GOPer: New terror hijack 'no catastrophe'

WASHINGTON - A Georgia lawmaker has stunned congressional colleagues - and New Yorkers - with complaints about air security and saying another hijack attack wouldn't be a "catastrophe."

At two hearings of the House Homeland Security Committee last month, GOP Rep. John Linder blasted federal spending that focuses on "looking for toenail clippers and box cutters."

"It is my view that no airplane will ever hit a commercial building - which is the only value have in taking out large numbers of people," he said at an April 27 hearing. He added that "passengers won't allow that to happen."

"And if an airline is blown up in the air, that is a very bad circumstance for 200 or 300 people, but it is not a catastrophe," Linder said. He made similar remarks April 13 to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/306289p-262064c.html

read it, learn it, live it.

You need an explosive breeching charge to enter the cockpit with the new doors - and that would crash the plane anyway.

The rest of this guy's statements just confirm he is a fucktard. :evilgrin:

another terrorist hijacking that ended in a fiery death for 200 or 300 people would probably cause at least a couple airlines to go belly up.

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/11/12/newyork.crash.scene/

Large numbers of residents, many with children home for the day, saw American Airlines flight 587 catch fire and plunge to earth Monday morning.

Official story: Tail rotor

As long as he's the only one on the plane, I'd agree.

of others to fill that plane, whose demise wouldn't be a catastrophe.

And all of them fitting the US Military manual's definition of "terrorist".

How many of our freedoms have we sacrificed to the alter of Homeland Security? Of course 200-300 dead is a catastrophe, not only to the dead, but their families, friends and society at large -- but we live in a dnagerous world, and I would prefer to take my chances with the crazies out there than continue to have my freedoms curtailed by Bush and his police-state mentality. There is no guarantee of safety in this world, and Bush and his cadre of neo-nazis will continue to press the fear button to take what freedoms we have left. I'm sorry it took a Republican to say what our folks should have been saying all along...I'll never get over Dems voting for the war and this crap has to stop NOW!!

Let's face it, if you're on a plane, and five guys jump up and start ululating and announcing that they're hijacking the plane, what are the other 200 passengers on the plane going to do? In the olden days (that is, before September 11), the passengers would have obeyed the hijackers because what was going to happen? They were going to go for an unscheduled trip, probably land in some exotic locale like Havana, and get home a day or two later. Inconvenient and potentially dangerous, but a great story to tell when you got back home.

Nowadays, anyone trying to take over a plane in flight will immediately be assumed by everyone on board to be a fanatical suicide killer, and the rough justice available at 30,000 feet will play itself out.

And, while Homeland Security is ferreting out nail clippers and box cutters with spotty results, we still allow thousands of uninspected and poorly documented containers to come in every day in ports all over the country without so much as a second glance.

Or, maybe, an LNG tanker...Rep. Linder just needs to use his imagination a bit more.

it would be an unfortunate circumstance for him, but a cause for celebration in the rest of the country.