Point taken, but it seems it's the same reaction (alert level raised on people flying from said country after a thwarted terror plot originating in that country) by this administration as the one in power in 2006. Was it an '"egregious overreaction" when the Bush administration raised the terror threat level to an unprecedented "red" on flights from Britain after the listed attempt? What the Strasbourg example has to do with planes headed for the US I can't say, there are bad people everywhere. My main problem with your comment was the Obama slight. It just seems way too convenient for too many people these days to blame this administration where they did not blame the last under similar circumstances. Tough times... I don't think profiling Nigerians will solve anything, but I don't think it's nearly as egregious as you do. The perception we're trying to give, regardless of the administration and regardless even of it's truth or effectiveness, is that we're dealing with these threats constantly, and you have to do what you can to keep planes safe and keep the people cool. Does this do it? Probably not, but I can't hate on Obama or Bush or those they would put in charge of such decisions for making temporary adjustments to achieve said goal(s) and buy time until we can form more effective solutions to these threats.
The terror plot did *NOT* originate in Nigeria. That's like saying that a terror plot originated in Mexico because an Al Qaeda terrorist boarded a plane there. It might as well have originated in the Netherlands. Look, I'm as huge a fan of Obama as anybody else, and I've supported most of his policies. But he's the man at the top making decisions and directing HomeSec to tighten regulations. The whole thing is an egregious overreaction. The TSA itself has been quite a joke ever since it was instituted, and this just takes it to borderline ridiculous. It does not make sense to include Nigeria on the same list as Afghanistan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia because of the US's own incompetence. Why won't they decide to frisk everybody flying in from Heathrow as well? It isn't like London doesn't have mosques with imams calling for death to imperialist infidels.
i find it surprising that some folks think i should have just kept my mouth shut. i'd hope any member of the flying public would do the same thing. these people have our lives in their hands- they should respect that trust. and in retrospect, it makes sense that they re-screened my bags, but the full anal probe was egregious, and you'd think the supervisor would have been a bit more gracious. during the flight, i saw something about an incident at MSP, and here's a rather disturbing tale from sea-tac
