Officials say al-Qaida operatives may be fully trained airline pilots

MSNBC.com ^ | 12/22/03 | NBC

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Authorities raised the terrorist threat assessment over the weekend after new intelligence indicated that operatives of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network, possibly trained and licensed to fly passenger jets, may now be pilots for some foreign airlines, ideally positioning them to carry out suicide attacks, U.S. officials told NBC News on Monday.

Reinforced cockpit doors intended to thwart hijackers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks would now protect any terrorist pilot at the controls, the officials said on condition of anonymity.

Authorities would not describe the terror threats in detail publicly, but the U.S. officials told NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski that the threat alert would remain at “orange,” or high, through the end of January, which they said was an indication of its seriousness.

[LenS]

Even without the reinforced doors, how would the passengers or stewardesses even know that there was a problem until seconds before impact? Under those conditions, passengers would have no time to do anything. Once you get a suicide agent as a pilot, the only way to stop it is with air defense. But even an F-16 is useless against a suicide jet that picks a target along it's general flight path -- not enough time to react.

The only real solution is to fire all Muslim pilots and to ground all Islamic national airlines.

That being said, the pilots should be armed (if they choose to be).

[Lokibob]

beat me by 2 mins.

[hotpotato]

Venesuela -> Venezuela

[Shermy]

I believe that was a summit in Genoa, Italy.

[rintense]

The Pats would roll over the Pack. They just aren't that good.

[ConservativeMan55]

Ohhhhh. It was the G-8 summit.

[boycott]

a plane on final approach to LaGuardia could veer off and hit the empire state building in about 1-2 minutes. how are you going to shoot it down?

This has certainly be a concern of mine. I believe we will eventually have to ban all flights from the middle east. I really don't want them over here anyway.

[Metternich]

So, to be specific, you think if al-Q rams a plane into the Empire State builiding and it collapses, killing hundreds or thousands, we'd intern Muslims?

[Squantos]

This crap is out of control........could'a would'a should'a is the mantra of chicken little inc who along with the terrorists are the "only" ones getting any mileage out of this threat management fiasco. Arm the pilot and copilot and call it a day.

Stay Safe Sam ...Hope you holiday's are peaceful !

[headsonpikes]

Well, I guess they won't be hitting you up for the 'Save The Jihadi Children' Fund.

;^)

[ConservativeMan55]

You are correct. I remember taking the article downstairs and showing it to my parents and others in my family.

I was concerned about the Presidents security.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Once you get a suicide agent as a pilot, the only way to stop it is with air defense.

So you believe that the plane that went down in Pennsylvania on 9/11 was shot down?

[oceanview]

with a reinforced cockpit door, Todd Beamer would not have been able to get into the cockpit on flight 93.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

The Pats would roll over the Pack. They just aren't that good.

Indeed. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

[thoughtomator]

Yes.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Stay Safe Sam ...Hope you holiday's are peaceful !

I will! And the best of the Season to you and your pack.

[ConservativeMan55]

Found this on the White House Web site.

[Ben Hecks]

***Maybe that was a "prototype exercise".***

There were about 30 high ranking Egyptian military officers on that flight who had just completed a joint training exercise in the U.S. IIRC, the aircraft left LAX empty, stopped at Edwards AFB to pick up the Egyptian officers then flew to JFK where the remaining passengers boarded. My theory is that the aircraft was taken down to send a signal to the Egpytian government.

[JimSEA]

Thanks for the post. I was not aware of this. Chavez would seem suicidal or very stupid.

[garjog]

The article seems to minimize the affects of a dirty bomb: "Experts said a potent dirty bomb could spread radioactive material for a half-mile in all directions. People in the fallout zone would be bombarded with radiation levels that they would not otherwise be exposed to from natural sources for a full year."

But, I did some research on dirty bombs and there is no way of knowing the extent of harm without knowing the quality of the radioactive material. If it is low grade, then the health affects are small. But, they could use stuff that is so hot that the area would have to be abandoned for DECADES.

Tin foil alert: are they trying to prepare us not to panic for what they are pretty sure is going to happen? Why else would the government source make a dirty bomb attack sound so trivial?