U.S. Seeks Paris-L.A. Plane Passengers

Associated Press ^ | 12/26/03 | LARRY MARGASAK

[TexKat]

WASHINGTON - U.S. investigators are searching for a small number of people who failed to show up at the Paris airport to board flights to Los Angeles that fell under close scrutiny in a possible terrorist plot, a U.S. official said Friday.

One of those people was receiving pilot training, but was not yet certified, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Investigators remain interested in talking with those people to ease concerns some passengers aboard those flights might have intended to use them to launch terror attacks against the United States, the official said.

Discussions between U.S. and French officials led to the cancellation of six Air France flights between Paris and Los Angeles on Wednesday and Thursday. U.S. officials also were talking to officials in other countries.

After the Air France cancellations, French investigators questioned seven men pointed out by U.S. intelligence but found no evidence they planned to use a Los Angeles-bound jet to launch terror attacks against the United States, French authorities said.

Meanwhile, U.S. counterterrorism officials were turning to possible threats next week that might target large, public gatherings, such as New Year's Eve celebrations. One U.S. official said there was no specific information such an attack was likely, but said such gatherings would obviously be an attractive target for terrorists hoping to inflict large-scale casualties.

Already, Homeland Security officials have enhanced their ability to monitor the air for biological warfare agents in 30 cities, one of several ways the government is preparing for possible terrorist strikes during a high, Code Orange alert.

The alert also has activated special disaster response teams, while federal officials have been conferring with foreign governments to prevent terrorists from boarding international flights bound for the United States.

"People have their antennas up," said Brian Roehrkasse, a spokesman for the Homeland Security Department.

President Bush kept abreast of terrorism threats from the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland as he celebrated Christmas Day with his family.

The department previously modified air pollution monitoring equipment in the 30 cities to pick up any harmful biological agents and provide test results in 12 to 24 hours.

After the national threat alert was raised to orange on Sunday, officials took several dozen additional monitors and installed them in the same cities. The locations were not identified for security reasons.

The emergency response units that have been activated are divided up by areas of expertise.

Separate teams would:

_Provide expert advice and support to the on-scene commander if there was a threat or an incident involving weapons of mass destruction.

_Respond to any release of radiation with advice and air monitoring equipment.

_Provide medical personnel to assist state and local medical authorities.

___

On the Net:

Homeland Security Department: http://www.dhs.gov

[Teri0811]

"Northeast Intelligence Network and Steve Quayle as sources? C'mon. This is a step down from Debka. These are fronts for people selling surplus military survival gear, MRE's, gas masks, and other such tripe. Get a grip on reality."

Yeah, apparently I didn't realize what I was looking at. FairOpinion let me know earlier that the sites I was looking at have nothing whatsoever to do with the government's national security website. My apologies, I tend to be oblivious to my surroundings and just skim through things. Not a good idea, I know.

[Teri0811]

"BTW -- do you happen to remember where you saw the list of specific flights, which were canceled, which you posted earlier? I haven't seen the Tahiti Air flight from Auckland mentioned anywhere, except in your post."

Fox New had reported that the Air France flights were cancelled and it just happened to be at the same time that I had found this site and saw that many had questions as to which flights and whether they were non-stop so I searched for went to Air France's website and then to their Flight Information page. At that time, it was announced by Fox that one of the flights was actually an Air Tahiti flight so again, I looked up Air Tahiti's website and went to its Flight Information page. That was about the time that it was announced that all flights were being cancelled and I just gave up on looking up the rest of the information. I originally thought that maybe the airlines would have an announcement of some sort on their sites considering the cause of the cancellations; however, there wasn't and I had to search the flight information pages for flights taking off from Paris to L.A.

Thanks again for the information regarding the Northeast Intel site. It didn't even dawn on me that I was looking at a .com rather than a .gov. Thanks also for the thread, which I have bookmarked. I have a tendency to just skim through these sites but freerepublic looks to be a site well worth reading.

[flying Elvis]

The warnings combined with the attempted assasination of Musharrif of Pakistan are straight out of the AQ playbook for a big operation. I believe we foiled a big one this time around. If this all turns out to be for real, then it was a significant strategic mistake by AQ to use the French to get to us, after all the frogs are their closest allies in Europe.

[Teri0811]

"Welcome to Free Republic. Warning: It's addictive..."

Too late :) one day and I'm addicted already. There's so much more and better information here than on most of the sites I had been looking at and reading through.

[radu]

Just when I think the french (lower-case "f" intentional) can do nothing to disgust me any more than I already am, they prove me wrong.

FNC just had a French reporter on who said the French goverment is alluding to the fact that President Bush made this up in an election year to garner international support for the war on terrorism!

OH PULEEEEEEZE!!!!! SHEEEESH!!

I honestly wish the flights hadn't been resumed from france. It doesn't matter that LAX and others have taken precautions and have the planes parking away from the terminals......if a plane is hijacked, it won't get that far. The flight will end wherever the intended target is.

I hope the people they're looking for who are supposed to be involved are caught....and KEPT....before they can board a flight.

[radu]

On CNN they mentioned yesterday, that they have the NEST (Nuclear Emergency Survey Team) at LAX -- but couldn't see it anywhere in any article on the web.

Same here. Got it on tape. I keep tapes in the VCR at all times and record reports pertaining to all kinds of events at home and abroad. Been doing this since 9/11 and tape #400 is almost full now.

And this thread will join the other zillions I've bookmarked. FR's a treasure trove of info. I don't know what I'll ever do with it all but I've got it. LOL!

[radu]

CNN reported that the french said they'd been told the Tunisian pilot wasn't planning to go anywhere over the holidays. BUT the report said his name was supposedly on the passenger list.
The big question was, if he wasn't planning to go anywhere, WHY was his name on the passenger list?

The info about this whole thing is so sketchy it's honestly difficult to know what's really happened.

[radu]

Welcome to FR!

I was addicted to FR immediately, too, but didn't get up the courage to post for several months. LOL!

The way FReepers work together to confirm or debunk news reports is amazing and this is the best place to find out what's really going on.

Happy FReeping!