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 ...
We all need to be "very afraid".
Remember the guys at the diner in Georgia, was it? They thought it was a joke too.
No. The terrorists already know how to blow up a plane. We are the ignorant ones. We need to understand and know planes can be blown up and what to look for. We need to know if we see something suspicious what it might mean and if others have observed the same and were also alarmed. Otherwise we'd be oblivious to the most obvious situations. BTW, I haven't seen anything posted with specific details of blowing anything up. Was it the ammonia and clorox? Ha, that's been known to every housewife for ages.
Where'd you get this information?
I will not fly on a plane an arab. Call it racist. Fine. I call it protecting the life of myself and my family.
Screw the goatpoking handwipingboxcuter islamatards. Jihad on them!
Thanks for bringing BurbankKarl's post over. I had not reread the entire thread so I had forgotten about that. Chilling.
Here's what I would do, if I ever found it absolutely necessary to fly (which I avoid at all costs mostly because of the hassle factor.) I would take my seat and then wait until just before they get ready to close the doors. Then I would walk down the aisle and look carefully at every passenger. If there were any suspicious looking individuals or groups of Arab men, I would simply disembark and take the next flight. This is a good argument for refundable fares. If I had been that woman who wrote the article, there is no way I would have gotten on that plane in the first place.
This sounds like when Julius Rosenberg (before he was caught selling nuclear secrets to the Soviets) was telling people at his millitary office how the russian system was superior to the American one. The only way that he could have been more blatant was perhaps to ask: "Hey, do you have any nuclear plans lying around here?"
You've obviously not been in a Russian lavatory. It's the largest and nicest part of the plane with a separate sitting room with a couch and reading lamp! If only I'd had the nerve to unclench my white knuckles from my seat before that last Russian flight to find out that little gem.
When Homeland Security asks us to be more aware, even to the point of raising the threat level, are the observations in this story the kind of thing we're supposed to be noticing AND TALKING ABOUT?
-PJ
Exactly... it's like issuing a written invitation :-(
I had a Muslim boss once who thought everything and everyone was unclean. Unfortunately, he was filthier.
The only other possibility I can think of is that they were doing their prayers in the bathroom.
Where in the Koran does it say to take your McD fries into the toilet?
I think it's insane, that they search little old ladies and take away their nailclippers, while are not allowed to search Muslims and Arab appearing people.
I also posted a couple of official directives from the DOT warning against "discrimination", so the writer of the article is correct.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1171855/posts?page=674#674
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1171855/posts?page=676#676
Yup. If you're gonna die, you're gonna die. That incident was proably just a rehersal. If it had been the real thing, well Insha Allah, it was God's will.
I made that point elsewhere. It isn't exactly Kosher, is it?
-PJ
ROTFLMAO. That was really funny. Good catch.
Your tagline - so true.
Sounds like they witnessed a Middle Eastern gay mile high club!
Oh, wow! Thanks.
Oh, please.
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