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 ...
I guess this a good reason to withdraw that stupid rule, that not more than two Middle Easterners be searched on any one flight.
Oh, I am so sorry! I didn't know that. I will be certain to remember from now on though! Nothing like acute embarassment to help the memory! Thank you for posting that prayer. What a treasure. Whenever anyone asks me to prayer for travel, I will try to remember to use that one.
There was a report this week that the jihadis are testing onboard IEDs that would blow open the locked cockpit doors so they could gain entry. I'll see if I can find it.
isn't it, though? yikes...
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Hey, thanks for the "For Dummies" version of this "War and Peace" article ! :^D
I believe that not only were they testing whether large groups of unaccompanied Arabs could board the plane, they were testing whether strange activity would arouse suspicion and if anyone would try to interrupt their preparations.
Not if they were landing on Runway 18.
http://archive.aclu.org/news/w081197a.html
August 11, 1997: Arab-Americans Protest Airport 'Profiling'
WASHINGTON -- Thousands of Americans of Arab or Middle Eastern heritage have complained that a secretive and wide-scale government "profiling" system aimed at preventing airplane terrorism has caused them to be unfairly selected for extra scrutiny at airports because of their names, birthplaces or ethnic background, The New York Times reports...
I'm emailing it out like crazy, too :-(
And wasn't it Kerry that said the terrorism threat is "exaggerated"?
If the restaurant workers in the the airport concourse get to their places of employment without being thoroughly checked, this would provide an avenue for the jihadists to secure the needed suplies.
A fire would only require 1 person with a lighter and an accelerant, not 14.
I personally don't believe that "after 9/11 they won't try it again." Americans may have infinistesmally short memories, but jihadi terrorists are still mulling over 1200 year old grievances. We may forget, but they won't, and an airplane is just too tempting to forgo as a potential weapon.
You know ... a Bill Gothard Seminar was the first place I saw a huge contingent of plain clothes security - but it wasn't for the seminar.
It was probably 1973 or 1974 I went to a seminar at McCormick place in Chicago.. I was a teenager. We had free reign of the place during breaks, etc. A bunch of us were heading outside to sit by the lake.. as we came around a back corner we saw this group of 10 -15 men in suits walking in a group obviously protecting a man with an eye patch. Noone in our little group knew who he was. A day or so later I saw him on the news... it had been Moshe Dayan and he had been in Chicago - at McCormick place for a meeting! Boy was I astounded... I'd heard his name - probably never paid attention to a picture before tho'
Yes,it is and it's long past time that we,as a nation,remove the silly PC stuff,because our lives mean more than "feelings".
Chilling...
How did they catch him then?
Can binary explosives be detected by bomb sniffers???
Pretty amazing story, wonder why the "mainstream" media didn't pick up on this one?
Yes. He said that.
This is the most frightening thing I have read since 9/11
regarding aircraft flights.
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