Willy Sutton, when asked why he robbed banks, is reported to have said "Because that's where the MONEY is!"
Doing careful searches on grandmothers and pilots in uniform with good ID is a waste of time. In fact, since NONE of the hijackers were white Americans, it is doubtful that searching ME is a productive use of time or effort.
You make a good point about the checked baggage- only about 5% is currently examined (XRAY, etc), and there is NOTHING to keep a baggage handler from planting a device in a bag before it is loaded into the aircraft. This is a very large loophole, and I pray that we don't see a dozen airliners drop out of the sky nearly simultaneously because of it- because I think that is the next step in the terrorists plan. (Note to FBI: I am only guessing, OK? If I KNEW anything, I would have called you by now!)
I would be happy if all Middle Eastern males were checked, for starters. I guess that makes me a bigoted redneck- or a realist. Take your pick.
From a frequent flyer (I fly every week, and I'm not real happy right now...)