Q: What Defeats Terror? A: Teamwork!

Things could have ended much differently for a plane full of folks travelling between Africa and the Canary Islands. According to the U.K. Independent:

Speaking to the gunman during the hijacking, the pilot realized the man did not understand French. So he used the plane's public address system to warn the passengers in French of the ploy he was going to try: slam on the brakes upon landing, then accelerate abruptly. The idea was to catch the hijacker off balance, and have crew members and men sitting in the front rows of the plane jump on him, the Spanish official said.

The pilot warned women and children to move to the back rows of the plane in preparation for the subterfuge, the official said.

It worked. As the plane landed on Gran Canaria, the man was standing in the middle aisle when the pilot carried out his maneuver, and he fell to the floor, dropping one of his two 7mm pistols. Flight attendants then threw boiling water in his face and at his chest, and some 10 people jumped on the man and beat him, the Spanish official said.

I know, some of you can't help but have a Tourette's attack about Bush and Iraq in response to any news story, but can't we just bask in the illuminating, brave inventiveness of this story? Wouldn't it be nice if Democrat and Republican - labor, socialist and conservative - moderate Muslim and holy-rolling Christian alike could conspire to slam the brakes then the accelerator - and throw boiling hot water in the face of the nutbag extremists?

Just allow me a moment of naivete.