American heroes

The story is like this: a man coming from US gets caught on Heathrow airport for the possession of some live ammunition in his pocket. He was picked up during a routine security check on his way to board another plane. The question of course is - how did he get on a plane in US in the first place - considering all the fuss they are making about security checks we should be doing in our end and all this sky marshal bollocks.

What really ticked me off was the interview of one US security people in the radio this morning, and I quote from memory - "It's not that important to prevent bad people on board with weapons, what we want to prevent is them hijacking the plane". Now isn't this just the perfect example of American attitude? Not prevention, oh no. Show of strength, heroic actions, that's what it seems to be all about.

The European way of course is very much about prevention. There has been a row here - and in Finland - about pilots not wanting let these pompously named sky marshals on board - they would rather ground the planes if there was a security threat. But not the Americans - they would rather have a flashy fistfight on-board and brave American hero, the serif, saving the day. Then they could make a big fuss about how effective the procedures have been, give the man a medal, and make him the man of the year.

Meanwhile in UK, there haven't been any terrorist attacks. Maybe, just maybe, it's all down to prevention. No, it's not flashy, and it doesn't produce any heroes for the people to cheer. It doesn't give the politicians anything to point at (and I'm just thankful they have the same urge to do this here than their American counterparts). But it does create security.

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