New Threat: Ass-Bombers

Remember the guy who tried to light a bomb in his shoe? And now we have to take our shoes off at the airport? Remember the guy who tried to sneak in liquid explosives? And now we can't bring shampoo on board? What do you think the TSA will do about the ass-bombers? Richard Scneier:

Nobody tell the TSA, but last month someone tried to assassinate a Saudi prince by exploding a bomb stuffed in his rectum. He pretended to be a repentant militant, when in fact he was a Trojan horse: The resulting explosion ripped al-Asiri to shreds but only lightly injured the shocked prince -- the target of al-Asiri's unsuccessful assassination attempt. Other news articles are here, and here are two blog posts. For years, I have made the joke about Richard Reid: "Just be glad that he wasn't the underwear bomber." Now, sadly, we have an example of one. Lewis Page, an "improvised-device disposal operator tasked in support of the UK mainland police from 2001-2004," pointed out that this isn't much of a threat for three reasons: 1) you can't stuff a lot of explosives into a body cavity, 2) detonation is, um, problematic, and 3) the human body can stifle an explosion pretty effectively (think of someone throwing himself on a grenade to save his friends).

The comments on Schneier's blog are a riot.