Terror in the Skies, Again? . . .

[OneBlueSky]

here's a disturbing article by writer for WomensWallStreet.com concerning a domestic flight she recently took, and some passengers who made her very uneasy . . .

Terror in the Skies, Again?
by Annie Jacobsen
womenswallstreet.com

http://www.womenswallstreet.com/WWS/article_landing.aspx?titleid=1&articleid=711

The take-off was uneventful. But once we were in the air and the seatbelt sign was turned off, the unusual activity began. The man in the yellow T-shirt got out of his seat and went to the lavatory at the front of coach -- taking his full McDonald's bag with him. When he came out of the lavatory he still had the McDonald's bag, but it was now almost empty. He walked down the aisle to the back of the plane, still holding the bag. When he passed two of the men sitting mid-cabin, he gave a thumbs-up sign. When he returned to his seat, he no longer had the McDonald's bag.

Then another man from the group stood up and took something from his carry-on in the overhead bin. It was about a foot long and was rolled in cloth. He headed toward the back of the cabin with the object. Five minutes later, several more of the Middle Eastern men began using the forward lavatory consecutively. In the back, several of the men stood up and used the back lavatory consecutively as well.

For the next hour, the men congregated in groups of two and three at the back of the plane for varying periods of time. Meanwhile, in the first class cabin, just a foot or so from the cockpit door, the man with the dark suit - still wearing sunglasses - was also standing. Not one of the flight crew members suggested that any of these men take their seats.

Watching all of this, my husband was now beyond anxious. I decided to try to reassure my husband (and maybe myself) by walking to the back bathroom. I knew the goateed-man I had exchanged friendly words with as we boarded the plane was seated only a few rows back, so I thought I would say hello to the man to get some reassurance that everything was fine. As I stood up and turned around, I glanced in his direction and we made eye contact. I threw out my friendliest remember-me-we-had-a-nice-exchange-just-a-short-time-ago smile. The man did not smile back. His face did not move. In fact, the cold, defiant look he gave me sent shivers down my spine.

- much more . . .

http://www.womenswallstreet.com/WWS/article_landing.aspx?titleid=1&articleid=711

[Syncronaut Seven]

1. About 5 pages in (I new it smelled funny)

The author starts quoting Ann Coulter as an expert on airline security.

Sorry, this one doesn't pass the smell test.

[Must_B_Free]

2. I love someone calling shit (and proving it)

before I waste five pages of reading to sniff it out.

you rock Harrad!

[AussieInCA]

4. lol coulter has created.... mini me!!!!

quoting coulter has to be the biggest red flag on a writers credability.

Can't find much on that website either...no info on their site of who their investors are, but they are brand new (launched in july 2003)

Smells like (other than poo) a right wing site to try and get woman voters on board (seeing they so suck at that right now).

[nose pin]

5. I woldn't let the mention of Ann Coulter

completely discount this story.

[AussieInCA]

6. lol - well the creative style and marketing to "sign up" to learn more...

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HAHAHAHA

No wonder this stuff is linked on websites like coasttocoastam and no where in the real press.

/tinfoilhat on :)

[linazelle]

16. Uh yeah because Coulter's supporters are usually truthful and

mindful of the facts. NOT. :eyes:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

23. OMG. Did you really just post this??

[Ms. Clio]

33. Oh, that isn't what discredits (I think that's what you meant) this story

Ann Coulter is just the wingnut icing on the cake.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

21. Thanks for throwing yourself on that grenade! I would have been...

...pissed if I had gotten that far and found "Crash-Test Dummy" Coulter being quoted as an "expert on airline security".

This article looks like one of many we'll see between now and election day.

[murielm99]

3. Very sobering.

I don't know anything about this publication, though. I don't think I have ever seen it before.

Very scary article.

[JohnnyRingo]

7. I thought it sounded kinda fishy when she said the stewardess

asked her to write a description of the "yellow shirt" guy. (who is she...Nancy Drew ?)

Then she had a link to Ann Coulter

[NewYorkerfromMass]

17. LOL! I read this shit over at FreeRepublic yesterday

where it has well over 500 responses. Nancy Drew! (snarf)

[radwriter0555]

20. Why would the stewardess want the passenger to write a description? The

stewardess knows who the guy is, and even what his name is. It's on the passenger list/manifest.

