Terror in the Skies Again (Absolutely Positive MUST-READ)

Womens' Wall Street.com ^ | July 2004 | Annie Jacobsen

[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.

[Rakkasan1]

14 musicians- that's not a band, that's an orchestra.

if I carry my kazoo with me, maybe NWA will let me pack
my Glock . I play both pretty well.

[Camel Joe]

Perhaps they were only dosing themselves with smallpox, spreading out from LA to parts unknown. When next they strike we will wonder how we missed the signs. I plan on taking my anger out on the liberals who put us in this situation to begin with. Peacefully of course...

[mtbopfuyn]

Fly as little as possible until Moslems get special treatment all the time, every flight, every Moslem.

Better yet, eveyone don't fly for a week and watch the airline industry fall all over themselves installing security systems. Personally, I'm not flying anywhere at any time.

[creepycrawly]

Their primary purpose is to cause terror, hence the name terrorists.

Exactly. All they need to do is conduct some "chatter" and Tom Ridge is on the TV.

[CyberAnt]

ALL OTHERS IN THE WORLD GET THE BENEFITS OF THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION. Amazing!!

[Our man in washington]

I have to agree with you about making a move. As the old saying goes, better to be judged by 12 than carried by six.

Besides, I'll say it here and now: say you are in this situation. Say you respond appropriately, by making people stay in their seats. Say you are arrested on the ground for a hate crime. If I'm on the jury, you're at the very least are going to have a hung jury and you will probably go free.

And a lot of other Americans think like me.

[mtbopfuyn]

I had left something in a side compartment that I did not know was there. Even though they looked through my camera bag by hand ... it remained undetected.

If you did it, there's countless others who have gotten stuff through. The terrorists know they can hit whenever they want and there's not a darned thing we will do to stop them.

[AnnaZ]

I've been examining my reaction (is that navel-gazing? LOL) and realized it's because it rekindled 9/11 for me. I cried spontaneously for two months after that (and have also developed mild Tourette's in that I became rather potty-mouthed, seriously).

 

It's interesting, how we have emotional memory that can be so quickly recalled... I was robbed at gun-point once, and when the incident was over I collapsed out of shock. A month later, friends pulled up into my driveway on motorcycles at night (my attackers had arrived in similar manner, but in daylight). I may by then have been the possessor of a Mossberg Intimidator with laser sighting, I may have grabbed and pointed it... but the weak-legged adrenalin bomb kicked in exactly the same regardless.

 

Wait a minute... getting mugged made me a gun lover, how come America ain't reacting in the same manner? Impeach Mineta!

 

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

Thanks. Read it and e-mailed it to a ton of friends. It's high time we screened like they do in Europe. We're far to PC and we can thank the LIBS for that. It's going to get more of our citizens killed. It frustrates the heck out of us both.

[LadyPilgrim]

I think most all Americans think like this.
But evidently, this plane load didn't.

After 9/11, anything you do as a matter of protection, is better than dying pitifully.

I say "LET'S ROLL".

I know, I know................ I'm a girl and not supposed to act this way. You know......not be aggressive and all that!

[jimbo123]

The pilots and crew of Northwest Airlines were scared of what was happening. And lawsuits filed by liberals fueled the uncertainty of what they should do:


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/06/04/national/main511058.shtml

Discrimination Suits Hit 4 Airlines

REUTERS) Civil rights groups filed lawsuits against four major airlines Tuesday, alleging discrimination against five men who were removed from flights after the Sept. 11 attacks because they looked Middle Eastern.

The suits ask the court to find that the airlines violated the plaintiffs' civil rights and for the airlines to implement measure to prevent future discrimination.

[KC_Conspirator]

We are a nation of morons and political correctness is once again going to kill more Americans.

This reminds of the flight that actor James Woods was on and he observed the same terrorists who attacked America on 911 scouting/casing the airplane.

[JTHomes]

Excactly, we have people here demanding the stewardess be fired for telling the husband about the FAMs, but you don't hear them screaming bloody murder about the actions of the ragheads on the plan and the inaction by the flight crew, passengers, pilots and FAMs.

And really, telling someone there are FAMs wouldn't really cause any harm anyway. We want terrorists to know they are there. Revealing there aren't any FAMs would be bad though.

[Quilla]

One of my girl friends tells of three similar incidents that occurred on flights she made shortly after September 11, 2001. A gentleman stated loudly for all to hear, "If anyone has any plans to take over this plane, they're going to have me to deal with!" She said several others chimed in with similar comments. I'm afraid we are becoming increasingly complacent (after all, Kerry said the President exaggerated the threats of terrorism) and we will pay for it.

[jimbo123]

Flashback:

Northwest Airlines apologizes for deplaning Muslim immigrant
May 21, 2003:

Harris Khan, 28, a Pakistani immigrant, who was removed from a Northwest Airlines flight three months after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, allegedly because he looked Middle Eastern, received an apology and monetary damages from the airline in a settlement. As part of the agreement, believed to be the first of its kind in the country, the airline also agreed to train the pilot about the importance of civil-liberties protections for passengers.

[antivenom]

how do you know they were syrians?

[Zhangliqun]

Face it, kiddies -- this problem will not be solved until a bunch of planes or a few more skyscrapers or malls are taken out. And not a moment before.

There are just too many PC anal-retentives who have too much sway of fence-sitters for us to pull our collective head out of the sand yet.

Something is going to have to happen that's so bad that people will rise up and put their local PC minions' heads on pike staffs.

Before that something happens, nothing will change so just bite the bullet.

[zeaal]

This is chilling. Thank you for posting it.

[The Mayor]

I know, I read the whole thing..

[all4one]

Not to mention the PC baloney that Islam is a religion of peace. The only peace they want, is for all infidels to be "in pieces".