'I don't want to go to Disney World anymore': Parents' fury as TSA agents detain their crying

[Moonwalk]

105. um, THIS universe. If I were a terrorist and I knew that TSA agents were giving a pass to--

--3 year olds in wheelchairs, I'd instantly use one to get my bomb on board. The three-year old is, after all, working for a higher cause in this--or so any suicide bomber would think. And remember that we had bombers try to put bombs in shoes and underwear before this. Why not a little girl's wheelchair?

Look, the TSA agents should be more compassionate, sensitive and polite to such situations. That we can agree on totally. But we DO live in a world where fanatics train little kids to fight in wars--hell to carry signs and protest gays at funerals come to that. Where little kids wired with explosives have been sent out to blow up soldiers. A terrorist is in a war, and anyone and anything can be used against the enemy--the end justifies the means.

Putting it another way, if I can think of it, so can they--and they certainly have and they certainly will. So while we, the TSA agents, etc. might well look at this particular little girl and her family and think "highly unlikely," is it worth taking a chance? That this could have been handed better we can agree on--there really is no reason to have upset the family or reduced the kid to tears. There are always ways to make a delay or requirement easier, less unpleasant.

But would you want to be the TSA agent who said, "I let that little girl in the wheelchair go unchecked..." after the bomb explodes on a plane and hundreds die? Including the little girl in the wheelchair? I know, I know, it all seems so unlikely, so over-the-top for a slim chance. But TSA can't take even that slim chance. They really don't dare given the consequences if they're wrong.