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.

[reagan_fanatic]

This was suspicious activity and it is quite clear by the account provided that these 'passengers' were in the process of conducting a dry run, not unlike the dry runs performed by Mohammed Atta and the rest of the 9/11 hijackers.

I suspect there have been many other such probes of our airline security since 9/11, and they will continue until they find the 'hole' that they are looking for.

[razoroccam]

"You may need a stiff drink"

Have we become a nation of cowards? We need to quit sloberring and running around like sheep over incidents like this. Learn, yes, be vigilant, yes, take corrective measures in a thoughtful manner, yes. Run around in fear, no, and a million times no.

Also, "Before I'm labeled a racial profiler or -- worse yet -- a racist, let me add this. A month ago I traveled to India to research a magazine article I was writing. My husband and I flew on a jumbo jet carrying more than 300 Hindu and Muslim men and women on board. We traveled throughout the country and stayed in a Muslim village 10 miles outside Pakistan. I never once felt fearful. I never once felt unsafe. I never once had the feeling that anyone wanted to hurt me".

Outsourcing or not, Americans need to figure out who their friends are.

[eno_]

Take me to the drug store and I will buy "bomb-making materials" for under $10.

It is easy to make an explosive liquid that could be detonated with a spark from a camera flash. Bomb-detectors won't detect it, or the components.

We are sitting ducks unless all Moslems are VERY closely inspected before flying.

[~Peter]

....... how about marital law or marshmallow law?

Chicken Little is right.

[JackHawk]

I refuse to live in fear myself, but I don't plan to live STUPID either!

[Captain Rhino]

>>The actor James Woods was a witness to their odd behavior on that rehearsal flight.<<

Any place on line were we can read an account of what he saw?

[Space Wrangler]

Absolutely amazing. This incident was at the very least a probe, and possibly an aborted strike. I'd like to think that these 14 men are at Gitmo now, but I think we all know better. I highly doubt that I could have sat through that flight for 4 1/2 hrs without doing anything. I would have been on a hair-trigger for sure. The truly sad thing is, that many more people are going to have to die before we realize we can't extend the same civil liberties to people from the same geographic areas and religion that has sworn to destroy us that we extend to our own. It all looks good on paper...until you get on that plane loaded with 14 ME swarthy males. I'd bet this lady who wrote the story is a recent convert to our way of thinking. One cross-country flight where her family and herself were at the tip of the spear was all it took.

I'll be circulating this story far and wide.

[Interesting Times]

Bump...

[MACVSOG68]

Suspicious activity? Perhaps. But the flight went on, landed safely, and nothing untoward happened.

So only if the flight were blown up would you have become concerned? My understanding is that terrorists conduct numerous dry runs. But then, I guess they have a constitutional right to conduct dry runs, and if it generates suspicion, then obviously those concerned are racists....

[gathersnomoss]

Sit back, relax, and enjoy your trip. WTF, this is not good.

[gr8eman]

I think you are missing the point...I mean I know you are. Suppose you were on that flight! How would you have felt seeing the behaviour that this woman described? I think I would have done something to disrupt their actions! What I do not understand is why wasn't 9/11 a wakeup call to a lot of people!

[mlmr]

No I dont WANT it. I think that we are heading that way and we can be preemptive about terrorists and do it now.

[Harpo Speaks]

"I doubt that terrorists will be able to take over planes anymore. Once it became apparent that terrorists seek to kill instead of hold hostages, even liberals will die trying to prevent it"

The article was not about terrorists taking over a plane -- it was about terrorists blowing up a plane in flight, which apparently they are able to do rather easily, thanks to politically correct thinking by the people in charge of our safety.

[eno_]

Practice makes perfect.

To all those on this thread whistling past the graveyard: Remember how many practice runs the 9/11 hijackers took.

[marty60]

Well Fos is reporting that the info is that Energy resources are the target. I live in Houston, believe me, THAT is my fear. (Not irrational) I hate the thought that our bayous drain into the ship channel that is right next to the HUGE tank farms. i know the ship channel bridge is probably under constant guard, with orders to shoot on site.

Just to show you how ingrained this has become to me. I drive over one of the bridges that traverse a bayou. Yesterday there were 3 sets of shoes sitting on the bridge. Now NO ONE in Houston would ever get in that bayou willingly. Alligators, cottonmouth, rattlesnakes, gar, etc etc etc. VERY dangerous. I lived close to the bayou until I walked out my door and stepped on a baby cottonmouth. The FBI says they are constantly monitoring the bayou, but it is under the jurisdiction of the Corp of Engineers. HUUMMMM.

[Camel Joe]

Swell, dry runs are therefore a very useful tool.

[TBall]

"Also on our flight were 14 Middle Eastern men between the ages of approximately 20 and 50 years old" That is when I decide to miss the plane. When they started doing the group thing the pilot should have kept the fasten seatbelt sign on.

[eno_]

YOu would hope so.

But then you might go on to read about FBI incompetency on numerous threads on FR.

Then you'd have to say: "Better check on that."