I guess I tried to put too much into my post. What I wanted to stress was that the security in the US is now insane. It is ineffective, has no point to it, will not result in safer flights and will cause many people to avoid flying in future. If we want to destroy aviation in the US, this is the way to do it.
I have, as a matter of fact, flown all over the US and Europe as crew and as a passenger, and I se no difference. I still have to put my bag thru security and the staff use the same machine. My leatherman and screwdriver have never been intercepted, even after 9/11, in either place. The security relies on the passenger self-declaring theses items, not on them being caught by the scanners. I could go on more but I believe it is not the sort of information that should be on a public forum.
In the US they are insistent on photo ID, whereas in the EU, once you are in, there are no ID checks. I did not think that the security was that bad in either place.
I must admit though, that Heathrow had superior security, at least for the crew.
The WTC disaster was a failure of Intelligence, particularly that of the FBI. It is not the job of an Xray operator to determine if the person is a wanted terrorist.