The agent was a jerk. The fact that Bush won't say it publically means little. The lives of the passengers are vastly more important than the personal inconvenience of one of Bush's incompetent guards.
And, yes it did turn out that the jerk was a SS agent. Hindsight is marvelous. Few of us have the same quality of foresight. If we did, we could put the Las Vegas gaming establishment out of business overnight.
Apparently you and the jerks' defenders have a prophet's all-discerning foresight and perfect judgment of character. You are the solution to the problem. All of you must hire yourselves out to the airlines (top dollar, of course, in a bow to your impressive skills). They can rip out the metal detectors and do away with the pat downs and searches, for you will stand on a platform and gaze Sphinx-like over the mass of humanity as it passes below you.
As you spot each real terrorist, you can snap your fingers and alert a security agent standing by to violently tackle and arrest the terrorist. There will be no need to be gentle about it, for your judgment is perfect and will always be correct.
It's a perfect solution. Bush's pistol carrying jackass agents get on without a hassle, no law-abiding passenger is harmed, all terrorists are removed, and the airlines need no longer worry about their planes crashing into buildings and lawsuits that might bankrupt them.
What are you waiting for? Call American Airlines now! Save us all from inconvenience and make a pile of money while you're at it!
As you spot each real terrorist, you can snap your fingers and alert a security agent standing by to violently tackle and arrest the terrorist....
Kevin, a little bulletin for you : I don't share your childlike faith in the security services.
Todd Beamer did more to disrupt the terrorist's plans than the CIA and the FBI combined.
You're twisting the facts! The agent was cleared by airport security, had already been welcomed by one pilot and presented himself to the 2nd flight crew and captain as an SS agent. The 2nd pilot was an arrogant nitwit. Bush's character reference for the guy is here on this thread. What part of that character reference indicates the guy is a load mouth punk like AA claims?
Yeah, they probably can. I'm quite sure the terrorists will have figured out to get around that, by now.
My bet is they're far more concerned at the risk from an onboard hero like Todd Beamer than they are from check-in 'security.'