Vacation so perilous

"My dearest Darwin:

I could not make it to your wedding next weekend because some close-minded, half-assed criminals from your country thought it would be a lark to try to bomb airplanes flying from the UK to the US.

And I wanted so much to see you..."

This may be the note I have to send to my dear boy if my plane can't launch from Newark tomorrow evening.

In case you've been hiding under a rock, Scotland Yard just arrested a bunch of people in association with a plot to bomb some planes. Now the TSA has issued a code red alert and a huge number of flights in the UK were canceled. It appears that we will be cavity-searched before stepping on the plane as well.

IF we step on a plane. There are now some incredibly insane security steps for flying, even domestically. Continental informed me that I may not even be able to take a purse onto my flight, and that hair gel is by all means outlawed.

On the one hand, I know that this is all for our own benefit, for protection of "the people" as the powers that be might say, but at the same time I feel like turning the TSA into security Nazis just isn't the answer. Clearly, the terrorists are achieving their goals - getting the word out through massive amounts of press and mongering fear. That's right, these people are fear-mongerers. But is cowering in the corner and clamping down on the American people really our government's best answer?

This is clearly insane and I will just as clearly never understand the terrorist mind. Sometimes I wonder how achievable a working diplomatic relationship is, when the people with whom you are trying to converse are clearly so dogmatic as to become utterly immovable on any issue unless their goals are being met 100%. This is very much like dealing with an unruly two-year-old. I think it's time to put the Middle East in a very big time-out. Let's cut the umbilical cord here, folks. No more aid and assistance, we'll drop all our oil contracts, and Americans will just have to tighten their belts, carpool, and research viable fuel alternatives and/or public transportation initiatives. (Seriously, there can be no other reason for our presence in the Middle East. There is a humanitarian crisis in every country in Africa, and our presence is barely felt there - why? Because politically and economically, we have nothing to gain from them.) Let's just pull out and leave them to their own devices. They claim they want to be left alone, so let's do just that. Let's see how well they survive without Big Brother (that would be us in this case) watching over them and trying to keep everyone civil and safe.

Anyway, you can read more about how a bunch of crazies are trying to ruin my vacation. Or you can just skim the article I posted (from the BBC News website) below:

Police probe flights terror plot
Homes and businesses across England are being searched and 21 people questioned after a terror plot to blow up planes from the UK to US was disrupted.

Police are convinced they have the key players in custody, but a much wider investigation is only just beginning.

Peter Clarke, the head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch, said the network involved was large and global.

And US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the plot was "in some respects suggestive of al-Qaeda".

Security chiefs, who had had the group under surveillance for some time, said they were close to putting their plan - which police said would have caused "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" - into action.

Sources in the UK have confirmed that they believe an attack may have been imminent - possibly in the next few days.

"They had accumulated and assembled the capabilities that they needed and they were in the final stages of planning for execution," Mr Chertoff said.

They planned to detonate liquid explosives on up to 10 planes.

They would have smuggled it on board hidden in drinks, electronic devices and other "common objects".

At UK airports on Thursday - with the country on its highest terror alert of "critical" - bottles of water were taken from passengers and mothers asked to taste their babies' milk before it could be taken onto flights.

Mr Clarke said the surveillance involved in disrupting the plot had been "unprecedented" and had involved police forces in the UK and internationally.

It had only become apparent in the "last two weeks" that the target of the flights was the US, said Mr Chertoff.

Sources told the BBC the "principal characters" suspected of being involved in the plot were British-born. There are also understood to be linked to Pakistan.

The suspects were rounded up in raids in London, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and Birmingham. All are being held in London.

Searches continue at several addresses and people were evacuated from some homes in High Wycombe in Thursday.

Meanwhile, chaos continues at UK airports with Heathrow the worse affected.
Thousands of flights have been cancelled and many more delayed.

Passengers who do make it onto flights, are not allowed to take any hand luggage with them.

Stephen Nelson, chief executive of airport operator BAA, said it was the first time that airports had "faced a security mandate of this scale and severity".

And Heathrow chief executive Tony Douglas said there would "inevitably" be delays at the airport on Friday and passengers should arrive prepared.

Home Secretary John Reid said the government was "confident" the ring leaders were in custody but it was not complacent.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, on holiday in the Caribbean, paid tribute to the police and the security services.

US President George W Bush said the alleged plot was a "stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom."