There are so many possibilities of all types of transport for the terrorists to use that any sort of restriction placed on them is merely window dressing as guess what, terrorists don't obey laws and there are so many ways around them it isn't funny. Also there are so many targets that would disrupt the country that it is also impossible to defend them. However the actual physical target is irrelevant! This is because the physical target is merely a means to spread "terror". A terrorist doesn't give a stuff that he killed 3000 people on 9/11, he doesn't care that they killed 88 Aussies in Bali in the first attack. What he cares about is how it affects our psyche. Ie we now live in fear, we look over our shoulder, we look questioningly at those who may be a little different to us. It is how we have to change our values, what we now have to put up with in order to go about our everyday lives.
Think about that, now the terrorists have caused us to completely change the way we go about air travel. The police can stop and search someone for NO reason and there are many many others that most people don't even know about.
How much do we as a society accept as changes to our fundamental values of freedom etc before we say enough is enough and accept that perhaps these terrorists are winning and further curtailing the freedoms of our society is NOT the way to combat these scum bags. People are generally honest so they simply say that these changes don't affect me because I have nothing to hide. This is not the point, the point is you now have no control or RIGHT to privacy.
As I said in my first post and as others have reiterated, the only way to combat these people is through a very well resourced intelligence service and those who can act on that intelligence. The problem we have here is the intelligence services have to get it right EVERY SINGLE TIME! The bad guys only have to get it right once. This is the fundamental struggle we now have. How much freedom do we give up in order to combat these forces whilst still being able to enjoy all the things we expect from western society? Maybe it requires a mindset change on part of our society to simply accept a terrorist attack as inevitable. The only way I would do that is to know that our Intel and security forces have all the resources they can possibly need (might be an extra $48M? from fences (sic)), balanced against my freedoms as an individual. All I know is that I will not see the end of this "War" in my lifetime, but I do hope my kids get to enjoy the freedoms I have had up to this point...
Cheers
Mr B
p.S. What is refreshing is that people here are discussing it. We need more of it and we need more people to say hey, I don't care that there is nothing visible being done, as long as you continue to work behind the scenes in those areas I would rather not know about in order to keep me and mine as safe as humanly possible. But I still want to be able to go to the corner shop for a bottle of milk without being stopped searched and ID checked. As this is not how our society should be regardless of the threat...