Posted on 07/29/2004 10:51:44 PM PDT by kattracks
Government officials are questioning a passenger's account of alarming and suspicious behavior by Syrian musicians aboard a recent flight to Los Angeles, although a second passenger has corroborated the events.
The second passenger, a frequent business traveler who asked not to be identified, provided a copy of her itinerary confirming she was on the June 29 Northwest Airlines Detroit-to-Los Angeles Flight 327, which was disrupted by 14 Syrian passengers later identified as musicians.
The passenger, who was riding in first class, said the constant foot traffic and strange behavior she witnessed in the front cabin frightened her as much as it did Annie Jacobsen, the first passenger who publicly reported the incident.
"I thought I was going to die," the second passenger told The Washington Times. "And that makes me furious because that's the whole point of terrorism, to make people afraid. It makes me mad that they achieved that. But I'm not letting it stop me from taking other trips."
The incident on Flight 327 highlighted concerns that terrorists have been making "dry runs" on commercial jets in preparation for attacks.
Homeland Security and FBI officials briefed Senate Judiciary Committee staffers Wednesday. The House Judiciary Committee also is conducting an oversight review of what happened on the flight.
Federal officials agreed the activity was suspicious but doubted the account by Mrs. Jacobsen and her husband, said one staffer who attended the briefing.
"They emphasized repeatedly there were material discrepancies between what the two [passengers] reported and what the flight attendants and federal air marshals observed," the staffer said.
Air marshals, pilots and flight attendants, however, back the passenger's account because they say such events are happening regularly.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
Glad she didn't give her name--the air marshalls would have called her "nuts" the way they did Jacobsen. The worst thing about the whole incident was the "chilling" they gave Jacobsen, who seemed to me to have very reasonable fears at what was happening.
There are lavatories and gallies at rows 0, 14, 39, and behind 48.
I'd be interested to know why only three of 300+ passengers have reported or verified this bizarre incident.
I don't particularly care about the stewardess reactions (except their apparant failure to actually talk to these guys), since they are notorious for overreacting to the slighest passenger problem (let's not argue this, check any FR thread on the topic).
Note also that it was the stewardesses who inflamed the paranoia by whispering their concerns to the already-rattled Jacobsen.
That this went on for three to four hours - with zero interaction between these fellows, and the other passengers (300+ people) or stewardesses is not plausible.
DUH. They were seated in different areas of the plane! What a person in First Class sees/hears is going to be "materially different" from what someone in Coach sees/hears. Visibility is limited on airplanes, sound doesn't travel far. OF COURSE they're going to report different things.
His statement is true. But it doesn't mean the passengers' reports weren't true.
How do we know this even happened? The only place I saw this reported was by the disc-jockey-reporter-kid from liberal-land. I'm not sure I believe a word of what he wrote.
hmmmmmmm.....how about
"We're f**king screwed"
In this case there may perhaps be a fear of being put on some sort of "special extra security check" list as a factor. Why? Because people are extra superstitutious about things related to flying. They make an extra effort to avoid "jinxing".
The solution is quite simple....you must be armed at all times and ready to defend yourself against the Islamokazes.
Keywords, ceramic, high strength PVC etc.
"Have our leaders just surrendered or what?"
Not to who its obvious they fear the most-you and me.Its all about crowd control,baby.They can handle another 9/11 much easier than they can a couple hundred million Americans realizing none of the emperors is clothed.
Seriously, though... if you notice lots of government bigwigs -- and lots of "news media" bigshots -- all seem to be taking "unscheduled vacations" to their remote "ranches" -- or "on assignment" at some "undisclosed location" -- I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that you can set your watch to "pucker time".
Well, well, well. Seems there IS a motive for keeping the whole thing hush-hush, after all. "No, really, flying is the SAFEST way to travel, really it is! Trust me! Will that be cash or credit card?"
we're all so well trained thanks to the media and public
school education to be oh-so-scared about being labeled
"intolerant" or "bigoted" for reacting in a normal manner
to weird/dangerous situations.
lead us all like sheep to the slaughter...
Well, well, well. Seems there IS a motive for keeping the whole thing hush-hush, after all. "No, really, flying is the SAFEST way to travel, really it is! Trust me! Will that be cash or credit card?"
You may be closer to the truth than you realize.
From day one, JOB One has been to "avoid panic" at all costs.
The best explanation I can come up with for this obvious behavior is a "good enough for government work" application of "game theory", i.e., "If nothing's gonna happen, but, people panic anyway, it all goes to hell. On the other hand, if it all goes to hell, and people don't panic, well, nothing lost."
The "truth table" from that little mental exercize reveals that the ONLY "good outcome" is provided by a scenario in which two conditions exist: 1) "nothing happens", and 2) "panic is avoided".
In all other cases, "we're screwed."
So, IMO it's a safe bet that no matter WHAT happens, the "avoid panic" propagandists will be out in droves, assuring us that we're nuts to even imagine that anything untoward might have occurred.
When it gets amusing is when there's a conflict between the social-control efforts and the CYA efforts.
That happens when the "Forces of CYA" issue warnings about things to be on the lookout for -- and then, when they happen, the "Forces of Don't Panic" trip over their shoelaces assuring us that only a complete paranoid would ever think that "what happened" was anyting at all to worry about -- even though it's precisely what the other bunch just got finished warning us might happen!
So, one bunch of manipulators warns us to be on the lookout for middle eastern men behaving strangely on airplanes, trying to assemble multiple-part explosives in the bathrooms.
Then, when it's observed, the other bunch of propagandists descends like a cloud of mosquitoes, berating anyone who reports it as being "paranoid", "racist", and "biggoted."
Ah, doublethink. Gotta love it. And hate it. At the same time! ;)
Which may explain why no additional passengers (to our knowledge) have come forward to corroborate. They don't want to be labeled "paranoid," "racist," or "bigot" as Annie Jacobsen so publically was by the federal big-shots.
in the unfortunate event that kerry wins, and bad things start to happen, they will still be putting the blame on Bush. anything bad, anything that goes wrong, will so very conveniently be Bush's fault. call it a prediction, call me nostradamus.
I think there's some truth to that.
bttt
I'm with you. More to the story bump.
BTTT.Where have the naysayers on this story been the last few days?
Licking their wounds.
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