Posted on 12/05/2001 10:26:42 AM PST by NC Conservative
Former senior Federal Aviation Administration official Linda Hall Daschle, wife of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, was cited in a report on Wednesday for failing to enforce a "zero tolerance" policy she announced in 1996 against violent airline passengers - a pledge that some say could have prevented the 9/11 terrorist hijackings that killed 4,000 Americans had it not been ignored.
With Mrs. Daschle serving, first as Deputy FAA Administrator and then as Acting FAA Administrator from 1993 to 1997, the agency received hundreds of complaints throughout the 1990's about passengers who had become unruly, assaulted flight crews and threatened fellow passengers while in flight.
In some cases, the worst offenders had even brandished knives, the same technique used by Osama bin Laden's kamikaze hijackers three months ago to subdue the crews of four aircraft.
Only after pilots, flight attendants and independent safety experts repeatedly warned of the potential for dire consequences unless action was taken, Daschle promised stricter enforcement.
"We will not tolerate any interference with the vital safety functions performed by crew members," the powerful Democrat's wife pledged.
However, instead of cracking down, "the FAA went easier on unruly passengers during the 4 full years after the 'zero tolerance' advisory was issued," reports USA Today.
"It's beyond amazing. It's criminal," said Pat Friend, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, of the FAA's lethargic performance under Mrs. Daschle and her successors.
"They acted as if they didn't care," Friend told USA Today.
The airline regulatory agency's lapses include:
A failure to investigate the claims of hundreds of victims and witnesses to violent midair altercations that drew airport police once the plane had landed.
A decision to go easy on even the most dangerous offenders - including some who succeeded in breaking into the cockpit in mid-flight armed with knives - sending warning letters and leveling fines in lieu of any serious enforcement. (The percentage of those fined actually dropped after Daschle's "zero tolerance" pledge.)
And the destruction of FAA case files on in-flight violence that now makes it impossible to reconstruct a comprehensive picture of the midair mayhem in the years before the 9/11 attacks.
Even as internal debates raged over the extent of the threat posed by unruly passengers, senior FAA officials dismissed any prospective connection to potential hijackings.
"Even when we had discussions about hijacking, someone would say, 'Why are we talking about this at all? Hijackings never happen.'"
In a letter to an FAA security official five years after Mrs. Daschle promised to clamp down on air rage, one flight attendant complained about an incident involving a knife wielding passenger who had broken into the cockpit of her Alaska Airlines plane, noting that it showed how easily terrorists might employ the same tactics.
"It could be you or your loved one onboard a flight next time an air rage or even hijacking incident occurs," warned Ginny Cavins, who pleaded with the FAA to ban knives and fortify cockpit doors.
Just two months before the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, FAA Security Director Michael Canavan told Cavins that decision was up to the airlines.
Linda Hall Daschle is now a lobbyist for Northwest and American Airlines.
HOWEVER, it really pisses me off the way liberal democrats pass these feel good laws and regulations and then do not enforce them. a law without enforcement is not a law -- and that is a lesson the democrats fail to heed. too often daschle(s) and other democrats take the politically expedient approach to solving problems.
When all is said and done, this is truly the Democratic party's legacy.
Your candor is admirable, but not really necessary considering that (a) Mrs. Daschle had not held office for over 3 years prior to 9/11; (b) the Bush administration was appointed by the Supremes to head the FAA over 9 months before 9/11, and they did nothing to stop the 9/11 attacks from happening; and (c) security officials in charge of the Boston Logan and NYC airports on 9/11 were all political appointees of the Repuke governors in those states.
Most of us have tried to live up to the slogan "America United" since 9/11. Divisive articles trying to pin blame upon the Clinton administration for events far beyond their control don't help the "America United" cause very much, IMO.
Daschle: Patience for Arafat Thin
A blunder by Byrd?
Pigs of a feather?????
No. I do not wish to be united with people, including Daschle (either one), who prevent arming of pilots who are willing to defend the lives of their crews and passengers.
The strengthening of the cockpit doors would have been a logical next step to provide the now-armed pilots with a defensible area.
It is not true that nothing could have been done. The Founders of our country did plenty over two hundred years ago and we have failed to heed them. NOW is the time to recognize that failure and correct it.
My question is:
Will this be reported on ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN?
Yeah. Thank goodness you're above petty partisanship.
A decision to go easy on even the most dangerous offenders - including some who succeeded in breaking into the cockpit in mid-flight armed with knives - sending warning letters and leveling fines in lieu of any serious enforcement. (The percentage of those fined actually dropped after Daschle's "zero tolerance" pledge.)
And the destruction of FAA case files on in-flight violence that now makes it impossible to reconstruct a comprehensive picture of the midair mayhem in the years before the 9/11 attacks.
Obviously the perps here were all good liberal Democrats.
Why and when were they destroyed?
Is this supposed to prove something? Although Mrs. "Puff" Daschle is probably not responsible per se, she held the post longer than anyone in the Bush Administration. Bush was appointed by the electorate. If you read the constitution, if you can get Clinton's stains off of it, you would see that. Also, democrats are pissed because, after all the re re re re re re re counts, Algore still did not win.
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