I assume you mean MARTIAL law.
No, he was right the first time
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 ...
Does it bother anyone else here that this tread is getting a lot of traffic on HOW to blow up a plane?
I have an Uncle who flew to Brazil a couple months after 9/11 and when he got there he realized that he had left one of those long razor knives in his carry on bag. I just went through security at two airports and I can't say that I had a real feeling of safety.
"it will take more then that. the sheeple have the "it didn't happen to me" attitude. so the WTC was hit, but most of them weren't in it, so why should they care? and if a mall is hit tomorrow, most of them won't be shopping there. and then there is a judiciary in this country - how are you going to stop lifetime appointment federal judges who are accountable to no one, from changing course?"
***
I'm not quite THAT pessimistic, but it's pretty bad. A few more downed skyscrapers will do it.
Although if it's done with a nuke, it'll be too late because we'll be paralyzed wondering if they have another one ready to go somewhere.
l-a-v-a-t-o-r-y
Ignorant is too kind. Friggin idiot would be much more appropriate.
No, he was right the first time
Extreme liberalism is a mental illness in my opinion.
LOL!
You've been here 5 days?
It should be mandatory airline policy that a FA checks the lavatories after each passenger uses it. And a thorough inspection--check all the compartments, etc. Make it that much harder to assemble anything. I think everyone agrees that lavatories are the weak points in security these days.
That being said, I'm not feeling thrilled about this, given that I'm flying to LA next week. Gulp. I really cannot believe that 14 Syrians who bought one-way tickets to LA were allowed onto one flight. Unreal.
Flashback Dec 2003:
http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0%2C5936%2C8098402%255E401%2C00.html
Components of IEDs can be smuggled on to an aircraft, concealed in either clothing or personal carry-on items such as shampoo and medicine bottles, and assembled on board. In many cases of suspicious passenger activity, incidents have taken place in the aircraft's forward lavatory.
"It is conceivable terrorists may plan to use this private area to construct IEDs in order to facilitate access to the cockpit, or position themselves in front of the passengers."
It would not be the first time that this method has been used to set off bombs on planes. Ramzi Yousef, an al-Qaeda terrorist who was convicted of the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing that killed six people, successfully placed and detonated a bomb on board a Philippine Airlines flight in December 1994.
It was part of a larger but thwarted plan to use terrorists to set off synchronised explosions to bring down American airliners over the Pacific.
Yousef built the bomb in an aircraft lavatory from components smuggled in his clothing and personal carry-on luggage. Ahmed Ressam, a second terrorist, tried to conceal parts of his bomb inside shampoo and medicine bottles. He was arrested in connection with a plot to bomb Los Angeles airport during the millennium celebrations.
Being in a very similar situation myself I know that I was not really prepared in any way to know what to do. My first reaction was to get up and go to the bathroom myself and look things over (which I did) and then walk back to my seat taking note of where people were and as many faces as I could. I then asked my wife to let me sit on the aisle (I always prefer the window). Then I remained vigilant with my tray in the upright position. When the seatbelt light went on and those guys moved at once to the front of the plane I think I was holding the whole plane up with my butt at that point.
I know there are some pretty 'manly' Freepers out there who will probably flame me - oh well - flame away. lol
I think I fell into this category on a recent trip from London to Tel Aviv. And what set it off was two big heavy suitcases I was carrying with me. Checked baggage, but it still sent up somebody's red flag.
I was questioned by El Al security about why I needed so much baggage for a week's stay in Israel. Answer: I had been touring Europe for the previous three weeks. They wanted to know where I had been. I told them. They pulled my passport and examined my itinerary.
For all that, I was taken out of the check-in line, escorted to an office, fingerprinted, photographed and told to wait (with my bags) in the office. No explanation, but I assumed they ran my passport, photo and prints with every law enforcement agency in the world. They parked me there for two hours, so they certainly had the time.
The curious thing was, they were not particularly interested in examining my luggage. Even after I volunteered to open it.
After two hours, I was escorted through security, had my carry-on bags x-rayed and hand-checked, subjected to three pat-down searches and was finally escorted on board the Tel Aviv flight by an armed security escort.
I was met in Tel Aviv by and IDF representative who escorted me to my hotel, and for the next week, didn't go anywhere without the company of a policeman.
On the way home, I stayed overnight in London at a Heathrow Airport hotel. During that time, I got a call from the local constable who wanted to verify that I was where I told U.K. Passport Control I would be.
Upon arrival at LAX, I spent an hour talking to U.S. customs officials for about an hour while both bags were searched from top to bottom before I was released.
And all this because I had two suitcases going from London to Tel Aviv. I'll admit, there were times it was annoying, but El Al has some real security working for them. As irritating as they can be, it certainly made for an especially secure flight.
All other airlines are a bunch of prancing lightweights, IMO.
OK, I am officially shaken. I just made a couple of flights out of LGA and Dayton. The security checks were the most thorough since my Thankgiving flight in 2001.
I'm thinking the arab suiciders are thinking to blow up an airliner with an infligh assembled bomb during landing over a city is not only easy to pull off,it's unexpected at this point.
Two months after 9/11, a co-worker of mine had an experience involving 5 rounds of .38 in a knitting bag
The airport rent-a-cops are a PC joke.
Unless we can get these horses turned 'round, we in a heap o' trouble, Hoss!
No, leftists are only capable of shooting or knifing you from behind. But they'll gladly send in you and I to take care of business.
Please do. I will be travelling about 20% of the time in my new job. I always like window seats, but I will start requesting aisle seats in case a situation arises.
On another note, last yr. I flew to NYC to pick up my 94 yr.old aunt who was coming to Ohio to live in a nursing home. They made that poor woman(who was in a wheelchair) stand up, remove her shoes, stretch her arms and legs out while they passed the wand over her ....I was furious.
Well ask the airlines if they are going to bring a explosives sniffing dog on after everyone is seated. I wonder if they made such an announcement BEFORE boarding started, how many would all of a sudden have an emergency that calls them away?
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