Foiled Terror Plot Puts SMU Professors in News Spotlight

[MrMustang1965]

Jim Hollifield, professor of International Relations at SMU, is showing up a LOT on television today in interviews about the most recent foiled terror plot.

[WorldStang]

Sure does make my work trips more interesting..

[Kappas Are Yummy]

Has anyone flown anywhere today? Does it really suck?

[smupony94]

Sucked - but I would much rather go through the hassle than to let some punk blow up my plane.

[mrydel]

Because of my rental car schedule for turn in I was a little upset about having to get to the airport too soon tomorrow to head home from San Diego. Now I do not think I can get there too early from what I am hearing.

[MrMustang1965]

You can blame these guys for all your problems! Looks like we just need to bomb Austin and get it over with.

[smupony94]

Come on 65 - we all love you here in Austin -why the hate?

[MrMustang1965]

Come on 65 - we all love you here in Austin -why the hate?

O.K. Not all of Austin...just the U.T. campus.

[MrMustang1965]

SMU Professor Ed Biehl is also in the limelight!

(CBS 11 News) DALLAS The foiled terror plot is putting new focus on liquids as possible explosives.

It's not a new ploy - in the mid-1990’s terrorist mastermind Ramsey Youssef was reportedly planning to use improvised bombs from contact lens solution to bring down aircraft… fortunately, it never happened.

There are common things around us that can be murderous. The Oklahoma City bombing was done with fertilizer and diesel fuel.

Most everyday toiletry products are not dangerous items and in no way present a threat. But it's useful to know terrorists can and do refill otherwise harmless bottles and tubes with dangerous materials.

Carrying two relatively harmless chemicals onto a plane and then mixing them later could be disastrous. For 150 years scientists have known about a reaction between a common, odorless, acid and glycerol.

“When you mix them, though, you get nitroglycerin, and that is dynamite, and how much you mix, the more you mix, the more the explosion will be,” said Professor Ed Biehl, Southern Methodist University chemistry department.

Biehl wants travelers to know there may be no liquid container that is small enough to be harmless.

“I just think in this day and age and the safety of the people involved on the plane that they should err on the side of caution. Even this Scope bottle over here might be sufficiently big enough to cause the explosion,” he said.

No personal toilet item is a threat when used properly. But the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms tells CBS 11 News there are 19,000 known combinations of liquid or gel explosives.

“We have, on a full-time basis, terrorists who will try to take advantage of leaks in the system or leaks as they present themselves. We are never out of the woods,” said U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, (R) Texas.

No one knows how long the ban on carry-on liquids will be in effect, but federal safety experts believe that at least for now, it is necessary.

[smupony94]

Come on 65 - we all love you here in Austin -why the hate?

O.K. Not all of Austin...just the U.T. campus.

Only hit the north campus - the girls I like are West Campus.

[McClown27]

Has anyone flown anywhere today? Does it really suck?

Mrs. McClown had to check her expensive lotion. They told her to throw it away. At the Hartford airport, there was a news conference.

[ponyplayer]

had to throw away my listerine before i got on my plane yesterday...figured something was up and then saw mrmustang65 post and solved it....................

[smupony94]

MM65 is better than Reuters.

[MrMustang1965]

MM65 is better than Reuters.

Aw, shucks. T'weren't nothin'. Glad to be of help.

[smupony94]

Article in this week's Business Week about people getting paid to post news links. Might be a second job for you.