Posted on 08/30/2007 8:28:09 AM PDT by Froufrou
I’m a moron, I missed reading the last sentence of the article.
Maybe I've just been lucky. I fly regularly --usually about once a month, and very often there are foreigners on these flights. Sometimes even Arabs! Sometimes they even speak their native language! In the last 20 years how many flights have we had hijacked from American airports? Four? Out of how many flights total?
Vigilance is one thing. Paranoia is another. If we start grounding every flight because somebody feels uncomfortable, we're going to have a lot of angry passengers. Believe it or not, there are occasions where air travelers really need to get to their destination!
No. We should all stay in the US. Never go out and explore all what the world has to offer. We should only speak english as if that’s the only language in the world. I happen to like travelling to Europe whenever I can afford it.
You are correct. Most people speak their native language when among others of the same nationality...it’s just common sense.
Good for you. Some of us have to, and have to speak English in countries that don't.
I suspect the lady was just spooked. But who in God’s name can blame her?
If this WOMAN was YOUR wife, would you want her to be brave and quiet, with the possibility of that plane being crashed somewhere. Or maybe brave fighting for control of the plane away from these guys.
Maybe she was being brave when she wanted off the plane. I doubt if too many people just make a split second rash decision like that. She probably thought of possible outcomes and scenarios of what her decision would do, and did it anyway.
“I agree. Arabic language in and of itself wouldn’t upset me.”
There were two young guys behind me in the security line in Cleveland speaking what I believe was Arabic. My co-worker and I were collecting our things after the scan and heard the guys told, “You have been selected for a random screening.” One of the young guys smiled at me when I looked over at this and said in perfect English, “Well, that figures”. We had a chuckle. Plenty of people saw this and nobody gave it a second thought. I’m pretty sure there is more to this story. Americans are vigilant but not the xenophobic nut-cases the media paints them as.
“The Associated Press reported Defense Training Systems had hired the men to train U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton in California.”
Of course, Sgt. Asan Akbar (member of the ROP, as well as the 101st Airborne) killed two of his colleagues and injured others by throwing grenades into tents in Kuwait. I guess we have a right to be suspicious of anyone who belongs to that cult. After all, if they are practicing members, they should be killing as many people as they can.
Perhaps these guys took a job with a defense contractor specifically to infiltrate our military.
Nah, islam is such a peaceful religion.
Spokesburka. Now that is an excellent piece of modern nomenclature. Seriously, that’s greatness in the making.
DLI, they speak Arabic so we don’t have to.
In 1979, the U.S. embassy in Iran was taken over by:
(a) Norwegians from Ballard;
(b) Elvis;
(c) A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
(d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40 who spoke Arabic.
In 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
(a) A pizza delivery boy;
(b) Crazed feminists screeching that being able to throw a grenade beyond its own burst radius was an unfair and sexist requirement in basic training;
(c) Geraldo Rivera making up for a slow news day
(d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40 who spoke Arabic.
In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
(a) Luca Brazzi, for not being given a part in "Godfather 2;"
(b) The Tooth Fairy;
(c) Butch and Sundance who had a few sticks of dynamite left overfrom the train thing
(d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40 who spoke Arabic.
In 1998, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
(a) Mr. Rogers;
(b) Hillary, to distract attention from Wee Willie's women problems;
(c) the WWF, to promote its next villain: "Mustapha the Merciless;"
(d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40 who spoke Arabic.
October 12, 2000, 17 US sailors lost their lives on the USS Cole and this was done by:
a) That Purple Teletubbie
b) Gary Condit
c) LA Crips street gang
d) Muslim extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40 who spoke Arabic
December 2000 a person tries to light a shoe bomb on a commercial jetliner and this was done by:
a) Mother Theresa
b) an Italian guy from New York City named "Giacomo"
c) hard working Hispanic farm workers
d) Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 40 who spoke Arabic
On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked and destroyed by:
(a) Bugs Bunny,
(b) the Supreme Court of Florida trying to outdo their attempted hijacking of the 2000 Presidential election;
(c) Mr. Bean
(d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40 who spoke Arabic.
On 7/7/05, four bombs were detonated on London's tube and bus system by:
(a) Paris Hilton fans
(b) Brittany Spears fans
(c) Regis Philbin
(d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40 who spoke Arabic.
On 7/21/05, four bombs that failed to fully detonate on London's tube and bus sytem were set off by:
(a) Wiley Coyote
(b) Gerry Adams
(c) John Kerry
(d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40 who spoke Arabic.
Na- no patterns here!
No. There's no reason to assume they don't speak English. I'm sick of the number of immigrants who pretend to not understand English and demand an interpreter. It gives a lot less credibility to those who say they really can't.
It said they were Iraqi Americans. Thee men were supposed to be training Marines in Camp Pendelton.
If she were overseas, the yes, she should have expected to hear another language. This was San Diego to Chicago.
Also, English is almost universally spoken overseas. The same cannot be said of arabic. And if English speaking people were know for flying planes into buildings then people would have a right to be suspicious of them also.
“Apparently nobody has read this line.”
Consider the source.
I can- Americans shouldn’t live in fear.
Someone call TED STRIKER...
So because you are fearless, she should be??
With a child with her??
No sense in your post, really. And I am one that thinks just because they were speaking a foreign language it doesn’t mean they were going to hijack the plane, but better safe than sorry.
My son has played the "opposition" as part of his USMC reserves duties. As a Marine, he already understood the tactics of his fellow Marines and surprised the hell out of them when playing the "bad guy". The objective was to polish troops on the way to Iraq. Hopefully it makes our guys more vigilant and able to anticipate problems in advance.
Why did they hold up the entire plane and make everyone late? Grab Ahab the Arab, haul him off the plane, ship his butt to Gitmo for questioning, and let the rest of the passengers go along their merry way. If it turns out that Ahab wasn’t suffering from SJS, then he gets a free lesson in learning to speak English. No harm, no foul.
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