# In-Body Explosives: Airport Security's About to Get Tighter **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 26, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597 "2009-09-26T01:02:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/21 "2009-09-26T13:56:33Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > It’s not a function of figuring it out, it’s a function of staging people to carry it out. The last major attack in the US involved a dozen enemy casualties against thousands of US casualties. The cost factor involved for the enemy was actually a negative number. All the weapons (3 fully fueled airliners) were purchased by way of credit card. In effect we purchased the enemy’s weapons and it resulted in over a half trillion dollars in damage. 12 people did that. It was a small operation. it cost them nothing. Not exactly _nothing_ - flight school isn’t cheap. There was some funding required but yes, the return on investment was pretty impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/22 "2009-09-26T17:06:29Z")
See post by Uzi part way down [Link](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=530730) To reiterate, from what I’ve been told he was already in custody waiting for the intro to the prince for 3 days. Regardless, he managed to get by the prince’s guards who I presume would have checked him first. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/23 "2009-09-26T17:32:19Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Nonsense. We killed their enemy Saddam, set back secularism and democracy in the ME, did enormous damage to ourselves, and have produced huge numbers of potential recruits. They have every reason to be pleased with the results. Also blew the hell out their bases, assasinated their leaders in a dozen different countries, sized their assets, broke up funding pipelines, and shared intelligence with scores of countries. Hardly the kind of things their shot-callers enjoy. People always seem unable to acknowledge or recognize this. I didn’t say it was a winning strategy. In fact, I clearly implied that it was an endless task, but you missed that, too. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/24 "2009-09-27T02:40:30Z")
Finally, a link to the story: [Fears over “Internal” Terror Bomb](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8276016.stm). \*\*"Miraculously the prince survived with minor injuries, but footage emerging this week shows a sizeable crater in the concrete floor and the bomber’s body blown in half. “It is believed the force of the blast went downwards which is why only the bomber died.”\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/25 "2009-09-27T03:05:04Z")
> [@Tranquilis](#): > > Also blew the hell out their bases, assasinated their leaders in a dozen different countries, sized their assets, broke up funding pipelines, and shared intelligence with scores of countries. Hardly the kind of things their shot-callers enjoy. People always seem unable to acknowledge or recognize this. Because it’s half true at best. How many so called “Al Qaeda number twos” have we killed, for example? And we treated our “allies” badly, and misused what intelligence we did get; I expect the net result has been a decrease in intellegence sharing. Why would they trust us, or care what happens to us? And so on; they’ve come out ahead by a huge margin. > [@Tranquilis](#): > > I didn’t say it was a winning strategy. In fact, I clearly implied that it was an endless task, but you missed that, too. There’s a difference between an endless task and _ **losing** _; we’ve been doing the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/26 "2009-09-27T10:26:42Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > The AMERICAN war on terror seems to be working pretty well for us. For the foreign guys not so much apparently. Putting aside my reaction to your ‘who cares if it’s not us’ attitude, that may be more down to luck and better surveillance rather than the US Afghani/Iraqi invasions, given the location of many of the Al Qaeda cells. For example, in 2006 a transatlantic plot was foiled by British police, who (quoting Wiki) _“said they found a list of flights on a memory stick belonging to Mr Ali following his arrest. The memory stick allegedly listed scheduled flights from three carriers – American Airlines, United Airlines and Air Canada.”_ ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/27 "2009-09-27T10:41:33Z")
I knew this day would come. I always hoped someone would try to sneak a bomb in up their ass, and some idiot finally has. The downfall of the TSA will be when they start ordering random cavity searches on people. That’s when the populace will have had enough of their window dressing, under the guise of ‘security’. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/28 "2009-09-27T11:25:01Z")
> [@Girl\_From\_Mars](#): > > Putting aside my reaction to your ‘who cares if it’s not us’ attitude … I didn’t really read that as he didn’t care as long as it wasn’t us. I thought he was just making an observation that others had not been as successful as we’d been. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/29 "2009-09-27T11:53:12Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I didn’t really read that as he didn’t care as long as it wasn’t us. I thought he was just making an observation that others had not been as successful as we’d been. I think it was his use of ‘American’ in caps that gave me that impression. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/30 "2009-10-01T07:46:51Z")
