Woman faces charges in flight scare (actually confirms much of the early reports)

AP, via MLive.com ^ | 8/17/06 | MELISSA TRUJILLO

[Diddle E. Squat]

OBTW, she is a 59-year old white native-born American grandma. Aren't the simpletons that scream "racially profiling is all we need to do" always saying we are wasting time searching white grandmothers?

[ARealMothersSonForever]

Aren't the simpletons that scream "racially profiling is all we need to do" always saying we are wasting time searching white grandmothers?

OK. We DO need to profile caucasian grandmothers coming from Pakistan via Dubai via London. And we need to check babies for bombs coming from Pakistan via Dubai via London. Better now?

[Krodg]

Fox had a terrorism expert on last Thursday and he was that all the ingredients necessary to blow up a plane could be purchased in airport stores inside the secure area. I am afraid TSA is woefully inept and totally lacking in the necessary vision to handle airport screening like Israel does.

Why are you blaming the US, when the flight started on foreign soils?

[thoughtomator]

Any profiler would see that she came from Pakistan and that would warrant special attention. This is an argument FOR profiling, not against it.

[SauronOfMordor]

Sounds like she wasn't part of any actual plot and was just a kooky leftist journalist who freaked out.

It looks like she's a kooky Leftie who is involved with a Pakistani man (on the link, a poster found reference to a letter she wrote in 2002 talking about her Pakistani fiance)

Possibility there's something going on here

[SauronOfMordor]

Hmmm, a 59 YO grandmother with a Pakistani boyfriend. This all reads like she was recruited by her pal, and then drugged before the flight to remove any second thoughts/inhibitions about carrying out her plot.

The weakness of profiling, is that Muslim men can use Western women to carry stuff through security for them

[thoughtomator]

The strength of profiling, that anyone who comes from Pakistan is a potential threat regardless of skin color.

[HeartlandOfAmerica]

What about the "Al-Queda" notes? One in english and one in arabic if I remember correctly. everything else seems to match, but I hear nothing about that one. Oh. And the vaseline.

[weegee]

"Vaseline TM" vs. "handcream"

We don't know what sort of gel agent it was but whatever it was was prohibited.

[weegee]

Son says that man can't travel to the US.

[bcsco]

The thought of her being a useful tool (or useful idiot) crossed my mind also. But it didn't sound as though she had the makings, although she did have prohibited items with her. That in itself is suspicious.

This could get interesting!

[Thinkin' Gal]

The thought of her being a useful tool (or useful idiot) crossed my mind also. But it didn't sound as though she had the makings, although she did have prohibited items with her. That in itself is suspicious.

Well, you figure they've got to dip into a pool of unstable wackos to begin with in order to fish out recruits. That does make it likely that some are going to wash out at the last minute. While they try to deceive by using stupid Western women, it's simply not going to be as easy as with the muslim natives, where they have the advantage of inbreeding.

[Kitten Festival]

The person she reminds me of is that Deb Fritsch creature, the one who threatened the blogger's toddler daughter. That one, both seem like that same person.

[the invisib1e hand]

yup. Vermont.

[Deo volente]

She's 59 years old, a journalist, and had visited Pakistan earlier because of an online relationship she'd developed with a Pakistani.

Osama's new girlfriend?

[bcsco]

Could be I 'spose. I think she's goofy enough.

[BykrBayb]

Anyone using a passport that shows a visit to Pakistan only days before boarding your flight needs to be seated surrounded by the biggest blond-haired American males on the flight.

What, are you trying to increase tourism to Pakistan? Do know how many desperate women would make a stop-over in Pakistan, with that kind of incentive? Sheesh!

[reformedliberal]

I have mild claustrophobia and it is ok as long as there is moving air that I can feel. In a plane, especially on a trans-Pacific flight, I just keep the a/c nozzle open and sometimes even have my husband's a/c aimed my way.

No meds, ever. I have had one panic attack in my entire life and all I can say is that it was nothing like this woman's behavior. I felt like I was falling, everyone and everything was very far away, sound was distorted and I couldn't stop crying. It was awful and thankfully it has never happened again. It also had nothing to do with claustrophobia, but with personal, family events. In fact, I was in a large, open public space with relatively few people.

I vote this woman was in a manic state. Other than that, I hope some reliable information emerges eventually. I am glad security on board was able to deal with her.

[NonValueAdded]

Yeah, and they will be ready to tie you up at your command. Whoops, have I invented the female equivalent of Hooters Airline? :)

[Ditto]

OBTW, she is a 59-year old white native-born American grandma. Aren't the simpletons that scream "racially profiling is all we need to do" always saying we are wasting time searching white grandmothers?

Bingo. I have talked to airport cops who have told me about some of the stuff they took off of blue-haired old ladies. In fact, if you're a smart terrorist looking to pull some act, lonely old ladies, ugly young ones, or horney men make for easy targets.

El Al has the right system. They hire smart people for security, not drop-outs, and they teach those people how to spot and profile people physically and psychologically. Apart from the obvious that a mental midget could spot, ethnic appearance does not mean squat. Richard Reed looked like a black guy with a British accent, and he damn near took out 300 people with his shoe. Tallaban-boy Johnny Lind would have probably done whatever these Islamonazis told him to do. You can't tell who's a damn jihadi by looks alone.

Everyone should be suspect including you and me. That sucks, but that is the way it is.

I hate the PC too, and I agree that anyone with a Mideast accent or background should be checked closely. But I'm just as tired of the uninformed bitching too. There are "normal looking people" who are every bit as dangerous as Mohammad Atta.