Dutch to use full body scanners for US flights
by MIKE CORDER, Associated Press Writer Mike Corder, Associated Press Writer – 4 mins ago
THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The Netherlands announced Wednesday will immediately begin using full body scanners for flights heading to the United States, issuing a report that called the failed Christmas Day airline bombing a "professional" terror attack.
Officials say Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, managed to board Northwest Airlines Flight 253 to Detroit from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport carrying undetected explosives but failed to detonate them. The plane was carrying over 300 people.
"It is not exaggerating to say the world has escaped a disaster," Interior Minister Guusje Ter Horst told a news conference.
In its preliminary report, the Dutch government called the plan to blow up the Detroit-bound aircraft "professional" but said its execution was "amateurish."
Ter Horst said Abdulmutallab apparently assembled the explosive device, including 80 grams of Pentrite, or PETN, in the aircraft toilet, then planned to detonate it with a syringe of chemicals. She said the explosives appeared to have been professionally prepared and had been given to Abdulmutallab, but did not elaborate.
"The approach in this case shows — despite the failure of the attack — a fairly professional approach," a summary of the investigation said. "Pentrite is a very powerful conventional explosive, which is not easy to produce yourself, nor is its production without risk."
"If you want to detonate it, you have to do that another way than he did. That is why we talk about amateurism," Ter Horst said.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091230/ap_on_re_us/us_airliner_attack