NOW CAN WE BOMB THEM?:

French police bungle airport exercise (JOCELYN GECKER, 12/07/04,Associated Press)

Somewhere in the world, there's a navy blue suitcase with a small pack of explosives tucked in its side pocket. Four days after police at Charles de Gaulle Airport slipped some plastic explosives into a random passenger's bag as part of an exercise for sniffer dogs, it is still missing - and authorities are stumped and embarrassed.

Police have sought to minimize public concern by insisting there's nothing to worry about: the explosives had no detonator and are unlikely to pose a danger.

But that does little to diminish the fact that the French airport security has been planting explosives in the suitcases of unsuspecting passengers - all in the name of safety.

"That's pretty scary," said Chadi Kawkabani, an American tourist wheeling his suitcase along the Champs-Elysees on Tuesday before heading to the airport.