The System Worked

But only if your system involves incompetent bomb makers and airline passengers who are far more alert than the Secretary Of Homeland Security.

Does "the system" count on all explosive devices smuggled onto international flights not detonating? When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab set himself on fire while trying to blow up the plane and kill its 278 passengers, a Dutch filmmaker leapt on him, ripped a smoldering object from near his crotch and put it out with his bare hands. Or as Napolitano put it, "Everybody played an important role here."

This is a bizarre division of labor. You carefully pack to avoid any liquids more than 3 ounces. You stand in a security line. You take off your shoes. You get your fingernail clippers confiscated. You run your carry-on bags through an X-ray machine and walk through a metal detector, with an extra wanding if your spare pocket change sets off the alarm. And after all that, it's still your responsibility to subdue the terrorist in the next row trying to set off the pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) secreted on his body.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/it_the_incompetence_stupid_Smobhu7UYi3kwiQzGPHnMP#ixzz0b5GGKtXA