Oops, then again they may not be terrorists

[MadHound]

A day after seizing these two men in Amsterdam, at the behest of American security forces, these men are now going to be freed and sent on their way.

<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-31/two-men-held-in-amsterdam-said-unlikely-to-be-planning-a-terrorist-attack.html>

Doesn't this make you feel ever so much safer:eyes:

[Edweird]

1. Or it could be that they are, but may be a lead to the actual planners.

The guys with the bombs aren't going to be very high on the totem pole.

[MadHound]

3. Did you read the article?

"The men didn’t know each other, according to the two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. There’s no evidence to suggest terrorism, they said."

This is simply another example of a security system gone horribly wrong in our country.

[Edweird]

4. Yeah I always travel with cell phones taped to bottles....

[MadHound]

9. From what I've heard elsewhere,

The various items were gifts for the man's family, and I supposed that they were taped together for organizational purposes.

What, you're going to condemn somebody because of how they packed their bags? Glad you're not part of Homeland Security.

[Edweird]

12. So tell me, what kind of gifts are these?

[MadHound]

14. Nice ones if you are an average family in Yemen

I know they don't look like much to you and me, but then again we're from America, the land of consumer and lifestyle excess.

[Edweird]

15. "Look! I brought you a bomb! It's not a real one, but there's always next time!"

Maybe they give each other bombs for presents, I don't know. I'm not hip to the whole 'Yemeni bomb culture'.

[Edweird]

18. Only the wealthy Yemeni's can do this....

The average ones have to stick to airplanes.

[MadHound]

22. Wow, aren't you a xenophobic piece of shit

Gee, the authorities are clearing these men, yet you continue to condemn them. Have a nice day, I no longer need to speak with you because you just made it abundantly clear you can't carry on a rational conversation.

[Winterblues]

21. Those are the scariest things I have ever seen..time to hide under the bed..

On the serious side though it looks like they were testing to see exactly what would show up and what would not..

[uppityperson]

8. actually, seems like the security system worked as man & luggage were on separate flights

so they checked them out. As they should have. Then released them as a false alarm.

[MadHound]

11. They weren't, and haven't been released, though they probably will be soon

And I've had luggage that went on a different flight than mine, happens all the time. If that's the criteria for being labeled a terrorist, then we're all in deep shit. Oh, wait, unless you're white and speak with an American accent.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. A real Mack Sennett Keystone Kops kind of story....

Makes EVERYONE involved appear to be an idiot...

[geek tragedy]

5. Seems like the system worked.

There was something suspicious, authorities took precautionary measures, and then quickly released the guys when it turned out to be a false alarm.

[MadHound]

10. No, the system didn't work,

It once again overreacted and forced two innocents to be detained for over twenty four hours. Oh, and they haven't been released yet.

I mean really, what has happened to our common sense, like you could do any sort of damage using a cell phone and Pepto. It's just another TSA thug going all gung ho, probably influenced by the fact that these men were from the Mideast.

[geek tragedy]

16. Common sense would indicate that taping a cell phone to a bottle

of what appears to be Pepto Bismol is extremely unusual.

You know why people tape cell phones to things, right?

[Edweird]

17. The failure here is that it wasn't caught until they were separated from their luggage.

[uppityperson]

6. couple more articles.

http://www.freep.com/article/20100831/NEWS06/100831039/1318/Yemeni-official-Men-not-terrorists
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67U2PE20100831

[librechik]

7. a cell phone taped to a pepto bismol bottle?? How easily we terrify!

[Edweird]

13. It's not like cell phones are widely used as triggers for explosives or anything.

[rexcat]

19. From the article it looks like TSA wasn't doing their job...

it looks like Dutch security found the phones taped to the Pepto-Bismol bottles after the bags arrived from the US. Why wasn't this noticed prior to the flight leaving the US so that the two men could be questioned? This would appear to be a breech of security in the US! TSA personnel are incompetent and ill trained. All TSA wants to do is expose passengers in the US to unnecessary radiation. That is their idea of security. The TSA is not proactive, they are reactionary.

[ljm2002]

20. Lucky for them...

...they weren't targeted for an extra-judicial killing.