Air Marshals Pulled From Key Flights

MSNBC News ^ | July 29, 2003 | Brock N. Meeks

[XHogPilot]

WASHINGTON, July 29 — Despite renewed warnings about possible airline hijackings, the Transportation Security Administration has alerted federal air marshals that as of Friday they will no longer be covering cross-country or international flights, MSNBC.com has learned. The decision to drop coverage on flights that many experts consider to be at the highest risk of attack...

[Buckwheats]

LOL!

[GingisK]

Look what happened in rural PA when Todd Beamer and his fellow passengers learned what had occurred in New York and Washington.

The plane still made a large, smoking heroic hole in the ground. Only the Israilis seem to understand that security is the art of detecting terrorist people, not the weapons they carry.

[lawdude]

"I agree - in my opinion, there is no way a team of 5 muslims could take over a commercial jet in the US."

I heard of one pilot who said that if his plane was threatened by hijackers he would flip that puppy on its back in a heartbeat. Injuries, be damned. Good for him.

[DonQ]

The real stupidity was releasing this news to the general public. This news might tempt hijackers to make a try ... even if the feds plan to drygulch them, I'd hate to see any sort of shoot-out aboard a plane in flight. And if the public reacts appropriately to this news, the only people buying airplane tickets will be the hijackers.

[sarasota]

I saw lots of TSA folks in St. Louis this weekend, sitting and chatting with each other.

[Those_Crazy_Liberals]

"The other has searches but also has no problem with passengers who have a CCW permit carrying on the flight. Which plane will fill up first and which would you rather be aboard, hmmm?"

How the hell are you going to let a passenger on who is packing and insure security integrity?

[Those_Crazy_Liberals]

"I am noticing more males than before among the cabin crew and consider this to be a direct off-shoot of the terrorist threat."

Even the gay ones are bulking up.

[wazoo1031]

I wish they could search all Islam-types, but then that would "offend" them and then they would cry and sue for discrimination, with the ACLU appeasing them. Hence the reason 2-yr. olds get their shoes checked and 85-yr. old grandmas are subject to strip searches. All the while, we are all "offended" by these souless pieces of human excrement flying loaded jets into national landmarks and killing thousands.

[browardchad]

This is an interesting tidbit, relegated to the end of the story:

The air marshal program has been beset by a number of problems during its quick ramp-up from a few agents to thousands. MSNBC.com reported in June that more than 100 federal air marshals had been fired or stripped of their flight status for problems stemming from their security clearance background investigations. In addition, some air marshals were flying without having received their final security clearances, Transportation Security Administration sources said.

CYA to cover the cuts, or typical bureaucratic stupidity that's undergoing a correction? Is it possible that the new intel about attacks on airliners implicates an air marshall?

Whatever the answer is, it's not comforting.

[wasp69]

Why is it that I am having a sinking feeling about this announcement?

[razorback-bert]

I am not afraid to fly, but the hassle to get on the plane isn't worth it. A flight from Midland to Houston is a hour, with a hour and half to get aboard, two hours in Houston to get aboard. This from two BP exec that flew out yesterday to check on operations.

[Almondjoy]

Yes.. I'm sure that will help all Transatlantic flights as well.. good solution.

[sine_nomine]

My friend was flying to Germany when the crew gave them tips on how to help quash any incidents in the air, including use of blankets to subdue terrorists.

I am usually on board first because of my wife's medical condition. I look over the passengers as they get on. I doubt whether I am the only one who looks for twitchy weirdos.

When I was looking into the cockpit, one male attendant deliberately blocked my view. Later he explained how ready he was to stop any attack on the cockpit. (I was just looking, honest.) I applaud any pilot who arms himself or excludes someone from the plane.

[Almondjoy]

So then since so Muslims are asian(Indonesia) and certainly Indian's look like Pakis(to an extent).. oh wait and since we have American's(yes that means WHITE PEOPLE) have converted to Islam.. hmm son of a gun.. I guess we have to check out EVERYONE!.. Glad I got that off my chest.

[samuel_adams_us]

I wonder if Bush is having this done on purpose in hopes that something will happen and he can come save the day and get his popularity back up? Otherwise this makes no sense other than a couple fat idiots at the top making another mistake.

[RightWhale]

Also, along the level of intelligence we see today, Barbara Boxer wants DARPA think-tankers fired for thinking.

-G. Beck

[Squantos]

Egg-Zactly ! It's the fiasco that comes with the air travel. Almost easier , cheaper and faster to rent a one way and drive if less than a days drive. But then I figure it's only a matter of time before states start closing their borders for mandatory fruit fly terrorist inspections.

Stay Safe Bert !!!

[eyespysomething]

What if...

Maybe the air marshalls have been infiltrated by terrorists.

[Darksheare]

I dunno eno, I knew a few flight attendants of the feminine persuasion that I'd drool over in a heartbeat.
And none of them ooked like Hitlery.
(The one was dark haired, petite, and rather funny. Wonder where she is now...)

[Cold Heat]

Before loosing my temper over this report, I will wait for confirmation from another source.

MSNBC has been scraping the bottom of the barrel for breaking news and this may be another intentionally mis-interpreted story which they have been cranking out recently.

Like the one yesterday saying that Afghanistan suffered because of the attention being payed to Iraq.