Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Student air passenger handcuffed to echoes of 9/11 fears
Philly.com ^ | September 11, 2009 | by Dave Davies, Philadelphia Daily News

Posted on 09/12/2009 2:51:37 PM PDT by Cindy

Note: Photo included.

SNIPPET: "That's the way Nick George, a senior at Pomona College, in California, sees what happened to him at the Philadelphia airport two Saturdays ago.

George, of Wyncote, Montgomery County, was about to catch a Southwest flight back to school when stereo speakers in his backpack caught the eye of screeners at the metal detector.

When they looked though his bag, George said, they found his Arabic/English flash cards, and escorted him to a side screening area.

He figures it didn't help that his passport had stamps from Jordan, where he'd studied a semester, and Egypt and Sudan, where he'd gone backpacking.

And among his 200 flash cards were words like "terrorist" and "explosion." He was learning to translate the Arabic-language news network Al Jazeera."

SNIPPET: "Lt. Louis Liberati said, just as Davis did, that TSA personnel initially selected George because of something in his behavior.

But Liberati said that it was the stuff that the TSA found in George's backpack and wallet that really aroused their suspicion: the Arabic flash cards with troubling words, a card that had George's name and Arabic script, and the longer hair in George's driver's license and passport photos than his current clean-cut appearance.

That's "an indicator sometimes that somebody may have gone through a radicalization," Liberati explained.

Liberati said nothing about "escalating behavior." Liberati said police checked with the FBI, and the feds decided that they wanted to come and interview George."

(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: 8thanniversary; aclu; airport; aljazeera; arabicflashcards; arabiclanguage; egypt; eighthanniversary; flashcards; jordan; philadelphia; sudan; tsa
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-27 next last

1 posted on 09/12/2009 2:51:38 PM PDT by Cindy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Velveeta

Thanks to Velveeta at The Threat Matrix.com for the ping and pointing to this incident.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,549564,00.html

“TSA Defends Holding Student With Arabic Flash Cards at Philadelphia Airport”
Saturday, September 12, 2009

SNIPPET: “The Transportation Security Administration is defending its treatment of a California college student who was detained at the Philadelphia airport after Arabic flash cards were found in his backpack.

Nick George, a senior at Pomona College, told a Philadelphia Daily News columnist that the stereo speakers he was carrying in his bag on Aug. 29 led TSA workers to pull him out of the metal detector line and search him.

When they found 200 Arabic/English flash cards in his carry-on, they escorted him to another screening area and questioned him for about 45 minutes, he said.

Suspicions may have been raised because his passport had stamps from Jordan, where he’d studied abroad, and from his trips to Egypt and the Sudan, the News reported. It didn’t help that “terrorist” and “explosion” were among the words on his flash cards — which George says he was using to help him understand Al Jazeera TV.”


2 posted on 09/12/2009 2:53:34 PM PDT by Cindy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cindy
longer hair in George's driver's license and passport photos than his current clean-cut appearance.

That's "an indicator sometimes that somebody may have gone through a radicalization," Liberati explained.

Probably true -- many lefties have "cleaned-up" externally in the last couple years, hoping to appear more acceptable.

3 posted on 09/12/2009 2:54:04 PM PDT by BenLurkin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

and jihadis...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2147450/posts?page=93#93


4 posted on 09/12/2009 2:59:31 PM PDT by Cindy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Cindy

5 posted on 09/12/2009 2:59:36 PM PDT by FourPeas (Why does Professor Presbury's wolfhound, Roy, endeavour to bite him?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: SamInTheSouth
Language ... language ...

Or are you leading the charge downhill to the DU/KOS level?

7 posted on 09/12/2009 3:04:16 PM PDT by BlueLancer (I'm getting a fine tootsy-frootsying right here...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: SamInTheSouth

Take your foul mouth and attitude elsewhere.


8 posted on 09/12/2009 3:04:52 PM PDT by cweese (Hook 'em Horns!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: FourPeas

Yep. Looks like a nice kid and of course noting he’s white.

#

Off [Thread] Topic:

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/whitealqaeda/index?tab=articles
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/whitejihadis/index?tab=articles


9 posted on 09/12/2009 3:05:11 PM PDT by Cindy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Cindy

Obama’s fault.


10 posted on 09/12/2009 3:06:38 PM PDT by TADSLOS (Proud FR Mobster)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SamInTheSouth

Not for nothing. But I don’t think the TSA over reacted at all.


11 posted on 09/12/2009 3:08:10 PM PDT by HEY4QDEMS
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Cindy

For what it’s worth, Adam Gadahn didn’t always look like a jihadi freak. Especially considering he’s half-Jewish.


12 posted on 09/12/2009 3:15:25 PM PDT by RichInOC (No! BAD Rich! (What'd I say?))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cindy

It all sounds reasonable to me. Good for the TSA.


13 posted on 09/12/2009 3:16:25 PM PDT by fullchroma (Obama: GET OUT OF MY DOCTOR'S OFFICE!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RichInOC

I agree.
He looked a mixed geek, nerd, and hippie.

#

Here’s more photos of Gadahn:

http://www.rewardsforjustice.net/index.cfm?page=gadahn&language=english

“Wanted
Adam Yahiye Gadahn
Up to $1 Million Reward”


14 posted on 09/12/2009 3:18:19 PM PDT by Cindy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: HEY4QDEMS

I agree - he had enough flags not only to be detained but to be watched in the future. This would not be the first time that someone was testing the ATF.

I was once detained at Lod airport in Israel on very circumstantial eveidence. Each time I detected that a part of my story/account was setting off alarms in the heads of those questioning I made the mistake of saying how I understood something looked bad. My familiarity with their concerns only warranted more questioning. At the last minute - I was allowed to board the plane and was seated in the section among others being watched. The interrogation was fine - but my new seat companions made the 9 hour flight a sleepless one.


15 posted on 09/12/2009 3:26:48 PM PDT by Tweeker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Cindy

bump


16 posted on 09/12/2009 3:36:03 PM PDT by Velveeta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Cindy
A false positive is a security failure. It means either your system is too sensitive, or it is reacting to the wrong indicators. While you're dealing with the false positive, resources are tied up that could otherwise be used to detect a real threat. Therefore, the system defeats itself.

(Imagine how terrorists could take advantage of this security failure--send a few low-level know-nothings through the checkpoint with with Arabic-English dictionaries and large bottles of Gatorade to distract the screeners while the real fighters go through unimpeded.)

I think someone once said something derisive about people who give up liberty in exchange for the illusion of security. Unfortunately, there are always those eager to participate in security theater, and they force the rest of the audience to participate, too.

FlyerTalk thread

17 posted on 09/12/2009 4:00:39 PM PDT by Caesar Soze
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: FourPeas

I don’t like him. Too handsome for a young man.

Guilty. /s


18 posted on 09/12/2009 4:03:16 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Cindy

As much heat as TSA gets for shaking down granmas, in this case they had more than enough probable cause to detain this young man-—innocent or not. Good job TSA!


19 posted on 09/12/2009 4:26:10 PM PDT by taillightchaser (When a democrat says "The American people" you know the next words out of his mouth will be lies.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Caesar Soze

Every time we think we have the system fine tuned enough to keep out of most passengers’ hair, some bastard comes up with a new plot like mixing small amounts of liquid to cause an explosion that might take a craft down, and upsets the applecart for everybody. That’s the point of the terrorism.


20 posted on 09/12/2009 4:29:47 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Unashamed Sarah-Bot.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-27 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson