Terror in the Skies, Again?

Gonz

Gonz

molṑn labé
Staff member
By Annie Jacobsen
A WWS Exclusive Article

Note from the E-ditors: You are about to read an account of what happened during a domestic flight that one of our writers, Annie Jacobsen, took from Detroit to Los Angeles. The WWS Editorial Team debated long and hard about how to handle this information and ultimately we decided it was something that should be shared. What does it have to do with finances? Nothing, and everything. Here is Annie's story.

On June 29, 2004, at 12:28 p.m., I flew on Northwest Airlines flight #327 from Detroit to Los Angeles with my husband and our young son. Also on our flight were 14 Middle Eastern men between the ages of approximately 20 and 50 years old. What I experienced during that flight has caused me to question whether the United States of America can realistically uphold the civil liberties of every individual, even non-citizens, and protect its citizens from terrorist threats.

After seeing 14 Middle Eastern men board separately (six together, eight individually) and then act as a group, watching their unusual glances, observing their bizarre bathroom activities, watching them congregate in small groups, knowing that the flight attendants and the pilots were seriously concerned, and now knowing that federal air marshals were on board, I was officially terrified. Before I'm labeled a racial profiler or -- worse yet -- a racist, let me add this. A month ago I traveled to India to research a magazine article I was writing. My husband and I flew on a jumbo jet carrying more than 300 Hindu and Muslim men and women on board. We traveled throughout the country and stayed in a Muslim village 10 miles outside Pakistan. I never once felt fearful. I never once felt unsafe. I never once had the feeling that anyone wanted to hurt me. This time was different.

The next day, I began searching online for news about the incident. There was nothing. I asked a friend who is a local news correspondent if there were any arrests at LAX that day. There weren't. I called Northwest Airlines' customer service. They said write a letter. I wrote a letter, then followed up with a call to their public relations department. They said they were aware of the situation (sorry that happened!) but legally they have 30 days to reply.

So here's my question: Since the FBI issued a warning to the airline industry to be wary of groups of five men on a plane who might be trying to build bombs in the bathroom, shouldn't a group of 14 Middle Eastern men be screened before boarding a flight?
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Just segments of a much longer story. Read it at Woman's Wall Street dot com
 
Hmmm...having read the whole story, I'll say this. When I first went through, and read about the cases, I assumed, from the beginning, that they were most likely musicians on their way to a gig. As for the frequent trips to the bathroom, and the idea of searching passengers already in a sterile area, I say this...Why? If you never leave the arrival/departure area, then there's no way to get the items needed to make a bomb, and you've already been through screening. The answer to this is as follows

1. She panicked, and made assumptions, and 14 musicians, one of whom may have had a fear of flying, were accosted at their arrival. The writer is exhibiting the results of 9/11 exactly as the original terrorists wanted, and by her efforts, has provided 14 more names that may one day become that which she fears the most. The aircrew was even worse. They were afraid enough of these men, after the writer's prodding, to become derilict in their duties. Their job was to be in control of the passengers at all times if no terrorist threat is actually present. Suspicion ain't enough. If they had been in control, and told the men to take their seats, and been refused, then the Air Marshals would've had a reason to act, and the situation would've resolved itself either way. Too many morons, and so little time...
 
It couldn't have been a run through, a practice session? Didja notice how many Marshalls were on board one flight?
 
Jumping to conclusions or not, I'd have been just as nervous as her husband was, and probably would have followed his actions.

Isn't that sort of alertness and response what we're supposed to be doing?
 
Any possibility that they may have felt so extraordinarily self concious about being obviously middle eastern on an american flight that they showed the obvious signs: grouping, nervousness, darting glanses, etc. thinking that everyone suspected they were terrorists? I know I would have felt like there was a gigantic bulls eye on my back at all times especially if i was getting evil glares from every single passenger on board AND the crew.
 
Sometimes those bullseyes are there for a reason.

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The pic's a little much, but the point is valid.

To date, 99.8% of terrorists focuing on attacks within the US have been arabs. Follow that thought to its logical conclusion, and don;t let your sense of PC get in the way.
 
HomeLAN said:
The pic's a little much, but the point is valid.

To date, 99.8% of terrorists focuing on attacks within the US have been arabs. Follow that thought to its logical conclusion, and don;t let your sense of PC get in the way.
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Hmmm...I don't see that. Shall I start naming organizations?

1. SLA (The group that 'kidnapped' Patty Hearst)
2. KKK (Intimidation and active violence against Catholics, Blacks, and Jews)
3. Skinheads (Active violence and intimidation against Blacks and Jews)
4. Neo-Nazi's (see #3)

AFAIK, none of those groups have, or permit, any arabs...and some of them have been around considerably longer. I'm not advocating terrorism in any form, but I'm sure you get the picture... ;)
 
OK, I'll go along with that, but very few klansmen get on board an aircraft wearing sheets.

OTOH, if ANY group of people were acting the way these were, I'd be all over the place trying to figure out WTF was up. Their heritage simply makes me more jumpy. Don't like it? Tough shit.
 
If we use Pavlov's theory in anything but race relations it's called scientific.
 
HomeLAN said:
To date, 99.8% of terrorists focuing on attacks within the US have been arabs. Follow that thought to its logical conclusion, and don;t let your sense of PC get in the way.
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hm thats a strange statistic. where does that come from? and how do they determine thought patterns of who is thinking about doing something terrorist? And how do the numbers of "arabs focusing on terrosist attacks in america" compare with the total population of arabs in the entire world? what would be the percentage there? And remember all it takes is one white guy to blow up an entire building and kill a couple hundred. But do we suspect all geeky looking guys with crew cuts of being bombers? What about old angry men who live in shacks in montana?

Did anybody here know Detroit has the highest population of muslims in the US? Does it not make sense that bunches of them would fly on planes from there? Would you all have gotten your panties in a bunch if a bunch of them had flown on aircraft before 9-11? Or would you have slept the flight away and never noticed their "strange bathroom habits"?
 
Are you suggesting it's unreasonable to suspect an individual or a group because it may not be politically correct? As soon as long haired white guys start blowing up buildings around the world I'll be unhappy but I'll also understand being harassed by the man. Oh wait, I already get harassed. It sucks. It's also quite reasonable.
 
As soon as long haired white guys start blowing up buildings around the world I'll be unhappy but I'll also understand being harassed by the man.
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That's my point. Since 9/11, the only major terror suspect I've heard about that hasn't been arabic were a few multinationals at Gitmo and Jose Padilla. I'll concede that they're out there, but I'll insist they're a minority in the arena of hijacking and destroying US airliners at this point.

Pre 9/11, I'd have noticed, but I wouldn't have been as upset as I'd be now. I've never slept on a flight in my life. Since 9/11, well, the world's a different place, isn't it? PC can get your ass waxed these days.
 
HomeLAN said:
That's my point. Since 9/11, the only major terror suspect I've heard about that hasn't been arabic were a few multinationals at Gitmo and Jose Padilla. I'll concede that they're out there, but I'll insist they're a minority in the arena of hijacking and destroying US airliners at this point.

Pre 9/11, I'd have noticed, but I wouldn't have been as upset as I'd be now. I've never slept on a flight in my life. Since 9/11, well, the world's a different place, isn't it? PC can get your ass waxed these days.
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Do you remember how the UNABOMBER got his nickname? He only bombed Universities and Airliners to begin with. Does D.B. Cooper ring any bells, either? It isn't 'PC', as you'd like to put it. It's common knowledge. Don't hate, or fear, without reason. ;)
 
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