She knows what seat he's in. He's wearing a yellow shirt and sitting with a bunch of middle eastern dudes.

NOT PASSIN' THE SMELL TEST.

[radfringe]

8. Funny thing happened on the way to a terror alert

the White House spin is inconsistent (yeah, what else is new? )

bush* is running around the country saying America is safer

If we are safer then why is Ridge running around yelling "Terror terror terror"?

Meanwhile, the recent report on Iraq/WMDs say the CIA screwed up bigtime....

then there is the state dept. report which first erroneously said terror attacks declined, then had to quickly issue a correction which now says terror attacks have increased....

and we already know that Sept. 11 is being blamed on intel failures...

wellllll, how accurate is Ridge's "warning" if the info he bases it on is coming from intel agencies that have "screwed-up"?

this leaves us in a quandry -- Who do we believe?
bush* - who says we are safer?
Ridge - who is yelling terror?
the Iraq/WMD report saying the CIA screwed up (and how do we know that they haven't screwed up again)?
Or the 'corrected' State dept. report?

[Sufi Marmot]

9. I don't understand the logic here...

Fourteen people to assemble a bomb and blow up a plane mid-air? Unless it was just a training run for a lot of potential terrorists who would have later been dispersed onto several flights...Blowing up a plane mid-air, while dramatic and terrorizing, to me doesn't seem to warrant 14 terrorists dying, they weren't expecting/trying to get into the cockpit and crash the plane into a building, right?

Some other incongruities:

a) I find it hard to believe that nobody at the Detroit airport checked IDs as they were boarding the plane - I thought this was a federal regulation - you have to show ID before you walk down the ramp.

b) How did she know the passports were Syrian? Did she get a good look at the cover? What kind of writing do they have on the cover? Do they say "Syria" in English? At the beginning of the article she says the passports have Arabic writing.

c) A journalist of any capability could surely follow up the whereabouts of these men...

d) What kind of musical instruments? What kind of musicians were they - western pop/rock or Middle Eastern music? Most casinos I'm aware of tend to book bar bands or once-famous now faded pop/rock acts. Heavy metal/hard rock/R&B - that sort of thing.

e) What is the likelihood that the government would issue visas to 14 Syrian nationals to work as musicians in America?

f) (deleted)

g) After the last man comes out of the bathroom when the plane is approaching LA, and runs his finger across his neck and mouths the word "no" - why would Arab speakers up to no good do this in English?

h) Can any NPR devotees confirm the NPR story she referenced?

i) Why is a representative of the Federal Air Marshalls' Public Affairs Office (evidence of the existance of which I could not confirm from a cursory Google search) cold calling this woman to give her info on what I assume would be an ongoing investigation?

I dunno.... :shrug:

Not that I think that people shouldn't be vigilant for suspicious behavior, but it might be nice to have independent confirmation of this.

-SM

On edit: NW327 is indeed a flight from Detroit to LAX, so that checks out at least. :shrug:

Edit #2 - What does she mean by "no second security check required at Detroit"? I assume she got off the Providence to Detriot flight and didn't leave the security zone so she just passed from one gate area to the next in the terminal. If she didn't exit out into the rest of the airport, or into another terminal, she wouldn't go through x-ray again, right? Isn't this how most airports work?

[Sufi Marmot]

10. Couple of other things...

No one checked the passports of the Syrian men. No one inspected the contents of the two instrument cases or the McDonald's bag.

The McDonald's bag, perhaps, if it came from an outlet within the terminal, but wouldn't the Syrians have had their passports scrutinized when they checked in, and their instrument cases would have gone through X-rays at some point?

Also, why do airlines check passports other than to confirm identity of the person who booked the ticket? They have no authority to deny people based on citizenship, and have no law enforcement mandate, so what would they be looking for?

