS terrorists).
The weakness primarily lies in the absence of X-Rays and deterrent technology on approach.
Yeah, Einstein, and when they target the queues behind those X-Rays machines, we will add new machines at a 5km distance... and when they target THOSE queues, we will....
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
... Society is becoming increasingly uninhabitable because some people can't seem to get it through their heads that a society is not just a question of whom you allow in but whom you do not allow in. All these assholes are getting flagged by the intelligence agencies and no one does anything because they don't want to appear racist. The guy in Orlando was reported to the FBI directly by people twice for being a dangerous psychopath. And response? Nada. Keep it up. You're just winding the political rubber band tighter and tighter. Its going to be hilarious when people have finally had enough and it snaps.
I know I know... an endless procession of troll ACs are going to tell me what a bad person I am for pointing out the fucking obvious. Keep it up, chumps. You're just doubling down on stupid at this point.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Until the government and media will stop being politically correct and admit that Islamic doctrine is the root cause of terrorism, no progress will be made. Mohammed is Islam's example of the perfect man to mimic in every aspect of life and at all times. Mohammed was a conqueror and taught the doctrine of jihad. Islamic jihad won't end until the whole world converts to Islam or is dead. I don't know what the solution is. Perhaps a reformation like what Christianity went through.
Recall that about 6 months after the Oklahoma City bombing, train tracks were sabotaged in this country, which derailed and crashed a train. The perpetrators left a note at the scene, but AFAICT were never caught.
And note that we're currently putting the fire out in a train crash somewhere in the Texas Panhandle, but the cause hasn't yet been determined. (Meaning: we should keep an eye on this, it might be a terrorist attack.)
Lots of US infrastructure is wide open and vulnerable to terrorist attack, yet we spend enormous effort on security theatre at the airports. Our governments implement a massive spying apparatus with the excuse that it combats terrorism, but they don't bother to infiltrate groups that are likely to do it.
And the people they manage to catch with surveillance are sad losers who couldn't manage to pull off the attack without FBI urging and guidance.
We do security theatre very well in this country.
Just 'sayin.
When you fly out of Israel's Ben Gurion Airport (at least when I did 10 years ago), you first have to stop at a Godfather-style tollbooth about a mile from the terminal. There, about four soldiers with automatic surround your car while a fifth sticks a mirror on a big pole underneath, looking for bombs. I think they looked inside the trunk too. Once you get to the main terminal, before you can enter the doors, you're stopped by another armed soldier who asks you what you're doing there, where you are headed, etc. All the while, they're looking at you to see if you appear suspicious in any way. Once inside, you go through more traditional security, except you have to open your bags and show them everything you have. They're specifically interested in asking you about anything you bought in Israel, who you got it from, where, etc. All the while, the security folks are comparing notes. If there's something wacky or suspicious about you or your story, then that triggers additional "interrogations."
Since the Lod massacre in 1972, Israel has not suffered another terrorist attack against their airports or planes because they decided to take real precautions to prevent them. The rest of the world (for now) chooses not to follow their model.
Airports don't have the potential that an airplane does, but they are still critical points to hit. At certain times a successful hit could kill or wound hundreds or thousands. Severely damaging a major hub airport can and will cause major widespread impacts to business and leisure travel. Shutdown Heathrow for example and the air traffic impacts would be global.
I'm honestly surprised they aren't attacked more often.
I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
And we can lessen the likelihood of that happening successfully by shortening those lines. We do that by ensuring that all the checkpoint lines are always open and by reverting the screening process back to what it was pre-9/11, which is all that is necessary now that all airliners have solid locking cockpit doors. There is no reason to pat down everyone passing through the checkpoint, or make us all take off our shoes; just x-ray our bags, pass us through a metal detector, and save the body searches for special cases. We had the actual security issue solved before the TSA was fully staffed; we don't need them and we never did.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
Interesting to note that the left wing talking heads are ignoring this one. It not helping at all with their gun grabbing agenda.
We understand perfectly that the right way to handle ISIS and Iran is to maintain the Sunni/Shia stalemate until they have beaten the fight out of each other. The fact they hate each other doesn't make either side 'good guys'.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
The question is does the subject matter to enough folks to report on it. Especially if it isn't in line with what the site typically reports on.
AFAIK, the most commented post in the history of this site only "mattered" to two people: Taco and his (soon to be) wife. Your argument has been hashed and rehashed for almost two decades at this point, and the answer continues to be the same: "don't like it? don't read it." Don't like political stories? Then turn them off. Don't like posts from certain users? Set them as foes and give them an automatic -6. Don't like that the character of the site is, in general, USA centric? Tough shit, it's a US based site with US based administrators (I refuse to use the word "editor) and its character reflects that.
Simple idea: if it's such a burden to read about people getting blown up overseas, don't click the story. Don't write a post about it. If it's wasting your time, then why the hell are you wasting your time?
What part of "shall not be infringed" is so hard to understand?
Yep, I was just about to make a similar comment..that it is, sadly...getting to be almost to the point of background noise that it is happening so often.
I am surprised, however, that after this attack, there wasn't an immediate reaction by Obama and Hillary to ban guns in the US again....and maybe even bombs too.
{BAEG}
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........