Passenger detained, suitcase blown up after bomb comment

[question everything]

Friday, February 18, 2005

Passenger detained, suitcase blown up after bomb comment

By: North County Times wire services

SAN DIEGO - A woman was detained in Arizona -- and her suitcase blown up at Lindbergh Field -- after she made a testy comment about a bomb while boarding an American West flight Thursday.

East Coast psychiatrist Esha Khoshnu, 46, apparently became frustrated with security screeners and allegedly said, "if i had a bomb you wouldn't find it," KGTV reported.

The woman made the remark while waiting to board a San Diego-bound flight in Phoenix, said Mike Aguilar, Federal Security Director at the San Diego airport.

(snip)

They removed the woman's suitcase and inspected it in an open area on the grounds of the airport, finding nothing suspicious.

But taking no chances, the blew up the bag with an explosive charge and then doused it with water.

(snip)


http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/02/18/news/sandiego/16_14_332_17_05.txt

[LoZoccolo]

1. That was pretty stupid what that woman said.

It also diverted some of our resources toward dealing with her.

[damntexdem]

48. It wasn't the most brilliant thing a passenger in line ever said.

But then, why should passengers in line be expected to be any smarter than the idiots in charge of airport security? Well, apart from survival issues, that is.

[bpilgrim]

56. it was dumber going to the extremes the authorities did... $$$

america has lost it's mind :crazy:


http://images.globalfreepress.com

peace

[Cooley Hurd]

2. That was a pretty dumb thing for her to say...

...but blowing up her bag was a bit over the line, IMHO.

[firebee]

If she's dumb enough to insinuate she has a bomb AT AN AIRPORT!!!

SHE DESERVES TO HAVE HER SUITCASE BLOWN UP!!!!

I mean really???? Who would be dumb enough to say "You wouldn't find a bomb if I had one on me" at an airport?

[RaleighNCDUer]

31. The insinuation was that the people looking for it

were a bunch of incompetant shits.

And they proved it.

[LinuxInsurgent]

46. i agree that in the present context

it's stupid to say that...

but isn't the whole "you can't joke about bombs" context more stupid.

Just a thought.

ANd that's her property...do you guys like giving away your right to the government to blow up your bags on "suspicion".

Trust me...the real terrorists won't be joking about "bombs"...they won't even talk.

[leesa]

54. Oh Right...what fools we have become for Bush's agenda...huh?

[msanthrope]

10. Sure it was---but the airport security people were pissed---

Not saying it's right, but I know lots of cops.

If you are drunk, and polite, you ride in the squad car without event.

If you are drunk, try to hit the officers, kick out the windows, you ride in the back and try to keep your nose from getting smashed when they stop short and you go flying against the partition, over and over.

It's not right, but that's why you keep your cool with those in "authority" over you.

[Syncronaut Seven]

17. Having lost all fear of death

I prefer to fuck with the authorities at every given opportunity, gives me something to live for.

Goad them quietly, in front of witnesses who can testify to their loss of control. A beating at the hands of brownshirts is much less humiliating than say, working for corporate America.

To each his own I guess.

[Blue to the bone]

20. Anarchist?

Cool.

[Megahurtz]

41. LOL!!!

:7

[LinuxInsurgent]

47. i'm as...

fuck the cops, anarcho-socialist as they come...

but I do want to get back to my home to my family...from time to time..

[Squatch]

3. Dumb, just dumb.

Good EOD practice, though.

[oneighty]

9. Good EOD?

Would you be knowing that?

180

[Squatch]

16. Sure.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

18. Ed, we got company, it appears.

[Squatch]

19. Am I missing something here?

:shrug:

[oneighty]

33. Not really

Are you now or have you ever been EOD?

Like in Indian Head or Eglin?

Just curious.

[Squatch]

36. No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express.

I did have 2 EOD NCOs attached to my Engineer Company (A/168 EN). Got to work with those hombres quite a bit.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

59. No, we were just lonely being the only pyromaniacs here!

[oneighty]

29. Finally

After all this fishing.

180

[mainer]

4. and she's a psychiatrist?!!

She must have been pretty frustrated.

[Freddie Stubbs]

39. No offense intended to those who majored in psychology in college, but

it seems to me that most people who major in psychology are little wacko. Perhaps this field attracts people who want to figure out what is wrong with them.

[Coastie for Truth]

45. Ayn Rand's shrink

was institutionalized four times (he freaked out in first anatomy cadaver class).

