# Why don't terrorists blow up airports? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 5, 2012, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-terrorists-blow-up-airports/643057 "2012-12-05T10:00:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-terrorists-blow-up-airports/643057/41 "2012-12-05T21:55:27Z")
You mean like the [Rome and Vienna airport attacks in 1987](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome_and_Vienna_airport_attacks)? Seven gunmen, 19 killed and 140 wounded. Not a prticularly good ratio as far as the terrorists were concerned. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-terrorists-blow-up-airports/643057/42 "2012-12-05T22:06:36Z")
Add to the list: Moussaoui telling the flight instructor he didn’t need to learn how to land aircraft. And… refusing to answer questions in French,even though he claimed to have livd in France, actually had, and apparently spoke french. Mohammed Atta on one training flight stalled the training aircraft engines, go frustrated, and walked away leaving it locked sitting in the middle of the taxiway of a busy airport - hardly the work of someone trying to stay under the radar. Rumour has it Bin Laden was found when his assistant ass-dialed his location; the courier usually drove a long distance away before turning on his satellite phone, but apparently one day the phone went on for a short time, sent the GPS location of the bin Laden house to the satellite like it should, before being turned off. The shoe-bomber and the underwear bomber were certainly not exception, though they may have been special. The shoe-bomb failed because his foot sweated, making the fuse hard to light. Doh! There have been cases of children and mentally retarded used as suicide bombers in Iraq, plus people being forced to act because their family were held hostage. ---
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-terrorists-blow-up-airports/643057/43 "2012-12-05T23:13:45Z")
I have no doubt that current security measures stop many of these plots before they begin to hatch; I also have no doubt that many security measures probably don’t “measure up” to America’s “ideals” of working within the law. However, if that saves innocent lives, I don’t have too much of a problem with that. I’m sure others may disagree, and so we can agree to disagree. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-terrorists-blow-up-airports/643057/44 "2012-12-06T01:38:45Z")
> [@Hottius\_Maximus](#): > > I have no doubt that current security measures stop many of these plots before they begin to hatch; I also have no doubt that many security measures probably don’t “measure up” to America’s “ideals” of working within the law. However, if that saves innocent lives, I don’t have too much of a problem with that. I’m sure others may disagree, and so we can agree to disagree. Hottius, it doesn’t take a ‘plot’ to commit an act of terrorism. If one terrorist decides to take out 100 people at a random location within the US, he will succeed. The fact that it really doesn’t happen is evidence that Islamic extremism as a threat to ‘our freedom’ is largely overblown. ---
**Author:** ![Mackydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Mackydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mackydude)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-terrorists-blow-up-airports/643057/45 "2012-12-06T03:55:40Z")
Terrorists don’t need a successful attack to make their point or achieve their goal. Take the underwear bomber as an example. He somehow managed to cover his balls in explosive powder on a plane and only succeeded in lighting his gonads on fire. No one killed. Yet he was able to board a plane without getting caught. This resulted in the billion dollar investment into body scanners at most major airports (which, studies have proven, most likely would not even have detected the underwear bomb). AQAP managed to make the government spend even more money on security and frighten the public. Aviation, since 9/11, has always been a sore spot for the American people. Terrorists’ main goal still lies in attacking commercial jetliners. As long as Americans are reminded every so often that there remains a threat, the terrorists will be content. Unfortunately, no amount of “security” we have today will stop a determined attacker. Terrorists are constantly changing their game to outwit our security systems. The real counter terrorism occurs not at the security checkpoint but in the intelligence community. Most terrorists operations are stopped well before they even get close to an airport. If someone is caught with a bomb at a security checkpoint, it’s already too late. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-terrorists-blow-up-airports/643057/46 "2012-12-06T05:02:22Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Then presidents and generals are also cowards since they don’t put their own lives on the line, either. Be it an elected president or a terrorist, that’s not a leader’s job. But presidents and generals aren’t asking their followers to go on suicide missions either. They may ask, or even order, people to go into risky situations but presidents and generals face risks from their jobs. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-terrorists-blow-up-airports/643057/47 "2012-12-06T13:28:48Z")
