Since the Christmas Eve fiasco the United States is going to add hardware to peek inside passengers’ undies, add – and God-f0rbid train –  more TSA inspectors and more intelligence gatherers and analysts, hit targets in bad places (read Afghanistan, Pakistan and now Yemen) harder, and in general spend what is fast becoming significant money. Forget for a minute what this will do to the United States Treasury and think of how it will discourage business travel (think longer lines and longer airport delays). Isn’t this playing into Al Quaeda’s hands — actually their playbook where the goal is to break the U.S.A. financially? Will it really make us safer? I know it will make me even crankier at the airport. I’ve started to think of cross-country car trips as an alternative to taking airplane flights.

What if we spent one-tenth of the amounts budgeted for the above endeavors in information campaigns to Islamic countries to counter the misimpression people have of Al Quaeda,