Uncategorized 09 Jul 2006 12:13 pm

Incredible Journey

Here in Houston, we’re apparently at continued risk for jihadist activity because the local police department and the TSA can’t get their act together.

Get these quotes from the Houston Chronicle story:

The report states that a man with a Middle Eastern name and a ticket for a Delta Airlines flight to Atlanta shook his head when screeners asked if he had a laptop computer in his baggage, but an X-ray machine operator detected a laptop.

A search of the man’s baggage revealed a clock with a 9-volt battery taped to it and a copy of the Quran, the report said. A screener examined the man’s shoes and determined that the “entire soles of both shoes were gutted out.”

No explosive material was detected, the report states. A police officer was summoned and questioned the man, examined his identification, shoes and the clock, then cleared him for travel, according to the report.

So as long as you have the makings of a bomb sans the bomb-making materials you can be cleared to fly? (And of course the “Middle Eastern” name is irrelevant; otherwise it’s “profiling” and that would make CAIR angry so we can’t have that).

The FBI to the rescue:

The incident gained enough attention at higher levels of the TSA that the FBI was asked to investigate. The TSA issued a statement saying its screeners “acted in accordance with their training and protocols.”

FBI Special Agent Stephen Emmett in Atlanta said agents there investigated the passenger.

“It was looked at and deemed a non-event,” Emmett said, declining to give further details.

A “non-event”?

Incredible.

I’m just one lonely little pundit, so I’m referring this to a higher court, Michelle Malkin et al.

UPDATE

Michelle’s on it.

Houston’s own Lone Star Times also is following this closely.

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