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Security incident aboard AirTran Flight 297 suggests terror "Dry Run"
Canada Free Press ^ | December 3,2009 | Doug Hagmann

Posted on 12/04/2009 4:34:32 AM PST by cyn

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61 posted on 12/04/2009 7:41:34 AM PST by Lurking in Kansas (Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down their level, then beat you with experience.)
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More on witness, from Debbie Schlussel.com:

Posted on FR at: Another Muslim Hijack Dryrun?: If True Ted Petruna's My New Hero; UPDATE: CONFIRMED -- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399975/posts

62 posted on 12/04/2009 7:48:17 AM PST by cyn
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More on witness, from Debbie Schlussel.com:

Posted on FR at: Another Muslim Hijack Dryrun?: If True Ted Petruna's My New Hero; UPDATE: CONFIRMED -- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399975/posts

63 posted on 12/04/2009 7:48:21 AM PST by cyn
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To: cyn
I'm not saying it shouldn't be scrutinized!....I'm very proud Free Republic doesn't rely on knee-jerk responses, but challenges each report, news item, etc with 'trust but verify'....verify....verify.

I'm just saying if someone, anyone had ACTED on the huge red flags with the Fort Hood terrorist, it may have been prevented.

Free Republic is scrutinizing every jot & tittle of this information...and thank goodness Canada Freepress is as well...

..certainly OUR mainstream media aren't.

It seems like enough... albeit anecdotal... accounts have been given to accept this as close to fact, close enough.

64 posted on 12/04/2009 8:12:51 AM PST by Guenevere (....)
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To: Man50D

bookmark


65 posted on 12/04/2009 8:23:08 AM PST by DocRock (All they that TAKE the sword shall perish with the sword. Matthew 26:52 Gun grabbers beware.)
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To: cyn

Seeking Freepers for Jihadi Training Camp Observation and Information
Free Republic Jihadi Intel Thread ^ | 17 Nov. 2009 |

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2388394/posts


66 posted on 12/04/2009 8:25:16 AM PST by Candor7 ((The effective weapons Against Fascism are ridicule, derision, and truth (.Member NRA))
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To: Guenevere

Oh, yeah, I’m agreeing with you totally, Guen! It’s interesting that so many people are FIRST finding out about this story — which should be front page news — from a seemingly (because of the outrageousness of the story) hoax email that is now gone viral.

Thank God for Ted Petruna — the guy who sent that email out, not knowing it would happen this way. I wish him well as this thing continues.


67 posted on 12/04/2009 8:27:26 AM PST by cyn
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To: Candor7; TigersEye
Thanks for the link, great info there. I found this from TigersEye:

Muslims Terrorize and Disrupt Flight With "Dry Run" From Atlanta to Houston

68 posted on 12/04/2009 8:40:05 AM PST by cyn
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To: STONEWALLS

I keep wondering why no one is bringing nuisance lawsuits against groups like CAIR since that is their stock in trade. So what if you don’t win? We don’t have a loser pay system, so they would have to spend $$ to defend. Perhaps it would keep them busy.


69 posted on 12/04/2009 8:50:53 AM PST by brytlea (Jesus loves me, this I know.)
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To: tanknetter

probably was just a attempt to start a BS lawsuit.

othewise they would have waited until the plane was off the ground. they wanted to get arrested, but probably thought they might not survive a plane full of fired up passengers kicking their butts if they got in the air.


70 posted on 12/04/2009 8:52:03 AM PST by tm61 (somewhere in chicago, a ward is missing it's crook)
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To: cyn

Thanks for the ping. This story feels a little like the OK story a few years back (where the guy blew himself up outside a football game, but it was called NOT terrorism.


71 posted on 12/04/2009 8:52:26 AM PST by brytlea (Jesus loves me, this I know.)
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To: cyn
Thanks!

Someone wrote that he lost his job at NASA for allowing this information to go viral??

72 posted on 12/04/2009 9:02:47 AM PST by Guenevere (....)
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To: Logic n' Reason
"Until these procedures are put in effect by commercial airlines, I will not fly."

I've said since the Sept. 11 attacks to put a canned ham in the tail section of every plane. If it crashes, the Jihadist will get some pig juice on them so they can't enter paradise. And/or make every passenger eat a piece of pork upon entering a plane. Again, they would become 'unclean' and not want to martyr themselves as they wouldn't enter paradise.

When dealing with barbarian attackers, you have to think on their level.

Regards,
DocRock

73 posted on 12/04/2009 9:07:12 AM PST by DocRock (All they that TAKE the sword shall perish with the sword. Matthew 26:52 Gun grabbers beware.)
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To: Guenevere

I’d not read that, but from the KOU forum I linked above, he was told to keep quiet about it at NASA where he works. I truly wish him well... and all the others associated with this.


74 posted on 12/04/2009 9:23:13 AM PST by cyn
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To: cyn

I, too, applaud the citizen journalists who are doing the media’s job.

Despite Snopes’s efforts to dismiss and downplay this, they actually confirm the underlying facts, i.e. there was a serious incident involving 11-13 Arabic speaking men in Muslim attire—an incident serious enough to turn the plane around, disembark the passengers, re-search bags, etc., plus board a new flight crew, and continue to detain 2 of the men. Those items appear not to be in dispute.

Snopes never contacted Petruna. But they do highlight the AJC’s account of one woman sitting in the center behind the camera-user who declares it all a misunderstanding. First off, there’s no way AJC or Snopes knows what this woman’s agenda may or may not be, nor is there any way to gauge her credibility or objectivity. She could have been a planned enabler of this episode, seated there for the very purpose of her later eyewitness testimony, for all AJC or Snopes knows.

