Terror myths

The notion that full-body scanners would solve the airline terrorist problem that ails us lasted a little more than a week.

Discover.com lists five reasons why body scanners may not be the solution to terrorists trying to sneak bombs and bomb-making material onto planes — and “they won’t catch most of the explosives terrorists use” only makes it to #2.

The bottom line? Playing catch-up with evildoers probably won’t do much good, which is essentially what the TSA is doing with its embrace of full body scanning technology-along with its current rules about liquids and removing one’s shoes, for that matter.

Meanwhile, a study out today on homegrown terrorists finds that most of the ones who commit acts of violence — or threatened to since 9/11 were U.S. citizens — 63 of the 139 were U.S.-born, 22 were naturalized citizens and 25 legal residents.

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Thirty-two were Arabs, 24 African-Americans, 24 South Asians, 20 Somalis and 20 whites. The authors say there is no “single profile or a common warning sign that signifies a homegrown terrorist.”

It also credited Muslim leaders in the United States with “vigorously monitoring” their communities for signs of threats.

Here’s the full report.