Posted on 09/11/2011 9:08:28 PM PDT by STARWISE
Alert readers have reported that their flight, United Airlines 3681, from St. Louis to Washington Dulles had to make an emergency return to the gate as it prepared for take-off.
According to local officials, it was found that two men who had boarded the plane as federal air marshals didnt have the proper credentials.
Passengers were deplaned, all luggage was removed and re-scanned. All passengers were also re-screened. Passengers are now in the process of re-boarding. There is no word on the two air marshals.
BigGovernment has contacted security officials in St. Louis. Ron Meyer, of Young America Foundation, was aboard the flight and granted an exclusive interview to Breitbart.tv.
Interestingly, we understand that Oliver North is on the flight, as well. Developing
Video at site.
air marshalson this flight back to DC from St. Louis. News reports have Ollie giving a speech near St. Louis yesterday. So, I expect we'll hear more about this incident, whatever it is.
Update from Breitbart
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UPDATE: Ron Meyer of Young America Foundation, who was on the flight along with Lt. Col. Oliver North confirms to BigGovernment that the flight has landed safely at Dulles International Airport.
Meyer spoke with North and the captain of the flight and provides us more details on the strange events.
The two gentlemen in question were acting strangely prior to take-off.
They were both in the airplane bathroom for quite some time and when confronted by airline personnel they identified themselves as Federal Air Marshals.
Neither could produce paperwork confirming this identification and were removed from the plane in handcuffs. According to Lt. Col. North, who was sitting next to one of the men, they were both Caucasian.
After deplaning and removing all baggage and having the plane inspected, the passengers re-boarded and the flight resumed without incident.
Update 2: Two other September 11 flights aroused alarm, in each case also involving small groups of passengers who made repeated or lengthy visits to the lavatory together. Both flights-one American Airlines flight from LAX to JFK, the other a Frontier Airlines flight from Denver to Detroitwere escorted by fighter jets to their respective destinations.
Will we learn what these other bathroom junkies were doing and their current status, detained or not?
Your memory is a little off. It was abu nidal that threatened Ollie.OBL was an unknown back then.
Don't think so. I think the concern back then was more Abu Jihad, Gaddhafi, the Ayatollah and that crowd.
Of course, I might be wrong...
Thanks STARWISE.
You guys are right.
I went back and listened to the testimony from 1987 on YouTube (Amazing what stuff you can find there!) and North did specifically say “Abu Nidal.”
Ah, well ..... I’ll claim advancing age as my defense.
No need to do that. After 9/11/2001 an email was widely circulated claiming the OBL threatened Ollie North by inserting OBL's name into a section of the testimony written for the email. It grew legs and that is probably where you picked it up 'subconciously'. IIRC, it was so widely believed that snopes got involved and disputed it.
I have gotten that several times.
I never investigated but was sure this was way before bin Laden's time.
Didn't pass it along.
Yep...I received it periodically over the years. Generally I respond to let the sender know it’s bogus.
On an air plane it is “fight or flight” and since you are already in flight there is not other option but to FIGHT!
I hadn’t chortled in a long time!
STLToday.com finally reporting:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_7eedb5ec-dd45-11e0-823b-0019bb30f31a.html
USA Today is also reporting the incident, but claiming the two men were in fact air marshals. They are quoting an unnamed “witness”:
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/09/911-jittery-nerves/546893/1
And, in St. Louis, a flight to Washington Dulles returned to the gate and passengers rescreened after concerns that two people claiming to be air marshals may have been imposters.
In a story that still appears to be developing, Fox 2 of St. Louis writes:
A witness on board a flight from St. Louis to Dulles Airport in Washington says two men who were originally thought to be behaving oddly on a plane at Lambert Airport Sunday night were indeed federal air marshals.
However, earlier reports on two conservative-leaning websites had quoted witnesses on the flight as saying the men were led off the flight in handcuffs after they could not produce documentation confirming that they were air marshals.
Fox 2 says the TSA released the following statement about the incident:
“United #3681 from St. Louis International (STL) to Washington Dulles (IAD) returned to the gate at the direction of the airline, and all passengers were rescreened at the request of the pilot-in-charge. All passengers were screened with negative findings, and the plane departed for IAD, landing at approximately 10:15 p.m. EDT.”
Have not clicked the links. If they contradict, are we still in unknown? Appreciate the links from both of you. Would like to click but have undergone a recent dos attack, and am having to be careful about links from any and all sources. I am not saying either of the links are a problem, for I do not know. For the time being am being extra careful. Thinking from the posts the links contain contradictory information. Is this a correct assessment?
STLToday.com is more cryptic, stating that the two men were believed to have been imposters, but the TSA said that no one impersonated a federal air marshal. This story says they merely got off the flight - no mention of handcuffs.
Which is why witness recollection is the weakest form of evidence. Although you honestly recollect it, Col North never acually said it.
One extremely bad thing about totalitarian authority of the government is that people will follow the instructions without question of anyone claiming to be a government official.
Update: Clogged toilet led to security scare:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_7eedb5ec-dd45-11e0-823b-0019bb30f31a.html
It was seared....seared in your memory. Ooops. LOL.
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