=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/c/a/2006/08/18/EDG0SJ7MOV= 1.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, August 18, 2006 (SF Chronicle) Who's winning this war?/Terrorists succeed in changing our way of life Peter Eichstaedt As I stood amid the chaos and misting rain on the upper deck of a parking lot at London's Heathrow airport last Saturday, one thought kept running through my mind: The terrorists had already won. Heavily armed and smartly dressed British police threaded their way through thousands of desperate passengers hovered over mounds of luggage and clutching clear plastic bags containing their "essential" travel documents. Bottles, creams, books and magazines -- anything that makes long-haul air travel tolerable -- was banned. (Even mother's milk for infants had to be swallowed by a family member in the presence of security personnel before it was allowed onboard.) As rain clouds gathered and psyches soured, British Airlines personnel in lime-green vests barked out one flight cancellation after another and ordered distraught would-be flyers off the terminal grounds. Heathrow handles an estimated 200,000 passengers a day during peak seaso= ns such as August, so in less than a week, more than a million people are affected by any disruption of services, not counting family or friends waiting at either end of these trips. I was among dozens of passengers due to fly into San Francisco on a dire= ct flight, but who were unable to board because of the cumbersome security procedures. The plane left without us. I had friends in London on whom I could call. But most others were left = to their own devices and the generosity of British Air, who agreed to reimburse limited food and hotel costs. The Orwellian nightmare envisioned in the novel, "1984," had finally come true. Due to yet another terrorist threat, more than a million people, 99.9 percent of whom were on their way to and from European holidays, were being herded in and out the world's largest international transportation hub. This was happening despite the fact that the police claimed to have already arrested more than 20 suspects and foiled a plot to blow up transatlantic flights. Is this the future of international air travel? Will the mere whiff of a threat throw a system into chaos on which the world depends for its social, political and economic well-being? If so, then indeed the terrorists have won. If not, there needs to be a better way. While everyone wants to fly safely, this chaos has cued a rising number = of critics of how the world, and the airlines in particular, respond to these alleged threats. The criticism is due in part to a couple of false alarms from the British security forces in the wake of last year's Underground bombings in London. In one such incident, police raided the home of an innocent Muslim family. But it is also due to the way that millions of people's lives are turned upside down because just a handful -- a small fraction of 1 percent -- say they want to wreak death and destruction. Authorities justify their extreme and excessive behavior by saying that terrorists don't care about delays, only death. But the choice is not simply between delays or death. What is an appropriate response? Already some in the airlines and airline-security industry say that better methods and technology must be used to make international air travel convenient and secure. The solution, as put forth by many security officials, is "profiling," which is a dirty word in our PC world. But, sooner or later we're going to have to face the fact that 99.9 percent of the world's travelers are not terrorists and should not have to suffer. Likewise, there is a lot of talk here these days that the Muslim communi= ty is going to have to step forward and help us all address the growing problem of terrorist "cells" where these plots are hatched. What kind of world do we want to live in? One that is ruled by the mere utterance of a threat from any dark corner or another, or one in which we all move about freely and safely? There are better ways to respond to threats. We have the know-how and technology, and now we just need the commitment. Peter Eichstaedt is a freelance writer and journalist returning to San Francisco after a year in Africa. -----------------------------------------= ----------------------------- Copyright 2006 SF Chronicle