FEW OPTIONS FOR STOPPING S.A.M.s

FEW OPTIONS FOR STOPPING S.A.M.s
The Bush Administration is scrambling to develop ways to counter shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missiles -- like the kind fired at an Israeli passenger jet in Kenya late last year. But there are no simple answers to these weapons.
Easy to find black markets from Beruit to Mogadishu, these missiles are alarmingly simple to use -- and deadly. Fighter jets have countermeasures; commercial planes are sitting ducks.
The airline industry clearly isn't willing to spend the money to defend against the missiles. "This subject is best addressed by our government," said a spokesman for the Air Transport Association told the Washington Post.
But the government's proposals so far don't sound so reassuring: vary the times planes take off, and "educate the American public on how to identify the missiles if they see them, 'while not wanting to scare anybody."