No one asked us what we'd done during our layover, if we bought anything, or if anyone gave us anything while we were in the airport. We were asked all of these questions (and many others ) three weeks earlier when we'd traveled in Europe -- where passengers with airport layovers are rigorously questioned and screened before boarding any and every flight. This was not my experience last summer, in two major airports on the European continent.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

22. Sounds more like a drug transaction to me.

[progressivebydesign]

28. Actually sounds like a bunch of musicians...

..one of them probably smuggled a bottle of liquor on the flight. It would really suck to be a middle eastern man in America right now...

[Sufi Marmot]

31. That's what I don't understand...

Unless they're part of a well-documented cultural exchange group, what's the likelihood that 14 Syrian nationals are going to be admitted into the country (ostensibly on work visas), to ply their trade as wandering minstrels?

I'd REALLY like to know what casino they were supposed to have played at and kind of musicians they were - a Middle Eastern folk/traditional group, or Aleppo's most popular bar band? My notion (and please correct me if I'm wrong...), is that most second tier casinos (ie. not in Vegas or Atlantic City) usually hire washed up hard rock/blues/R&B acts: think Nazareth, Foghat, Heart, "Steppenwolf", etc. My local entertainment rag lists Wilson Pickett soon appearing one nearby casino. That sort of thing: once moderately successful acts whose best days are far behind them.

Do casinos often hire "world music" acts from the Middle East? Does this story ring a bell with any gamblers from California? :shrug:

-SM

[ronabop]

11. Stupid racist scare story.

Overly silly, excessive staffing for an "attack", and woefully ignorant of how amazingly easy it is (and always will be) to get weapons onto planes. What kind of idiot needs 18 individuals to take a plane down?

Pathetic.

The campfire ghost stories have been replaced with arab boogymen, and sadly, nobody who has a real clue is speaking openly and honestly about the subject.

So, having earned that clue from working in stage magic and pyrotechnics, let me point out:
Stopping attacks from clueless idiots with ferrite detectors and "xrays" works, but it's near impossible to stop attackers (once in motion) with any sort good head on their shoulders.

-Bop

[Guaranteed]

12. This really doesn't scare anyone, huh?

I gotta tell ya...*IF* this is true, it definitely scares the hell out of me.

[ronabop]

14. To be scared...

..is to give in.

Ever hear of a supermax prison? All body cavities are inspected. Clothing is limited. And still, people are murdered. If murder cannot be limited *there*, planes will still be a joke.

-Bop
edit: spelling

[Walt Starr]

13. My BS meter is in overload

quoting Ann Coulter as some sort of expert on aircraft hijackings makes the author a right wing shill.

Not to mention, she (the author) is a BIGOT!

[Killarney]

15. is this part true?

"it was the policy (before 9/11) and I believe remains the policy today to fine airlines if they have more than two young Arab males in secondary questioning because that's discriminatory. So even if Northwest Airlines searched two of the men on board my Northwest flight, they couldn't search the other 12 because they would have already filled a government-imposed quota."

if we could debunk that, then the whole thing is essentially debunked.

[Sufi Marmot]

18. It sounds strange....

For starters, how would the screeners know the ethnic identity or citizenship of people unless they were part of a large group obviously travelling together? It's my notion (and someone correct me if I'm wrong...) that the people who rummage through your bags as they come out of the X-ray machine don't check passports or identity, they just give more scrutiny to anything they don't recognize or that looks suspicious.

At the gate, they take your ticket and often look at ID (doesn't haveto be a passport, just photo ID) to verify the name matches the ticket. Do the people who nab you right before you go down the ramp to give you a more thorough "wanding" and shoe inspection also look at IDs or do they just nab anyone? Again, how would they know that any given person is "Arab", rather than Hispanic, Mediterranean, or from the Indian subcontinent? :shrug:

-SM

[carrowsboy]

19. Ldotters buy it and get racist

http://www.lucianne.com/threads22.asp?artnum=154555

Reply 2 - Posted by: libertylady, 7/16/2004 6:21:16 AM

How do we know for sure that they were set free? If they were all rounded up and sent to Guantanamo, who would know?

The Patriot Act is a Godsend for this situation. Now they can surveil them and listen and record their conversations. Prior to Patriot that was not possible if I understand it correctly.


Reply 3 - Posted by: billy, 7/16/2004 6:44:08 AM

I hope somebody in our clutchbutt security forces reads this article. People like this shouldn't even be allowed on an airplane.


