Traveler from Saudi Arabia arrested with pressure cooker

[The Annoyed Man]

May 13, 2013 at 8:20 pm
Traveler from Saudi Arabia arrested at Detroit Metro with pressure cooker

By Robert Snell
The Detroit News
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2013 ... z2THDIT1dz

Detroit — Federal agents have arrested a Saudi Arabian traveler who arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport with a pressure cooker, a key component used in the Boston Marathon bombings last month.

Hussain Al Khawahir appeared for a brief hearing at 1 p.m. in federal court on charges he allegedly used an altered passport and lied to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent about the pressure cooker.

It was unclear Monday whether his arrest is terrorism related or a misunderstanding.

{———SNIP———}

Al Khawahir was traveling with a B1/B2 visa, which lets him travel to the U.S. temporarily for business or tourism.

He told agents he was visiting his nephew, who attends the University of Toledo. During baggage inspection, officers noticed a page missing from Al Khawahir's passport.

Al Khawahir told officers he did not know how the page was removed from the passport.

During the baggage exam, officers found a pressure cooker.

Terrorists performed a proof of concept attempt with a shoe bomb. The plot failed from incompetence, but now we have our shoes inspected at airports, and there have been no more shoe bombers.

Terrorists performed a proof of concept attempt with an underwear bombs. The bomb failed to perform as expected, but now we have our crotches fondled at airports, and there have been no more underwear bombers.

Terrorists performed a proof of concept attempt with pressure cooker bombs. The bombs performed pretty much as expected, but now some stores have suspended selling them and, gosh darn it, we can't get them through airport security anymore. I don't know if Khawahir is a terrorist or a dim-bulb......or both......but I am pretty certain that terrorists have AGAIN adjusted their strategy and the next bombing attempt will use something never thought of before by DHS, and it won't be a shoe bomb, Depends bomb, or pressure cooker bomb.

It will be something equally innocuous as shoes, underwear, and cooking pots, that we take for granted and never think of as potential weapons. But shoes, underwear, and pressure cookers are so yesterday. The truly inspired terrorist would never be so mundane. He or she will use some other innocuous object, and then that item will get added to the growing list of indignities which the rest of us are subjected to at airports.

[suthdj]

Maybe the true plan is not to kill us but to see how much they can humiliate and inconvenience us at our own expense.

[AEA]

He or she will use some other innocuous object, and then that item will get added to the growing list of indignities which the rest of us are subjected to at airports.

Well I have solved that problem for myself.....I just do not travel anymore except for my own car. I never go to airports anymore or any public transportation locations.

I am quite happy up here on the Red River and this is where I will stay until they bury me.

[Dave2]

Maybe the true plan is not to kill us but to see how much they can humiliate and inconvenience us at our own expense.

Seems like they'd cut back on the suicide attacks if that were the case.

[bdickens]

May 13, 2013 at 8:20 pm

Terrorists performed a proof of concept attempt with a shoe bomb. The plot failed from incompetence, but now we have our shoes inspected at airports, and there have been no more shoe bombers.

Terrorists performed a proof of concept attempt with an underwear bombs. The bomb failed to perform as expected, but now we have our crotches fondled at airports, and there have been no more underwear bombers.

Terrorists performed a proof of concept attempt with pressure cooker bombs. The bombs performed pretty much as expected, but now some stores have suspended selling them and, gosh darn it, we can't get them through airport security anymore. I don't know if Khawahir is a terrorist or a dim-bulb......or both......but I am pretty certain that terrorists have AGAIN adjusted their strategy and the next bombing attempt will use something never thought of before by DHS, and it won't be a shoe bomb, Depends bomb, or pressure cooker bomb.

It will be something equally innocuous as shoes, underwear, and cooking pots, that we take for granted and never think of as potential weapons. But shoes, underwear, and pressure cookers are so yesterday. The truly inspired terrorist would never be so mundane. He or she will use some other innocuous object, and then that item will get added to the growing list of indignities which the rest of us are subjected to at airports.

That's why we should be looking for bombers instead of bombs. But unfortunately the TSA is so incompetent they couldn't protect a Justin Beiber poster from a Girl Scout troop.

[nocents]

Was it a standard pressure cooker or an Assault pressure cooker?

[AEA]

Was it a standard pressure cooker or an Assault pressure cooker?

Great question! Wonder what the maximum pressure capacity of that thing was?