Second, assuming she’s legit, that woman was reporting only on that one man’s actions. She could not see/hear the multiple other simultaneous actions taking place throughout the cabin, front to back. So her assessment of the situation is based on quite limited observation, and is of no more weight than Tedd Petruna’s interpretation.

I’d love to know exactly how many of the passengers chose to NOT get back on that plane.


75 posted on 12/04/2009 11:35:23 AM PST by Eroteme
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To: cyn
In a statement to 11 News, AirTran said, “A number of the allegations included in the article posted by Mr. Petruna conflict with the statements obtained by the flight crew.”

Well that's a faint denial. If Petruna's account was a total crock, AirTran would have said so. This sounds like AirTran is hiding behind inaccuracies in detail to avoid having to acknowledge the validity of the underlying substance of Petruna's account. That there would be discrepancies in accounts among eyewitnesses is to be expected. This statement from AirTran makes me very much less inclined to give weight to the nothing-there side of this equation.

76 posted on 12/04/2009 12:18:03 PM PST by Eroteme
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To: cyn
From http://www.airtran.com/aircraft/new_717_jets.aspx

117 seats in mixed class configuration – 12 Business Class, 105 coach

77 posted on 12/04/2009 12:33:15 PM PST by Uri’el-2012 (Psalm 119:174 I long for Your salvation, YHvH, Your law is my delight.)
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To: Eroteme; kattracks
Compare this slowly unfolding revelation of flight 297 with a previous incident on a flight in 2004.

Annie Jacobsen was on Northwest Flight 327 on June 29, 2004 -- her account is "Terror in the Skies -- Again?:

As we sat waiting for the plane to finish boarding, we noticed another large group of Middle Eastern men boarding. The first man wore a dark suit and sunglasses. He sat in first class in seat 1A, the seat second-closet to the cockpit door. The other seven men walked into the coach cabin.

As "aware" Americans, my husband and I exchanged glances, and then continued to get comfortable. I noticed some of the other passengers paying attention to the situation as well. As boarding continued, we watched as, one by one, most of the Middle Eastern men made eye contact with each other. They continued to look at each other and nod, as if they were all in agreement about something. I could tell that my husband was beginning to feel "anxious."

The take-off was uneventful. But once we were in the air and the seatbelt sign was turned off, the unusual activity began. The man in the yellow T-shirt got out of his seat and went to the lavatory at the front of coach -- taking his full McDonald's bag with him. When he came out of the lavatory he still had the McDonald's bag, but it was now almost empty. He walked down the aisle to the back of the plane, still holding the bag. When he passed two of the men sitting mid-cabin, he gave a thumbs-up sign. When he returned to his seat, he no longer had the McDonald's bag.

Then another man from the group stood up and took something from his carry-on in the overhead bin. It was about a foot long and was rolled in cloth. He headed toward the back of the cabin with the object. Five minutes later, several more of the Middle Eastern men began using the forward lavatory consecutively. In the back, several of the men stood up and used the back lavatory consecutively as well.

For the next hour, the men congregated in groups of two and three at the back of the plane for varying periods of time. Meanwhile, in the first class cabin, just a foot or so from the cockpit door, the man with the dark suit – still wearing sunglasses – was also standing. Not one of the flight crew members suggested that any of these men take their seats.

When she got home, she was unable to find info... she was mocked and told she was a bigot. The air marshal on the flight said she'd "overreacted".

A month later, on July 30, 2004, a second passenger corroborated Jacobsen's account:

Government officials are questioning a passenger's account of alarming and suspicious behavior by Syrian musicians aboard a recent flight to Los Angeles, although a second passenger has corroborated the events.

The second passenger, a frequent business traveler who asked not to be identified, provided a copy of her itinerary confirming she was on the June 29 Northwest Airlines Detroit-to-Los Angeles Flight 327, which was disrupted by 14 Syrian passengers later identified as musicians.

The passenger, who was riding in first class, said the constant foot traffic and strange behavior she witnessed in the front cabin frightened her as much as it did Annie Jacobsen, the first passenger who publicly reported the incident.

"I thought I was going to die," the second passenger told The Washington Times. "And that makes me furious because that's the whole point of terrorism, to make people afraid. It makes me mad that they achieved that. But I'm not letting it stop me from taking other trips."

For YEARS she was ridiculed, but didn't back down (again, right person for that time and place). That account persists at Snopes to this day.

Despite the years of media and public pressure, when the report for the Department of Homeland Security was finally released, it showed she was spot on.

It would seem that the only reason we have a new view of what happened on Flight 327 is due to Ms. Jacobsen's tenacity and the ability to get the word out in the alternative media.

Documentation of how Northwest flight 327 facts dribbled out over time despite official denials is preserved on FR: http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/flight327/index

I thank God for FR and its archives.

78 posted on 12/07/2009 1:37:26 PM PST by cyn (“Courage is not the absence of fear, but the mastery of it." Mark Twain)
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To: cyn

I followed Annie Jacobsen’s ordeal closely at the time, and agree with you. She was the right person at the right time. Brave woman.

The orchestrated effort to discredit witnesses to AirTran 297 and bury the story is as familar as it is despicable. And so is the rush to jump to conclusions. It took a month for another corroborating witness to come forward to back Ms. Jacobson—then years for the whole truth to dribble out. Yet half the people on this forum are impatient to dismiss this latest AirTran event.

This story is barely a few days old, resurrected from a tiny, unremarkable mention in the local newspapers about a minor incident involving a single non-English speaking passenger and his cell phone. