Many good arguements have been made in this thread. I think that, based on what I have heard through various news sources, that the air marshall did his job. They are there to project the plane from terrorists -- which is what this guy became as soon as he mentioned the word "bomb" on the plane.

I do have a family member who is bi-polar. I grew up seeing all sides of the disorder. One of those sides is violence and wanting to physically hurt other people. It's sad, but it is a fact of life.

If the air marshall had not done something and this guy really did have a bomb everybody would be saying that our air marshall system does not work... there would be congressional hearings... etc. etc. blah blah. It's pretty much a case of a no win situation.

My opinion, bottom line: the air marshall and the law enforcement did the right thing. Making those people exit the plane with their hands on their heads was good. Checking all their luggage was good. Blowing up the suspect luggage was good. What if that guy was a suicide bomber who was merely trying to flush out the air marshalls so that another terrorist on the plane could inflict a lot of casulties? These extremists seem to welcome dying for their cause.