Fake feelings of security

Congratulations! Terror has achieved its goal. Even without blowing up planes. People are scared, authorities are in a state of absurd paranoia and all are acting like panicked chickens.

A whole new world is open for terrorists. They don't actually have to carry out a plot - all they need to do is plan one - and watch the funny results.

Everyone can see the need for security measures when intelligence has knowledge of a plot. But if we trust our intelligence services enough to feel protected, why then do we need such tight security the rest of the time?

It can't be both ways. Either intelligence is good enough and protects us and therefore knows when to increase alerts, or it's not good enough and we had better fire them.

Meanwhile, and here's the absurd part, the governments pat themselves on the back for the measures they have taken, but all they did was lower the quality of life. Their bureaucratic way of thinking is pathetic, since its effectiveness cannot be verified: There is no way to verify at the security check-in that the liquid in a bottle is insulin (prescription medicine) and not nitroglycerine. You would need a biochemical lab or a two-hour bio-assay.

So what does all this mean in practice? How difficult is it to get a prescription and exchange the liquid in the bottle for explosives? As long as one has a prescription, one can bring along whatever one wants.

A simple plastic bag taped to the body would get through anyway.

We're getting rapidly closer to "passengers should be anesthetised and wear orange Guantanamo Bay overalls".

It's also interesting to listen to all the doomsday scenarios in the news - police-bureaucrats trying to beat each other with ever higher figures of presumed casualties. They give little information about the plot and no information at all about the chemical composition of the magical explosive liquid. Lots of guesses and presumptions, but no facts.

No voice is raised against the Imperator who is responsible for this world-wide mess.

Where is the proof that we all need this extra security leading to loss of privacy and freedoms? As any good package-deal, British Defense Secretary John Reid convinced 25 well-educated and elected mature highly-paid officials that the size of your roll-on bag is a security scare too.

All those 25 morons nodded their heads in approval and had their dinner. Mr Reid, as always, echoed George Bush's strategy.