Reply 10 - Posted by: shards, 7/16/2004 7:12:24 AM

This article is a MUST READ. It frightened me. Are we, as a country, so trusting to think that tragedy cannot occur again? Are the Detroit screeners 'competent' to do their jobs?

My advice would be to de-plane as soon as I counted 14 arabs as passengers. And if that advice is racist -- so be it.


Reply 13 - Posted by: SallyVee, 7/16/2004 9:05:56 AM

My mouth is dry and I can barely breathe after reading this.

We now have a much better idea of what actor James Woods experienced & observed one month before 9-11 on a flight from Boston to L.A. where, as it turned out, the dry run for the big event occurred right in front of him. He filed a report and heard nothing -- until the early morning of September 12, 2001, when the FBI showed up at his house to question him.

Why can't the Israelis open an airline in the U.S. ? I am serious.


Reply 17 - Posted by: mobyclik, 7/16/2004 9:14:41 AM

These 14 guys went on that flight to get the answer to ONE question:

'What will happen if 14 obviously middle eastern men get on an airliner and do the most suspicious things in front of a planeload of people and possibly several Air Marshalls?'

They got their answer. Thanks to pcism, so-called 'profiling', the liberal media and scumbag trial lawyers...THEY ARE FREE TO BLOW UP PLANES FULL OF US!


Reply 36 - Posted by: BirdsNest, 7/16/2004 10:54:51 AM

After reading that article I am more sure than ever that I will NEVER get on another airplane as long as I live! Soon after 9-11 we were in a local Mc Donald's and a group of Middle Eastern young men came in and got carry-out. They sat in their van for awhile then headed North (we live in Va on the Eastern Shore). I felt scared out of my wits.....they creeped me out. I wrote down a description of the vehicle and license, but never did anything with it. My fault. Guess next time I won't be so stupid. Any little bit of information could be key to an investigation. I have since found out there is a large Muslim population here that I was unaware of.


Reply 46 - Posted by: Fledrmaus, 7/16/2004 11:38:11 AM

So they're watching. Big deal. It will be no consolation when a plane gets blown up to be told that everyone knew all along what the bums were up to, and that we weren't fooled one bit. I want to see this filth beaten to death and poured our the exit when the plane lands, not know that everyone was hovering about breathlessly watching them as they dawdled about for 4 hours building a bomb!


Reply 74 - Posted by: flowerladytoo, 7/16/2004 2:27:41 PM

OH man, after reading this my insides are shaking.


Reply 92 - Posted by: oniana5, 7/16/2004 4:10:14 PM

Bring along some syrup of Ipecac (Throw-up inducing medicine). If you suspect someone of being a terrorist just down the bottle and aim your puke towards them. Somehow cause your own little chaos UPON them.


Reply 93 - Posted by: Fledrmaus, 7/16/2004 4:21:30 PM

I was thinking of always bringing along bags of pork rinds to snack on; I could eat them in the aisle and scatter crumbs freely.


Reply 98 - Posted by: Mother of AL, 7/16/2004 5:06:52 PM

I have decided that if I am on a plane where this type of behavior occurs, obviously I can't disable anyone, and I don't want to get in the way of the brave men (including my husband) who will be trying to disable, and perhaps losing their life. BUT, I have decided that I will cause some sort of distraction for them, (after letting them know what I am doing), by starting to cry (again, I probably won't have to fake that too much), or "getting airsick", or ANYTHING I can do to help.


Reply 106 - Posted by: High Life Man, 7/16/2004 6:20:49 PM

A while back, my wife and I were in Denver, waiting a morning flight to return home. I read a newspaper and sat at the gate -- maybe not being all that attentive. A young eastern European man was chattering away looking out the window (slovak? Russian?...)My wife was observing that the cell phone he was using appeared to be a camera-phone, and that he was taking pictures of a rather unattractive runway. She found that the staff was watching this guy as carefully as she. Upon getting off the plane, the call went out for 'passenger --------ski' to report to officials 'to answer some questions'.

I can see these as tests.