Does anyone really need a "Hi-Pressure" Pressure Cooker? Surely 10 PSI is a common sense maximum!

[baldeagle]

That's why we should be looking for bombers instead of bombs. But unfortunately the TSA is so incompetent they couldn't protect a Justin Beiber poster from a Girl Scout troop.

Well no one could do that!

[The Annoyed Man]

That's why we should be looking for bombers instead of bombs. But unfortunately the TSA is so incompetent they couldn't protect a Justin Beiber poster from a Girl Scout troop.

^^ This.

I wanted to talk about the "dreaded profiling," but I also wanted to see if anybody else would bring it up. It is difficult to bring up discussions of profiling without it degenerating into cries of racism, etc. But the fact is that at least one country is doing exactly that—profiling—and they haven't had a single airline terrorism incident since they started doing it......ISRAEL. Love 'em, hate 'em, or indifferent, they are doing it right. I'm guessing that Muslim travelers on El Al feel safer with less hassle than Minnesotan grannies do on American Airlines.

[gthaustex]

That's why we should be looking for bombers instead of bombs. But unfortunately the TSA is so incompetent they couldn't protect a Justin Beiber poster from a Girl Scout troop.

^^ This.

I wanted to talk about the "dreaded profiling," but I also wanted to see if anybody else would bring it up. It is difficult to bring up discussions of profiling without it degenerating into cries of racism, etc. But the fact is that at least one country is doing exactly that—profiling—and they haven't had a single airline terrorism incident since they started doing it......ISRAEL. Love 'em, hate 'em, or indifferent, they are doing it right. I'm guessing that Muslim travelers on El Al feel safer with less hassle than Minnesotan grannies do on American Airlines.

I'll bring it up as well TAM. The Israelis have been doing it right forever. They are surrounded by hostile countries who want to wipe them off the face off the map, and yet, they manage to catch / thwart any potential attacks. I say that because there haven't been any, presumably due to their screening techniques for passengers. The TSA would do well to learn from the Israelis. However, that will not happen because of political correctness run amok.

[Keith B]

I'll bring it up as well TAM. The Israelis have been doing it right forever. They are surrounded by hostile countries who want to wipe them off the face off the map, and yet, they manage to catch / thwart any potential attacks. I say that because there haven't been any, presumably due to their screening techniques for passengers. The TSA would do well to learn from the Israelis. However, that will not happen because of political correctness run amok.

The thing is, the Israeli's do not profile. Their questions are asked of everyone and it is not just one place, but several. Their screening process is superb. The reason it is so successful is they properly train their people to do it. They don't hire just anyone like we do for a civil service job, they utilize highly intelligent and skilled screeners. Unfortunately our government is too cheap, too liberal and too inept to put a process like this in place.

[RJGold]

He or she will use some other innocuous object, and then that item will get added to the growing list of indignities which the rest of us are subjected to at airports.

Well I have solved that problem for myself.....I just do not travel anymore except for my own car. I never go to airports anymore or any public transportation locations.

I am quite happy up here on the Red River and this is where I will stay until they bury me.

I'm jealous. I travel almost every week and almost always by air...

The TSA is a joke...

[RottenApple]

The thing is, the Israeli's do not profile. Their questions are asked of everyone and it is not just one place, but several. Their screening process is superb.

The Israeli's do profile. But they aren't profiling race, nationality, or religion. They profile behavior. Israeli airport security is a multi-layer operation. Some is visible; lots of armed security, security personnel asking questions, even employees of the shops in the airports. Some is invisible; security cameras (with live people actually monitoring), and other devices. The screening starts when you enter airport property and doesn't stop until your flight takes off.

Heck, you rarely wait in line more than 15 minutes. It's really quite amazing!

[texanjoker]

The thing is, the Israeli's do not profile. Their questions are asked of everyone and it is not just one place, but several. Their screening process is superb.

The Israeli's do profile. But they aren't profiling race, nationality, or religion. They profile behavior. Israeli airport security is a multi-layer operation. Some is visible; lots of armed security, security personnel asking questions, even employees of the shops in the airports. Some is invisible; security cameras (with live people actually monitoring), and other devices. The screening starts when you enter airport property and doesn't stop until your flight takes off.

Heck, you rarely wait in line more than 15 minutes. It's really quite amazing!

People get all upset about "profiling." There is racial profiling and then there is CRIMINAL PROFILING..criminal profiling works. There is nothing racial about it and it catches criminals...