Posted on 12/07/2005 8:52:13 PM PST by 11th_VA
Federal law enforcement sources tell ABC News they had been on the alert for a possible shoe bomber when a federal air marshal opened fire at the Miami International Airport today.
In today's incident, an agitated passenger claimed to have a bomb in his backpack was shot and killed by a federal air marshal, officials said. No bomb was found.
Officials say a 50-year old Egyptian man was stopped six days ago at New York's John F. Kennedy airport. Sources say he had a suspicious pair of shoes that tested positive five times for the explosive substance TATP on the interior of his shoes between the heel and sole.
Federal officials say the man's shoes are remarkably similar to those used by shoe bomber Richard Reid, who attempted to blow up an American Airlines jet over the Atlantic four years ago.
The Egyptian man's destination was Des Moines, Iowa, sources say, and he claimed he was a student at Iowa State University, in Ames.
Strangely, after holding him overnight, airport security in New York released him. The FBI was notified after he was released. Now the FBI has put out a nationwide alert.
The man shot dead in Miami appears to have been deranged, but the missing Egyptian may help explain why air marshals acted as they did.
"Then you would think you wouldn't announce it to the press...."
Come on........Our top level officials cannot keep secrets from leaking out. A low level government employee would sell the store for a paycheck.
Our MSM LOVES to derail the hunt for terrorists, because they obviously like having them around. It sells news and they PROFIT from the WOT.
bttt sadly true
Because Harrier jets an abysmal safety record.
You are correct that most preservation is done with nitrites today. (Although Pre-1978, bacon often contained ntirates). Today, nitrates may still be used to preserve country ham - so be careful taking that Smithfield Ham onto the airplane!!
Maybe making a ham dinner the flight meal entree would discourage muslim terrorists from flying???? hmmmmmm
How about a ham sandwich Moho?
".......the missing Egyptian may help explain why air marshals acted as they did".
The air marshalls do not have to explain why they acted as they did....it is exactly what they are trained to do.
Besides the nickname for the Harrier being "widowmaker"... yeah... boy.... pretty mysterious!!!!! :-p
Or, maybe you would to put the guy into a panic if he's just a soldier. Force him into making a mistake by contacting his controller and then have Jack Bauer swoop in and kick butt. ;-)
There was the Philly garlic-paste incident last week, and I myself set one off in another airport the next day with a bag of various packaged food items (no garlic).
You staying in today?
Ha! I work out of the home-office. One of the disadvantages is I get no benefit from snow days! :-(
Ah well. I did suit up and go for a walk. All the freezin rain is pretty much dried up here in centex.
But I bet the nutty drivers are still out in force!
"WTF .. why did they release him ???"
Before they notified the FBI. TATB is not something you get on your shoes just walking around town. This goat-humper is up to something for sure.
TATP: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/tatp.htm
A new terrorist explosive, triacetone triperoxide (TATP), has recently appeared as a weapon in the Middle East. TATP has been used by suicide bombers in Israel, and was chosen as a detonator in 2001 by the thwarted "shoe bomber" Richard Reid. It can be as or more powerful than military analogs. TATP is one of the most sensitive explosives known, being extremely sensitive to impact, temperature change and friction. Another peroxide-type explosive is hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD), which is less sensitive than TATP but still dangerous. HMTD is somewhat more sensitive to impact than TCPT, but both are very sensitive explosives.
I was thinking that TSA fouled up on this, then Strategy Page commented today on terrorists using the mentally unstable:
"Terrorists have long taken advantage of the mentally ill to carry out suicide bomb attacks. As unreliable as a mentally ill person can be, terrorist groups have developed ways around that. But for counter-terrorism organizations, unbalanced persons pretending to be terrorists are more often encountered than real terrorists."
In Iraq they keep finding (pieces of) more disabled sucicide bombers, so maybe this indeed make tragic sense.
Federal officials say the man's shoes are remarkably similar to those used by shoe bomber Richard Reid, who attempted to blow up an American Airlines jet over the Atlantic four years ago.
The Egyptian man's destination was Des Moines, Iowa, sources say, and he claimed he was a student at Iowa State University, in Ames.
Strangely, after holding him overnight, airport security in New York released him. The FBI was notified after he was released. Now the FBI has put out a nationwide alert.
Interesssssssssssting how Iowa State Univ. keeps popping up, isn't it?
I don't know if the last sentence below was in the ABC article yesterday...maybe ABC added it today (FBI probably gave them a call):
"After holding him overnight, airport security in New York released him. The FBI was notified after he was released and put out a nationwide alert. FBI officials confirmed that the man's story was true and that he was not a threat."
It wasn't in last night's story and I do not see how both the second and third sentence can be true. Either the FBI is looking for him or they found him.
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