Posted on 07/15/2004 6:19:30 AM PDT by Rutles4Ever
A WWS Exclusive Article
Note from the Editors: 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.
On that Tuesday, our journey began uneventfully. Starting out that morning in Providence, Rhode Island, we went through security screening, flew to Detroit, and passed the time waiting for our connecting flight to Los Angeles by shopping at the airport stores and eating lunch at an airport diner. With no second security check required in Detroit we headed to our gate and waited for the pre-boarding announcement. Standing near us, also waiting to pre-board, was a group of six Middle Eastern men. They were carrying blue passports with Arabic writing. Two men wore tracksuits with Arabic writing across the back. Two carried musical instrument cases thin, flat, 18" long. One wore a yellow T-shirt and held a McDonald's bag. And the sixth man had a bad leg -- he wore an orthopedic shoe and limped. When the pre-boarding announcement was made, we handed our tickets to the Northwest Airlines agent, and walked down the jetway with the group of men directly behind us.
My four-year-old son was determined to wheel his carry-on bag himself, so I turned to the men behind me and said, "You go ahead, this could be awhile." "No, you go ahead," one of the men replied. He smiled pleasantly and extended his arm for me to pass. He was young, maybe late 20's and had a goatee. I thanked him and we boarded the plan.
Once on the plane, we took our seats in coach (seats 17A, 17B and 17C). The man with the yellow shirt and the McDonald's bag sat across the aisle from us (in seat 17E). The pleasant man with the goatee sat a few rows back and across the aisle from us (in seat 21E). The rest of the men were seated throughout the plane, and several made their way to the back.
(Excerpt) Read more at womenswallstreet.com ...
This needs some publicity on your side of the Atlantic.
This needs more exposure.
The husband was on his way to a confrontation with these 14 Syrian "musicians" and the stewardess told him this to calm him down. I'm not sure if it was the right decision, but she had to make it. Why are you sticking up for the Syrian musicians? Are you Syrian?
"martial" law--
No, do not hide who you are. They do not. Make them think the Mossad is on that plane with you if they start anything.
It seems pretty obvious to me that this exercise was a probe. They are probing to find out the limits of our resistance, and our ability to defend.
Consider what's been widely promulgated as the post-9/11 conventional wisdom, i.e., no plane can ever be taken over again because the passengers will overtake the hijackers.
Is this really true? Or, is it something that was true, but is no longer true, due to the short attention span of American teevee addicts, and, the "time heals all wounds" doctrine?
Or, is it something that's true, but only for small groups of hijackers? Or, is it only true for groups of hijackers who home in on the cockpit, but not true for hijackers who leave the cockpit alone, and instead, don't seem to have any "focus" -- until the home in on the toilets of all places? And even then, they don't offer the passengers any single point of focus -- they shuffle around until descending on both ends of the plane, making it very difficult for the passengers and crew to work out any kind of strategy.
Also, consider this: The reports prior to this have been warnings to be on the lookout for FIVE potential terrorists. I believe they are ratcheting up their efforts, as they systematically probe our defenses. If we're looking out for five -- and prepared for five -- then they'll give us three times that amount of perps, and overwhelm us with both numbers, and, the chaotic element inherent in any (relatively) large operation, highly choreographed, with NO clear plan that's obvious to the observer (until it's too late).
And what do we know from this?
We know that we are overwhelmed by a force of terrorists three times larger than the number we previously thought likely to try to hit us.
We know that the two FAM guys will do nothing other than take notes, talk with each other and the crew, and collect bricks in their BVDs until the plane lands. (If the plane lands!)
Why?
Because they were outnumbered, outgunned, and outmaneuvered.
And, we know that the passengers will do nothing but sit there with white knuckles, filling their BVDs with bricks too.
In short, what we know is that a sufficiently large quantity of aggressive "profile types" can pretty much "own" the cabin due to sheer intimidation, and everyone -- passengers, crew, FAM guys -- everyone will sit back and do nothing to stop them.
Even after the fact -- AFTER they've been grilled by the FBI -- AFTER they've done the "one way ticket" trip, with a lame-assed alibi, with Syrian passports, with the obvious probing test-run -- they will still be allowed to make another one way ticket" trip TWO DAYS LATER!
So, not to put too fine a point on it, we've failed the test, and that alone should be sufficient to give the various biggies (Ridge, Daschle, etc.) the shivers.
This ain't good. It ain't good at all.
I do not live in fear either. Otherwise, my children would be lassoed to me at all times. Then I'd be insane!!!! And hubby would not go to work, and we'd be broker than broke. As it is, we just try to keep our eyes and ears open. And we pray that God will guide us and keep us.
My guess is that the flight crew were told by the Fed. Marshalls to leave them alone, so they could observe their behavior. They (the flight crew) knew the Feds were on board. I'm guessing they were just as concerned as the passengers.
I don't fear Marshall or Martial law. However Marital laws scare the begeebees out of me.
From October 16, 2001
My son is 5'11" and built like a fullback.
Of course that increases the chances that HE will be pulled over.
You are well adjusted to the new reality of life. I suspect your methods serve you and your family very well indeed.
I've been saying just that for years. PC is the most oppressive and most dangerous bit of foolishness that liberals have come up with yet, and they've come up with some doozies over the years.
Usually in my tagline, (except for this election season), a quote from an interview done a number of years ago. And he is spot on.
"Political correctness is intellectual terrorism."-- Mel Gibson
"This was either a dry run or an attempt to scare the bejeemus out of everyone on the plane. Either way. it is terrorism." Samwise
I was thinking along these lines as well (an attempt to scare and judge reaction perhaps and still terrorism). Still I do not know why the pilot did not require passengers to stay in their seats after the first few bathroom escapades. Regarding why no one went to the bathroom to check after them I am thinking they are not assembling the bomb in the bathroom and leaving it behind as they progress they are passing it and the components back and forth to each other.
Yes, of course. Meanwhile Achmed with the "Death to America" T-shirt will go in with no problem....
O M G !!!!
That's the scariest thing I've ever read or heard of. I've often thought, even before 9/11, how easy it would be to sneak aboard parts to build a weapon while in flight. On 9/11 the passengers of the planes stood a good chance of overtaking 5 terrorists but there's no way, air marshalls or not, 14 terrorists could be taken out.
Actually having worked in the airline industry - I don't doubt her story in the least. Flight attendants are human just like anyone, capable of breaking rules, forgetting training - if she was spooked too then she may very well have shared the info with the admonition "not to tell"..
Can't comment on the flight paths in LA - I've only flown in there a few times - but like other cities "downtown" could mean anything to someone who doesn't live there... shoot - I've flown into Chicago and can't see the huge skyscrapers but have seen other parts of "downtown"
If no one else finds it, you can go there and either carry it back with you legally (locked case, declared) on your next flight back. (A relative did the exact same thing here. Forgot it while he was visiting this state, and on his next trip, declared it when he flew back. No hassle.)
Or, you could take it to an FFL and pay him to ship it to a local FFL for you to pick up.
No need to go all wobbly over it!
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