One of the aftermaths of the September 2001 attacks on American soil were the lawsuits that followed (Spinner 2011). One of the litigation issues surrounding the attacks was that on the aviation players and particularly the flight operators. One of the lawsuits filed in a New York court claimed negligence and poor pre-board screening of the passengers by the screening personnel (Tomacik et al., 2013). There were key red flags on the terror-suspect screening that were taken for granted in consideration with the security system that had been put in place at the airport (The 9/11 report, 2004) and (Tomacik et al., 2013). Tomacik et al., (2013) note that upon investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the screening attendants could not recall any signs of concern as much as video footage on the security cameras showed many points of concern. Secondly, it seemed that the flight and airport personnel were ignorant of the imminent danger that terrorism had become in the global landscape. It was clear that terrorist activities had risen between 1961 and 2000, and this should have been enough notice to cause the airlines to take precautionary measures (Tomacik et al., 2013). Thorough scrutiny and screening of passengers could have helped prevent the damage that was witnessed.
The United States government should have been alarmed at Bin Laden’s opposition of the US-led the operation of preventing the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the power struggles that existed at the helm of Al Qaeda leadership (Rollins, 2011). Rollins (2011) claims that at the point of the Bin Laden’s dismissal of the US-led “Operation Desert Storm” (January 16-February 28, 1991), the group that was once an ally of had become United States’ imminent adversary.
References
Rollins, J. (2011). Al Qaeda and Affiliates: Historical Perspective, Global Presence, and Implications for U.S. Policy. Congressional Research Service 7-5700.
Spinner, M. (2011). A Decade of 9/11 Litigation. Declaration summer 2011. The 9/11 Commission Report. (2004).
Tomacik, T., Healy, W. & Dawson, C, (2013). A Case Study of Mass Tort Litigation: Litigating the 9/11 Disaster. ABA Section of Litigation; Section Annual Conference. April 24-26 2013.
