Now this is just wonderful if it is true
From the
London Times:
US 'stopped Dutch installation of full body scanners'
The United States prevented Dutch authorities from installing full body scanners before the suspected Christmas Day bomb plotter passed through security at Amsterdam's airport, the Dutch government claimed today.
The Dutch claimed that they had been trying to install the machines for flights to the US since 2008 but had been blocked by US officials who wanted passengers to all destinations screened.
In light of the failed attack all passengers travelling from Holland to the US will now have to go through full body scanners the Dutch Interior Minister announced following discussions with the Americans.
Guusje ter Horst said the millimetre wave scanners that can see beneath passengers' clothes will be in use at Schiphol airport within three weeks and remain a permanent fixture for all flights to the US.
Asked whether the new scanners could have prevented the suspected plotter, Umar Farouk Almutallab, from getting on the flight, Ms ter Horst said: "From the moment that you put in millimetre wave scanners then you would have been able to detect that he [Mr Almutallab] was carrying something on his body.
"We didn't have this at the time and we know that metal detectors can't detect explosive materials.
"The US didn't want these put in exclusively for American flights but as a general rule across the airport. But we have discussed with the US so that all passengers will go through these body scanners before they board."
A spokesman for the Dutch counter-terrorism department told The Times that discussions with the US about installing body scanners date back to last year.
The two countries were at a deadlock over their installation because the US didn't want them exclusively for American bound flights.
Jeezzz... I get a good ten minute pat-down because of my hip replacement. I would much prefer a few moments in a scanner. They are talking about sneaking explosives on board, they are not mentioning the large number of over-the-counter
ceramic knives that you can buy for under $50 that would pass right through a magnetometer.
Posted by DaveH at December 31, 2009 10:39 AM