[Merope215]

58. Wow, I didn't know even her *shrink* was crazy

though it shouldn't surprise me. I hate Ayn Rand with a burning passion. :grr:

[MsAnthropy]

5. A psychiatrist? Is she crazy?

Anybody that dumb deserves what she gets.

[Roland99]

6. Stupid on both parts. They blew it up after finding nothing?

Sounds like on-the-spot recrimination against an idiot.

[question everything]

13. Actually,was stupid to detain her in AZ while flying the suitcase to

San Diego.

This would be "ideal." Have the suitcase in the aircraft, exploding it, while you are safe on the ground.

The correct way would have been to stop boarding and loading, remove all luggage, have each passenger identifying his/her suitcase and then resume boarding and loading without her and her suitcase. And then blow it if you are so inclined.

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. In fact, this has shown a gaping hole in the security procedure

Since well before 9/11, British airports didn't allow luggage to travel without the passenger - unless it had been kept from an earlier flight for some reason, in which case you have time to X ray it, and if possible search it by hand. If anyone doesn't make it on to the flight, they point out that the appropriate luggage will be taken off the aircraft (they announce this on the plane and in the airport). If American airports are getting so lazy that they won't take luggage off (it's bar-coded, so they should be able to find which pallet it's on fairly easily), then they're asking for a bomb to be put on a flight, and for the passenger to 'accidentally' get delayed inside the airport.

[Roland99]

40. Holy crap! I hadn't read the article...just the OP

Damn! What a security lapse!!

[oneighty]

7. "If I had a bomb you wouldn't find it"

At first I took her to be suggesting she could hide 'A bomb' too well for them to find it. But I think now she meant to tell them they were too incompetent to find a bomb. Period.

Nevertheless never say 'Bomb' in an airport.

180

[Roland99]

12. .

"Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb. You gonna arrest me? Bomb bomb bomb bomb! During the war I was a BOMBadier!"

[Megahurtz]

42. Shhhhhhhhh!

Psssst.......watch what you say, or the Gestapo will come and arrest you.:+

[mike_c]

8. people say dumb things when they're pissed off....

...and the airport security folks ' reaction was way over the top. Message to the airlines: I used to fly a lot. I NEVER fly anymore, and I'm not alone. Airport security treats everyone like a potential terrorist, so I don't fly anymore.

on edit: the security over-reaction was probably indicative of the poor treatment that pissed this woman off so much in the first place.

[peacebird]

11. considering the idiocy of airport security goons

i can see her getting frustrated. i used to fly frequently but now i only fly once a year (can't get to europe in a cost efficient fashion any other way)

stateside or to canada i drive or take the train. just not worth the hassle of dealing with those security goons and their power trips.

[NJCher]

14. me too

I'm through with flying. I won't do it because I don't want to subject myself to these over-the-top idiots who would blow up a suitcase over a remark like that.

The woman is not an idiot. She is a well-educated person who lost patience WITH IDIOTS who were probably taking the search to extremes.

The remark is an insult to the intelligence of the system. She meant that if she wanted to, she could outsmart the rinky-dink security system we have set up that seems more intended to annoy than really search out any terrorists.

And this is why I won't fly. I have enough trouble dealing with these types in everyday life, let alone when I'm trying to get somewhere.


Cher

[R Hickey]

28. I agree.

I hope to fly to Europe this year. Although jet travel is becomming an increasingly odious experience, its still quick and cheap.

In most other countries the security probably wouldn't have over-reacted like that. Most other countries don't have the "bomb-joke" law.

[amazona]

25. if you never fly any more you ARE alone

Air traffic is busier than ever and set to break new records. Airlines aren't going broke for lack of pax, they're going broke because pax demand a low cost product. As Delta says, they lose $23 for every pax they fly.

If people can't comply with basic security procedures -- and a law against making Dr. Evil comments to the effect that one has a hidden bomb that can't be found by mere mortals is pretty basic -- then that person should indeed be grounded.

Everyone is inconvenienced when someone who thinks she is above the law starts in with her ***t.

What choice did they have but to blow up the suitcase. She said in words of one syllable that they would NOT be able to find any bomb she could create.

I get searched frequently, possibly because of some of my destinations, and somehow I manage to put a good face on it and not make wisecracks about bombs. If she is so mature as to be a shrink who advises others on mental health, she should be able to tolerate one search! But I guess she thinks she is better than the rest of us mere mortals.

