Department of Fearmongering

Chertoff is at it again:

Terrorists who had planned to detonate gel-based explosives on U.S.-bound flights from London last August would have achieved mass devastation, according to new information from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in an exclusive interview with ABC News.

Please - this 'plot' has been discredited so many times it's not even funny.  Here's a just a few steps in the hours-long protocol that, perhaps, produces a big bang:

Once the plane is over the ocean, very discreetly bring all of your gear into the toilet. You might need to make several trips to avoid drawing attention. Once your kit is in place, put a beaker containing the peroxide / acetone mixture into the ice water bath (Champagne bucket), and start adding the acid, drop by drop, while stirring constantly. Watch the reaction temperature carefully. The mixture will heat, and if it gets too hot, you'll end up with a weak explosive. In fact, if it gets really hot, you'll get a premature explosion possibly sufficient to kill you, but probably no one else.

After a few hours - assuming, by some miracle, that the fumes haven't overcome you or alerted passengers or the flight crew to your activities - you'll have a quantity of TATP with which to carry out your mission. Now all you need to do is dry it for an hour or two.

Can't the Loyal Bushies cut this shit out?  At least during the summer travel season?

Comments

[Tata]

I like the part of that process where you pass out from fumes in a airplane toilet and no one notices.

Dude, as long as airlines serve drinks we are totally safe from TATP.

[actor212]

I fly first class so I can be far away from the fumes, myself.

[The CultureGhost]

And what if you're flying coach? Think the flight attendants are really going to part with an ice/champagne bucket in coach/economy?
I don't think so...

[Miss Cellania]

In coach, "several trips" would be way too conspicuous, since you pretty much have to stand in line. Plus anything that takes several hours has to have a much simpler alternative. This idea would be rejected as soon as its told.

Gee, we're all becoming experts in terrorism scenarios, aren't we?

[actor212]

CultGhost,

Oh, in first class, we have stewardessess...none of this PC "flight attendant" crap...fan the air and spray our favorite cologne to knock the smell of the unwashed masses out of the air. As for ice buckets...we have our hand delivered by eskimos.