Oakland airport scrambles to explain why it kept Marines on tarmac

[RamboLiberal]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Marines arriving on a military charter flight on their way home from Iraq were barred from entering a passenger terminal at Oakland International Airport to greet family and friends because of security concerns, airport officials acknowledged today.

Airport authorities decided to park the Marines at a remote location on the tarmac because the troops hadn't been screened and had their weapons on board when the plane landed about 1:30 p.m. Thursday, officials said.

Federal authorities, however, said the Marines had been screened when their flight out of Kuwait landed earlier in the day in New York.

"There was no disrespect that was intended," said Omar Benjamin, executive director of the Port of Oakland, which runs the airport. "There was confusion. There were mistakes that were made" that will be corrected, he said.



Read more: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/02/BAIUSILJ6.DTL

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This will be the latest wingnut pundits false outrage.

[Cirque du So-What]

1. Oh, yes, the RW Mighty Wurlitzer is tuning up as we speak

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1964068

[0007]

8. 'I ask for no quarter and I give no quarter'

[murielm99]

2. "There were mistakes that were made."

Why can't people just say, "We made a mistake."

???

That is sooo republican!

Nixon started that crap. Take responsibility, people!

[Jacobin]

7. Republicans are excellent at using the passive voice

to dodge responsibility for their fuck ups

[Rageneau]

3. Hell, I'm pretty outraged by this myself.

Tis airport security fascism has gone too far. Marines RETURNING from Iraq can't be trusted to enter an airport terminal? WTF?

People dying in airport cop custody? WTF?

Passports to go to Mexico and Canada? WTF?

Are we ever going to throw off the bonds the control-freaks keep wrapping us in?

[formercia]

5. It's all about control

from the moment of conception until the day they extract anything of value from our ashes.

Amerika has become an Auschwitz without fences.

http://home.swipnet.se/~w-49276/docs/auschwitz/fabric.htm

[panzerfaust]

6. Gee. When * speaks at MILITARY BASES

... he makes sure that the troops have been disarmed.

Guess he does not trust either.

[pinniped]

15. Ya, I thought the idea was to not let dangerous people in the airplanes.

TSA are inept morans.

[Crayson]

4. Understandable...

... I mean, I wouldn't want a fully armed platoon of marines come through the normal "arrival".
It would probably cause a panic or whatever.

Why did they fly to a commercial airport at all?
Why not fly to an airbase, drop of the weapons and all and then fly to a commercial airport with all the guys in civilian cloths?

[atreides1]

10. Some answers to your questions

Why did they fly to a commercial airport at all?

It was a charter flight returning them to their base in Hawaii, and military charters often land at civilian airports.


Why not fly to an airbase, drop of the weapons and all and then fly to a commercial airport with all the guys in civilian cloths?


Because arrangements probably hadn't been made with the military to use a base in California, add to that the problem of family members being allowed onto the base.

The weapons were issued by their unit in Hawaii, which means they had to be returned to the unit arms room

When deployed you are not allowed to take civilian clothing with you, only military uniforms and issued equipment.

[Ian David]

9. Maybe the machines detected traces of gunpowder on them? n/t

[donsu]

11. good one lol

nt

[Gormy Cuss]

12. So, would this be better described as SNAFU or FUBAR?

It sounds like airport security was acting consistently. Zero brain power in use: no screening, no access.

[AnneD]

13. They were Phony Soldiers......

Rush said so.:tinfoilhat:

[rocktivity]

14. Well, the president HAS been saying that the terrorists would follow us home!

:rofl:
rocknation

[underpants]

16. Okay why is John Gibson quoted (his opinion no less) in a "news" story??

Seriously

[TrogL]

17. Nice use of passive voice

"We screwed up" would be more to the point.

[makhno]

18. I was upset at first

Then read the article, and realized that it was just another example of the clusterfuck created by the DHS and associated agencies. Remember Sen. Kennedy being denied boarding a few years ago?

Come to think of it, I'm actually pretty fucking pissed about the treatment the Marines received, but OAK has nothing to do with it. If "right-wing bloggers" want to point fingers, they better be pointing them toward the Reichstag in DC, not some mythical conspiracy by local authorities in Oakland. What if the guys were flying through San Diego? Would we have had the same bullshit coming from the reactionary media?