The System Failed,Really?

By Erick San Juan

The editorial of the International Herald Tribune dated December 31,2009 was entitled, "System Failed, Airport Security Systems Have Serious Flaws. And So Do The Bureaucracies That Run Them". I beg to disagree. Yes, the system did not work despite the sophisticated and expensive machines being used in almost all the U.S. airports plus the vigilance and alertness of the Homeland Security personnels and other government units complimenting each other. President Barack Obama is also right in insisting on accountability at every level. But who's the real culprit? The U.S. has the most effective security system but what went wrong? Since the U.S. and most countries all over the world privatized their security services of their airports and monopolized by a 'security industrial complex', there's no more due diligence to effectively operate the counter-intelligence force and the usual random performance audit of the said "special elite units". We should also be wary about so many "manchurian candidates" like the Nigerian named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Where in the world can you find such alibi that he can bring in 80 grams of PETN(military grade high explosives) without being noticed and eventually caught? Some Americans are even curious as to the motive and timing of the plot which almost coincided to the expiration of some of the provisions of the Patriot Act on December 31,2009. Again, who will benefit from this nasty but amateurish script? A few days after the incident, new technologies like the "whole body imager" is being propagandized. Is this another profit out of fear plot or more sinister than that? Just asking....