Security checkpoints create points of insecurity

Like any evolving system, predators adapt to exploit the very defenses their prey have developed.

Long queues for security and check-in made an "excellent target" for potential bombers, the Tory transport spokesman told MPs.

Julian Brazier, a former SAS soldier, said that jihadists might adopt similar techniques as those seen in Iraq, where civilians were often targeted at checkpoints.

"A bomber can simply walk into a terminal carrying or wheeling a large bomb in a suitcase," he said. "The plain fact is that long, densely packed queues represent a hugely tempting target to terrorists."

This amplifies the point I made in an earlier UFTS post. One successful bombing of a queue or crowd will make the entire system vulnerable to spoof bombs and empty bomb threats: authorities will have to clear the facilities under threat, regardless of how many threats prove hollow. The effect of one bomb will be multiplied many-fold and cripple Western economies.

How to cripple an industrialized economy - no bombs required

A suspicious package forced the closure of a terminal at Heathrow Airport and cancellation of over 100 flights.

The departure lounge has been partially evacuated

Heathrow Airport's Terminal 4 has reopened after a suspect bag sparked a security alert.

The Metropolitan Police said it was dealing with the item which was found at the terminal just before midday.

But thousands of departing passengers are facing long delays as airport officials begin re-screening them.

All international flights from the terminal were cancelled until the evening while all European flights have been cancelled until further notice.

The alert comes after failed terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow....

A spokesperson said: "We have had to cancel 108 flights in total.

"Our flights to and from Terminal 1 at Heathrow are operating, but with some delays."

Isn't that swell? But wait - there's more!

Earlier on Tuesday a controlled explosion was carried out on a suspect device near Hammersmith Tube station.

During the morning rush-hour the station in west London and surrounding roads were closed when a suspect device was found at about 0825 BST.

There was an unconfirmed report the suspect objects had turned out to be three abandoned fire extinguishers.

Up to 8,000 commuters were forced to find alternative routes into work as Hammersmith and Barons Court stations were closed for an hour.

There were also severe delays for motorists as Hammersmith Broadway was closed between King Street and Shepherd's Bush Road as well as Hammersmith Bridge.

What does it all mean? Well, it means that all the Islamofascists have to do to shut down Britain's capital is to leave knapsacks and briefcases casually unattended in airport terminals and at Tube stations. No bombs required: the extra precautions that these suspicious packages will trigger will shut down transport and cost the economy billions of pounds.

Basque terrorists desperate for the limelight

For people who hate and fear swine so deeply, the Islamofascist terrorists sure are attention hogs. Over in Spain, the Basque terrorist group ETA really hates to be ignored.

Police have used a controlled explosion to detonate a suspicious package at Spain's Ibiza airport shortly authorities evacuated the building.

Spain's airport authority closed the airport, on one of the country's most popular holiday islands, after a telephoned bomb warning in the name of the Basque separatist movement ETA.

Europa Press news agency, quoting witnesses, said that an explosion of "medium strength" rocked the airport following its evacuation.

A spokeswoman for the AENA airport authority, which controls Spain's airports, said the airport had been closed to outgoing and incoming flights due to a security alert but would not say if it was a bomb alert.

Between 3,000 and 5,000 people were evacuated from the building.

advertisementThe websites of Spanish dailies El Mundo and La Vanguardia said three warnings had been received by Basque newspaper Gara, which the separatist group often uses as a conduit for bomb warnings.

The irony of the Basque separatist terror is that it is aimed at liberating the Basque homeland from Spanish rule -- so that it can become a vassal state of the EU, ruled from Brussels. The Catalans have a much better plan, in that they are getting all of the benefits of home rule without the messy bloodshed and boring paperwork.