Posted on 01/15/2005 3:34:16 AM PST by Stoat
A MYSTERY IN THE SKIES
By Michelle Malkin · January 14, 2005 10:58 PM
Physician blogger Dr. Bob says one of his patients, a federal air marshal, told him about a foiled hijacking involving boxcutters hidden in overhead luggage bins:
He and his partner were assigned to a flight (the airline, airport, and destination were not disclosed) in their customary undercover security role. They boarded the airplane early in order to meet the flight attendants, at which time the cleaning crew was still on the airplane -- somewhat longer than expected. My patient and his partner sat together in seats near the middle of coach class.
It's hard to imagine, in a post-9/11 world, that terrorists would attempt another attack with box cutters. Also, Dr. Bob's patient did not disclose specifics--airport, airline, destination, etc.--that would facilitate confirmation. If anyone can provide more information, drop me a line. Whether or not the story is true, it highlights at least two important policy questions: 1. What kind of security measures are being undertaken with regard to clean-up crews and other ground personnel with access to airplanes? 2. Why does FAMS director Tom Quinn continue to enforce idiotic pre-boarding policies that expose marshals' identities to observant passengers? Update: The idea that terrorist operatives might be trying to smuggle razor blades as weapons onto planes is not pure fantasy. Last April, Pakistani illegal alien Fazal Karim was convicted on charges of carrying and attempting to carry concealed dangerous weapons in air transportation and of making false statements about his immigration status. Security officials at Dallas/Ft. Worth airport found 32 double-edged razor blades tucked in a coiled belt inside a cardboard box in Fazal Karim's carry-on luggage.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Schattman argued that Karim carried out a test run to aid terrorism. The Ft. Worth Star Telegram reported that security officers first noticed that Karim appeared to distance himself from his carry-on bag. After placing the bag on the conveyor belt leading to an X-ray machine, Karim did not walk through the adjacent magnetometer but selected one farther away. He offered FBI agents three different explanations for the blades, Schattman said. First, Karim said he used the blades to shave the bottom of his full beard. Then he said they were for a friend in Houston. Finally, he said he did not know the blades were in the bag. More: At a hearing in November, a federal agent testified that the names and phone numbers of the current directors of the civil aviation systems in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates were found in Karim's address book _ 10 years after he worked as a computer programmer for the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority.
In addition, I've found at least one other mention of a flight crew member discovering razor blades in blankets. Weird. Scary weird. Update II: Reader Eric makes some additional, on-target points... For me at least, there is another lesson in this story. |
Really excellent point. In fact the word "liberal" is the most blatant example of this. I always think that people wouldn't fall so easily into leftism if there wasn't such a nice sounding word for them to use as a self label.
Geez, can't you even be bothered to follow a link when it is provided? It certainly looks like a respectable site to me, and if Michelle Malkin recommends it, I'm there.
BTT
This story also points out that if a breach occurs, security NEEDS TO KEEP ALL THE PASSENGERS CONTAINED IN ONE AREA. There is no excuse for the disapearing bad guys.
The point you're missing is I'm not criticizing Malkin's writing, especially in light of her saying she doesn't know if Dr. Bob's story is true or not. This Dr. Bob's story just sounds bizarre to me.
security confiscates nail clippers, but go to the duty free shop and buy them there later. SILLY.
No, No, No. It was his patient's cousin's neighbor's nephew who invented the car engine....
Not just the five middle-eastern men. I want to know what happened to the cleaning crew? Are they still there cleaning airplanes? With jobs protected by the union?
And Minetta...the lefty...so called head of TSA has refused to obey congress by obstructing the arming of commercial and cargo airline pilots...
And the Bush administration looks the other way....
imo
Too bad boxcutters were not even really used on 9/11. That is a government cop out to conceal the fact that the terrorists smuggled knives on the planes. In fact, they could possibly have smuggled tasers, mace, or even guns on this flight. I'm unaware of the goernment finding an intact boxcutters at ground zero. If they did it owuld be even more suspicious. Where does this assertion that boxcutters were used even come from?
EXCELLENT! A point for everyone to remember.
az
Status: False they at sopes.com wish. Possible.
Snopes never actually determines that the visas were NOT expired, btw. They write to suggest that is the case without proving it -- that is SPIN.
While the Air Marshalls did follow-up on some investigation, they can not have made any final determination -- because gee golly, the islamic terrorists do keep secrets very well, they are tight-mouthed and they DO have cover stories. As the orginal reporter Anne Jacobsen suggests -- terrorists could well recruit real musicians to perform acts of terrorism or dry runs thereof.
And Snopes ignores both passenger Jacobsens own direct witness testimony and that of other passengers who corraborated her observations -- all for the sake of that "FALSE".
I despise SNOPES -- they tell 99 truths to bury one poisonous lie. The worst -- most dangerous -- of liars they are.
bump
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