"Terror in the Skies, Again?" -- DEBUNKED

[GiovanniC]

http://www.snopes.com/politics/crime/skyterror.asp

Particularly interesting...


Undercover federal air marshals on board a June 29 Northwest airlines flight from Detroit to LAX identified themselves after a passenger, "overreacted," to a group of middle-eastern men on board, federal officials and sources have told KFI NEWS.

<SNIP>

The source said the air marshals on the flight were partially concerned Jacobsen’s actions could have been an effort by terrorists or attackers to create a disturbance on the plane to force the agents to identify themselves.

Air marshals' only tactical advantage on a flight is their anonymity, the source said, and Jacobsen could have put the entire flight in danger.

"They have to be very cognizant of their surroundings," spokesman Adams confirmed, "to make sure it isn't a ruse to try and pull them out of their cover."

[RobertSeattle]

1. their anonymity ???

They are typically on the plane well before anyone else and sitting in 1st class - the air marshalls aren't hard to figure out to anyone brigher than George Bush.

But I don't find it a big deal, half their purpose is the eye wash of feeling better that the flight is more secure.

[VolcanoJen]

2. Another fantastic debunk on Salon, by "Ask the Pilot" author Patrick Smith

http://www.salon.com/tech/col/smith/2004/07/21/askthepilot95/index.html

It's well worth the free day pass - ad clickthru!

Excerpt:

Most disturbing of all has been the pickup from Internet bloggers and news sources, including ABC, CNN, MSNBC and the New York Times. The writer hops a flight to California on which absolutely nothing of danger occurs, and the following are among the citations:

"Harrowing piece"
"The frightening true story"
"Disturbing account"
"Riveting article"
"An absolute must-read"

"Read all about the breaking Northwest airlines scare," advertises TheLosAngelesNews.com, suggesting perhaps a narrowly averted crash, a bomb defused during flight or a thwarted skyjacking. Click on over to hear instead about the toilet habits of a group of Syrian minstrels and one middle-aged woman's alarmist reaction to them. No matter; over the past week or so Jacobsen has found herself linked and excerpted in every last crevice of the Web. Those of you not convinced of just how paranoid and xenophobic Americans can be, look no further than the following online posts, which, along with thousands like them, have emerged in direct response to this story:

"You will never, ever, catch me on an airplane again!"

"My advice would be to de-plane as soon as I counted 14 Arabs as passengers. "