By Staff
Our View
All of the nation's news outlets spent the later part of the week focusing on the foiled terrorist plot to bomb American flights leaving Great Britain and the ensuing Code Red alert posted by the Bush Administration.
The Department of Homeland Security quickly banned liquids from all carry-on bags and delayed flights as they collected lipsticks, facial creams, shampoos and toothpaste from the carry-on luggage of harried passengers.
The heightened restrictions triggered long lines at airports across the country, and governors in at least three states ordered National Guard troops to help provide security.
"This was a well-advanced plan," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told reporters as British authorities announced the arrests of 24 alleged plotters. "In some respects suggestive of an al-Qaida plot."
The plan involved the use of a peroxide-based solution, flammable when sparked by innocent-appearing small electronic devices.
No one likes standing in a long line, and in a time where it's fashionable to rip on the Bush administration, especially the Department of Homeland Security, this was a decision worth making.
Sure, it was a tremendous inconvenience to the thousands of people who were forced to take to the air yesterday, and will likely have a residual effect for the coming weeks.
But let's face it; we can buy more shampoo and lipstick.