[Paleo Conservative]

by the time the Boeing 747 had finished its three-hour crossing of the Atlantic, Homeland Security screeners were on high alert. The names of two Saudi passengers aboard the KLM flight had begun producing "hits" on the screening center's lists of 70,000 suspect foreigners.

The two Saudis, the database reported, were brothers and pilots who had attended the same Arizona flight school as 9/11 hijacker Hani Hanjour.

Rather explains why Canada wouldn't let them land and Jamaica wouldn't allow them through their airspace. Remember how Zacharias Moussaoui just wanted to learn how to fly a 747 without learning how to takeoff or land, but due to supid politically correct policies, the FBI wasn't allowed to search his hard drive before 9-11?

Ping! If you want on or off my aviation ping list, please contact me by Freep mail not by posting to this thread.

[PAR35]

Rather explains why Canada wouldn't let them land and Jamaica wouldn't allow them through their airspace.

I wonder if they considered flying well offshore along the east coast with a routing via Cuba.

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks for the post and ping.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7529185/site/newsweek/

Another tidbit from this article, and bumping to others:

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One of these hits—from an FBI database of terror suspects known as TIPOFF—smacked investigators right between the eyes. The two Saudis, the database reported, were brothers and pilots who had attended the same Arizona flight school as 9/11 hijacker Hani Hanjour. Soon the multiplicity of U.S. terror databases started pumping out similar hits. Fearing that Flight 685 might be a 9/11-style plot in the making, U.S. authorities refused the plane overflight rights, and Canada rejected a request to land. Much to the chagrin of its 278 passengers, the KLM jet made an exhausting odyssey back to Amsterdam.

Was it a plot? The KLM 685 incident—which was not widely publicized by the U.S. government—is an illustration of just how hard it has become to tell ordinary guys from bad guys in the war on terror. Washington's concern about the KLM flight seems legitimate: in the past year, U.S. counterterrorism officials have cited intelligence indicating that Al Qaeda might be planning to use foreign-based airliners to launch attacks against the U.S. homeland. One U.S. counterterrorism official told NEWSWEEK that the two passengers were "bad dudes." And a European intelligence official said the two have "extensive but secondary" links to Al Qaeda.

[MeekOneGOP]

[pageonetoo]

...but due to supid politically correct policies, the FBI wasn't allowed to search his hard drive before 9-11?

Maybe you missed sometyhing about the Constitution. I know that the "Patriot" Act has stripped that document of meaning...

Have you ever heard of the thing about..."illegal search"? It does not matter what reason is giving for "suspending" the Constitution, it is WRONG!

No judge, in his right mind, would deny a search, when evidence is given to support a warrant, but fishing expeditions should only take place on the waters... even if it allows some damn terrorist to get by... But maybe you know better than the Founding Fathers...

[eno_]

but due to supid politically correct policies, the FBI wasn't allowed to search his hard drive before 9-11?

A few of the 9/11 hijackers, including Mohammed Atta, were stopped at least once by police in traffic stops. Had police been able to check their visas (expired) at those traffic stops, 9/11 would have been avoided or sharply attenuated, and Momhammed Atta would be an angry nobody in a cave somewhere. And we citizens could KEEP our privacy safe from a bungling, ham-fisted FBI.

[Bald Eagle777]

Dead on.. Keep up the good work!

Vigilance is key!

[Mears]

" U.S. officials fear that Latin America, and more particularly Mexico—with its porous U.S. border—may become a staging ground for Al Qaeda."

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If all of us regular folks on the internet are aware of this,why the hell aren't our "leaders" aware of this?