The WTC hijackers struck a blow at the West that was huge, but it should not have been fatal. We are now carrying on what they started and self-destructing. The airlines are obviously being run by short-sighted fools, and the general public is in a state of mindless panic. The "enhanced security" is not helping to reassure them that flying is safe, far from it. They see the security system taking nail files off passengers, no knives to cut their food even at the airport cafeteria, no drop offs at the curbside, etc, and they say to themselves "if it is possible that being dropped off at the curb and checking my bags with the skycap is likely to cause another WTC disaster, I'd better give all this aviation thing a miss!"
The WTC hijackers did not use any other person's knife, they did not get dropped off at the curb, they did not use a butter knife from a food tray, etc. None of what is being done now would have stopped them, since the box cutters they used were legal, and the system, even now, is unlikely to find them.
Taking all possible weapons from the crew and passengers is making it easier for hijackers to succeed, not harder. It has gone beyond knee-jerk to insanity, and will discourage passengers, not reassure them.
I find it hard to tell friends who want to know from me if flying is still safe, when we see things going on like they are in LAX.
The reason those sub-humans got away with what they did was a failure in Intelligence, not security. Why not fix the real problems, instead of making life impossible for honest, normal people like us?
[ 19 September 2001: Message edited by: yellow dust ]