Update: NOW they think the bomb was not inside the body after all, but rather stuffed down his underwear !!! **“Apparently believing that cultural taboos would prevent a search in that part of his body.”** Story [here](http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/09/30/saudi.arabia.attack/index.html). \*\*"Several news reports this week have said the assailant hid the bomb inside his rectum, but according to the Saudi official, the government assessment discounted those reports, based on various factors. Among them: When the bomb went off there was a flash of light, suggesting that the bomb was not hidden inside the assassin’s body. Also, doctors consulted by the government judged that the toxicity of the plastic explosives would make them hard to hold for many hours inside the rectum, and the environment in this area of the body would make detonation ‘difficult,’ according to the Saudi official close to the investigation."\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/31 "2009-10-01T10:30:18Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Not exactly _nothing_ - flight school isn’t cheap. There was some funding required but yes, the return on investment was pretty impressive. It is when the soldier is paid by the country he is attacking (via a job) and charges training classes to VISA. The only thing VISA can do is add late charges to the deceased’s bill. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/32 "2009-10-01T11:15:42Z")
This possibilty was raised on a thread [a couple of years ago](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=437783&highlight=bomb). (I thought I’d started a thread asking the same thing, but I must have misremembered.) ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/33 "2009-10-01T13:41:38Z")
It’s just a matter of time before security is taken to the logical extreme and people are only allowed to travel naked. I can’t wait to see how the TSA changes their practises in response to this case. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/34 "2009-10-02T03:55:33Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Among them: When the bomb went off there was a flash of light, suggesting that the bomb was not hidden inside the assassin’s body. Also, doctors consulted by the government judged that the toxicity of the plastic explosives would make them hard to hold for many hours inside the rectum, and the environment in this area of the body would make detonation ‘difficult,’ according to the Saudi official close to the investigation." I have to dispute this. Drug mules have been secreting suppositories for years in their rectum. Heroin, cocaine, and various other things that if absorbed, would probably kill the carrier with via overdose. These mules “double wrap” their ‘cargo’ either in plastic or condoms. It’s not that hard. TNT up your arse would most easily kill you (the nitroglycerin). TNT wrapped in plastic, well, you’d feel like you had to poop, but you could do it. My only question is _just how_ did the deceased have the charge initiated? I really do not see him smuggling a cellphone up there–the reception woudn’t be that great. Even if he’d had a few wires protruding out to a power source outside, say, the cellphone on his hip, someone _would_ have noticed that. Tripler Yeah, it’s possible and only limited to the bomber’s imagination. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/35 "2009-10-02T07:40:50Z")
Is that a grenade in your underwear, or are you just happy to see me? ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/36 "2009-10-02T15:15:41Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > The downfall of the TSA will be when they start ordering random cavity searches on people. That’s when the populace will have had enough of their window dressing, under the guise of ‘security’. I think you’re wrong. The people will (now literally) bend over and take it. Their is no indignity we won’t stand for. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/37 "2009-10-03T08:39:28Z")
> [@Earthworm\_Jim](#): > > The people will (now literally) bend over and take it. Their is no indignity we won’t stand for. Some passengers could consider rectal checks an exciting fringe benefit. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/38 "2009-10-03T08:52:05Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > How many so called “Al Qaeda number twos” have we killed, for example? We’ve killed zero Al-Qaeda number twos. Al-Qaeda’s number two is Ayman al-Zawahiri and he’s alive and releasing video tapes regularly. However, we’ve killed many people identified as Al-Qaeda number threes and also the same leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq over and over again. Uncyclopedia had a page listing the al-Qaeda #3s we’ve claimed to have killed, but unfortunately they’ve deleted the page. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/39 "2009-10-03T09:05:53Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Some passengers could consider rectal checks an exciting fringe benefit. Indeedy 😛 They’d probably become frequent fliers:D ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597/40 "2009-10-03T12:07:51Z")
I suppose a bomb up the butt could be called an “Al Qaeda number two”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-body-explosives-airport-securitys-about-to-get-tighter/511597.md?page=3)