Reply 107 - Posted by: jt33, 7/16/2004 6:20:56 PM

Even in her article.. Annie has to point out that she's not a "racial profiler or worse yet a racist". And herein lies the problem, she and her husband put their lives and the life of their four year old on the line rather than be thought of as horrors.. a racial profiler. She & her husband sat there and watched the men board.. watched the eye contact between the men.. watched them nod at one another.. and yet, they sat on the plane. Annie.. pick up your child, and get off the plane.. there's another one going that way in a few hours. Who cares if the remaining people on board think you're a racial profiler or worse a racist. PC has already undermined this nation, and it's going to get a bunch of us killed.


Reply 112 - Posted by: Stars-stripes, 7/16/2004 7:05:14 PM

Even after experiencing 9/11, and initating the Patriot Act, Officials hands are still tied when it comes to following through on these incidents. Unless we can get the bleeding heart civil righters out of things, we are just as vulnerable today as we were prior to 9/11. Man are we stupid or what?

Me: YES!!! lol

[progressivebydesign]

27. Some really fucked up people post on there!

Let me get this straight... one woman was going to call the police because a "group of middle eastern men" bought Mcdonald's food and ate it in their van in the parking lot? OH THE HORRORS! WTF? Is being middle eastern and eating fast food a crime, now?

I'm certain that if this woman had said something to a flight attendant, then it would have been dealt with.. BUT do you HONESTLY think that potential hijakers are giving "thumbs up" on a plane? McDonald's bag? That wasn't searched? A foot-long item wrapped in material, was NOT searched? She's a nutcase.

[EstimatedProphet]

24. They had a poll on their page too, as a popup

which was obviously freeped. And it doesn't surprise me at all that freepers and ldotters are eating up the whole thing with a spoon. Not are they the stupidest people around, they are the stupidest people possible.
This reminds me of the time in December 2001 where a woman overheard 3 men at a restaurant say something about the number 11 and decided in her expert experience that of course THEY MUST BE TERRORISTS, and the police closed down half the eastern seaboard looking for 3 college students. Idiotic. And blatantly racist and attention-needy.

[DemoTex]

25. From a former airline captain and ALPA accident investigator ...

On the surface, this is a very disturbing article. However, I have no idea how credible the WWS source is. I am skeptical.

If the entire story is true, it should have made it into mainstream media or it is being squelched (and that is a definite possibility!). Personally, the story has a smell to it. Here is why (IMHO):

The first hint of this kind of "suspicious group activity" on my MD-80 or B-737 would warrant a high dive into the closest airport with a suitable runway. Period. I think (and hope) most airline captains are spring-loaded to that initial defense nowadays. We (airline pilots) are not heroes and we are not backed-up or protected by any meaningful mechanism from either the federal government or our individual airlines.

The TSA is a joke and the Justice Department is a thorn under all saddles. Our best defense is to land the aircraft immediately and abandon the cockpit. Not as cowards or chicken-hawks, but as a denial of control. Shut it down, pull the fire handles, and un-ass the cockpit. This is you captain. Adios.

[progressivebydesign]

26. I'm sorry the "foot long" thing wrapped in cloth reminds me of I Love Lucy

.. when she tried to smuggle a salami from Italy onto the plane. Okay, and the guy with a McDonald's bag? What was HE going to do? Supersize someone? This stupid story is just so unbelievable. I think SOMEONE is crying out for help there... "the cold, defiant look he gave me sent shivers down my spine"... who wrote that? Lynne Cheney?

[MisterP]

30. *shaking with laughter*

will they have to get an Arabic/German speaker, a German/Turkish speaker, a Turkish/French speaker, a French/Spanish speaker, and a Spanish/English speaker to translate the whole thing?

[realisticphish]

29. Why don't people understand

that terrorists are NOT stupid (at least in general). Psycho, yes, but not stupid. I mean, come on, 14 guys for one fucking plane? Also, why would any halfway intelligent person planting a bomb, or pulling a gun, make all those stupid hand motions, and shit. It's sad the state some people are in now; I had an Iranian RA last year at school (really nice guy), and on move out day, I could see a bunch of parents staring at him, and backing away from him whenever he got near them


:hippie:

[Ms. Clio]

32. LOL!!! No need to click on the link to know this is pure fiction

And ugly racist fiction, at that.