"It is a mistake to believe there is no threat to the United States of America," Mr. Bush said in Green Bay, Wis., before heading to a Congressional campaign event. "And that is why we have given our officials the tools they need to protect our people."
The president was almost surely alluding to his administration's heightened surveillance of telephone calls, electronic communications and international money transfers -- measures that his critics have called high-handed infringements on civil liberties, but that he has described over and over as essential weapons in a continuing war on terrorism.
As for how long the airport new passenger carryon rules on liquid are expected to last, there's no immediate answer. But until new screening programs to detect liquids are perfected, you can expect increased patdowns:
Finding the containers is not foolproof, either. "Pulling out liquid containers is a fairly easy step,'' said Steven V. Lancaster, vice president of Guardian Technologies, of Herndon, Va., which makes detection equipment. But that presumes that the container was in a bag that went through an X-ray machine. The portals that screen people at the airports only detect metal. Hence, being sure that there are no liquids will require more pat-downs of passengers.
And for the absurd story of the day:
At Dulles International Airport near Washington today, one traveler reported that screeners were also making passengers remove all food items from their carry-on baggage for inspection, and one passenger was told to peel her banana.
I'm glad I'm not flying this week, but the TL kid isn't so lucky. He has a flight out of New York tomorrow morning.
Flying from the UK is even worse: No books, laptops, etc. [Via Avedon Carol at Sideshow.]
Update: AmericaBlog nails it, with this article from AFP.
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