Is airport security being lightened? I went through security in Seattle 10 days ago and there were two changes I noticed. First people over 75 and under 16 were not required to take their shoes off. Second there were no signs about and no inspection of small containers filled with liquids. The bit about shoes was posted on conspicuous signs and, while the failure to inspect small liquids could have been carelessness, the lack of signs wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-terrorists-blow-up-airports/643057/48 "2012-12-06T14:15:09Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > But presidents and generals aren’t asking their followers to go on suicide missions either. They may ask, or even order, people to go into risky situations but presidents and generals face risks from their jobs. Of course the generals of an army order troops on missions effectively suicidal, as sending troops who they know will be entirely destroyed in the first wave. It is only a slight difference of how explicit it is, the suicidal nature of the operation. The leadership of an Al Qaeda face even hidden dangers that none of your presidents or generals shall face, like the drones the Americans use with great liberty to conduct assassinations from the air. To keep at their efforts despite this real and confirmed threat is not cowardly. the statements of tripolar are not more than propaganda for yourselves. AK84 is very right, that the Al Qaeda people are despicable, but it stupid to call them cowardly or dumb for taking leadership self preservation steps and using their troops in a fashion not different than generals. ---
**Author:** ![Mackydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Mackydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mackydude)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-terrorists-blow-up-airports/643057/49 "2012-12-06T14:24:57Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Is airport security being lightened? I went through security in Seattle 10 days ago and there were two changes I noticed. First people over 75 and under 16 were not required to take their shoes off. Second there were no signs about and no inspection of small containers filled with liquids. The bit about shoes was posted on conspicuous signs and, while the failure to inspect small liquids could have been carelessness, the lack of signs wasn’t. The TSA is feeling the heat from the public, especially after some embarrassing situations involving strip searches of elderly women. That explains the new rule in regards to 75+ people not taking off their shoes, as well as children. The part about liquids is likely carelessness, although intelligence points out that the new prefered bomb method does not involve liquids, rather high explosive powder such as TATP, used in the underwear bomb and printer bomb plots. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-terrorists-blow-up-airports/643057/50 "2012-12-06T14:40:26Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Then presidents and generals are also cowards since they don’t put their own lives on the line, either. Be it an elected president or a terrorist, that’s not a leader’s job. Did you know that in WW1, on the British side alone, 78 Generals were killed and 146 wounded on active duty? I can’t see how you you can say with any validity that they don’t put their own lives on the line. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-terrorists-blow-up-airports/643057/51 "2012-12-06T14:49:13Z")
Generals will also have worked their way up through the ranks instead of being self appointed. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-terrorists-blow-up-airports/643057/52 "2012-12-06T14:57:33Z")
And leadership of clandestine organisations they usually win over their members and work up their own ranks rather than having state authority annoint them. Et alors? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-terrorists-blow-up-airports/643057/53 "2012-12-06T14:58:11Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > Did you know that in WW1, on the British side alone, 78 Generals were killed and 146 wounded on active duty? I can’t see how you you can say with any validity that they don’t put their own lives on the line. Yes and each loss had a deleterious effect on the UK effort. After the Battle of Loos, the orders whereto avoid such dangers. Getting leadership killed is not smart. ---
**Author:** ![glaeken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@glaeken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glaeken)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-terrorists-blow-up-airports/643057/54 "2012-12-06T15:29:28Z")
> [@Bisected8](#): > > I remember hearing somewhere that a lot of attacks are discovered and foiled while they’re still being planned and never come to light. Maybe the security’s better than we tend to assume? Indeed a lot of potential attacks have been foiled. I actually get the impression that terrorists have a real problem recruiting quality people. If you look at the UK Glasgow airport bombing attempt I am actually amazed they actually found their way to the airport. The levels of ineptitude on display were off the scale. I guess you just don’t get that many quality people who are happy to lay down their life in pursuit of some goal. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-terrorists-blow-up-airports/643057.md?page=2)