Body scanners blocked by US 'could have prevented attempted plane attack'.

(From Guardian Unlimited)

The US blocked Dutch attempts to install full-body scanners for passengers travelling to the US before the failed suicide bombing of a transatlantic flight on Christmas Day, the Dutch interior minister said today.

Authorities at Schipol airport in Amsterdam had wanted to introduce the devices to monitor US-bound flights, but the scanners were not installed because US authorities wanted them to be used on flights to all destinations, said Guusje Ter Horst

The disclosure could put further pressure on Barack Obama, who has come under criticism in the US after the security lapse that allowed a young Nigerian Islamist to board a US plane on Christmas day carrying explosives. He has been charged with trying to destroy the …