Date: December 29, 2009
To: letters@globeandmail.ca
From: Geoffrey Smith
Subject: Up in the air

Re Foiled Attack Leaves Airport Chaos In Its Wake (front page, Dec. 28): In the past 72 hours, the prospect of flying anywhere – particularly from Canada to the U.S. – went from bad to worse. The latest air terror incident, like the shoe-bomber case eight years ago, belongs in the “gang that couldn’t bomb straight” category. Yet, these abortive attacks succeeded as if the bombs exploded and the planes crashed.

The axiom: There’s no way to provide total security in the air. But there are ways to make flying so unpalatable – through toughened security measures – that airports will become total fortresses. And that’s when we’ll have second, third and fourth thoughts about flying at all.

Geoff Smith
Kingston