Throw the book at her as far as I'm concerned. I don't need people like this delaying my flights.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[NJCher]

34. we should all seek to emulate your attitude

It's perfect for the brave new bushworld.

Congratulations on achieving subservience.

I have a long way to go.


Cher

[mike_c]

51. am I mistaken, or are you an airline industry employee...?

If so, enjoy your attitude. If not, have a good flight the next time you travel-- you uapparently don't mind being treated like scum by airport security. I think it sucks, and as the other responses in this thread suggest, I'm not the only one.

[SoCalDem]

15. In the 70's when the hijacking started, my husband was waiting to

get on a flight from Seattle to Chicago, and there were a few Japanese eldery guys who were going bonkers with the "security people". They used to make you actually dump your suitcase,and would rummage through everything..

anyway, they dumped a box on the table and were stirring through the powdery substance.. called the Big Gun security guys over.. they were about ready to drag these old guys away, when a bystander stepped up and told the screeners, that what they were pawing through, was the cremated remains of their mother..:(

[amazona]

26. ok they win-- they're even stupider than the shrink

Who in their right mind would take a "powdery substance" on an airplane. Sheesh. If their mother was that important to them, they should have shipped the remains in a respectful manner.

I haven't seen the screener yet who claimed to be psychic. It's their job to make sure that suspicious substances don't get on the airplane. And if that inconveniences people who lack common sense, what is the alternative?

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[kath]

49. ummm, read the account again -- this happened back in the SEVENTIES.

[shochet]

21. That's one way of getting out of doing the laundry! Ha! (eom)

[leesa]

22. Don't blame her...think about it. She made the remark in Phoenix and

they blew up the suitcase in San Diego???? Proves her point!

I don't know about Phoenix,but San Diego has the rudest airport screeners I have run across so far

[amazona]

30. well they're both at fault

Phoenix should never have allowed the bag to get on the plane after that remark.

I haven't noticed anything unusual about the San Diego screeners I encountered, they seemed fine to me, but I think they handled the matter properly. The lady said they wouldn't be able to find the bomb by conventional means. The proper option is supposed to be destruction of the potentially hazardous device.

Seems to me it is Phoenix and not San Diego that acted improperly here. A potentially hazardous bag should have never been transported in the first place. A threat was received, and the threat acted on.

What else can you do?

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[leesa]

53. I DUNNO...THINK? You don't see anything unuasual about SD sceeners??

It's OK with you to be abused because 9-11 makes everything A-OK!! Perfect BushBot material.

[candle_bright]

24. She's an idiot

I have no sympathy for her at all. You wanna fly, you follow the rules. Period.

[Blue_Tires]

27. lol...she brought that shit on herself

[Skittles]

37. damn straight she did

it's a zero-tolerance policy and EVERYONE knows it

[DU GrovelBot]

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[HereSince1628]

35. Make a dumb comment and we'll blow up yer pantyhose!

So, the bag was x-rayed at one end of the flight and had to be destroyed at the other?

The TSA really makes me wonder on most days.

[Nancy Waterman]

38. "It was not clear if she would face charges!!!!"

To even consider that is way over the top. She didn't even say she had anything. She just called them incompetent. This is truly the trickle down of the Bush era.

[LibDemAlways]

50. I agree. She was more than likely

just pissed off with them and calling them on their incompetence. Last summer I told a TSA idiot who was feeling me up in front of my 11-year-old daughter that she couldn't spot a real terrorist if one bit her in the ass. She wasn't amused, but finally let me go.

[KissMeKate]

43. retaliation. by security guard to an uppity woman.

I cant imagine having a job where I had to travel by plane - they feel your boobs at airports now like youre in jail or something.

[girl gone mad]

52. Just another day in Bush's police state...

and some DUers are cheering it.

Jeez...

[Ruby Romaine]

44. She must have been hassled due to her (unamerican) name &

ethnicity.
but to fly the bag in question - with passengers!
I guess it's time for a terralert!

[leesa]

55. It's too funny what chickenshit wimps Americans have become! This woman

made a cynical comment and you all think the airport security was justified in basically anything they might have done to her. God, what cowardly, shivering wimps Americans have become! Booga booga!

[doodadem]

57. Wondering if

Just wondering if the same thing would have happened if this woman's name had been Mary Smith (fairest of the fair).........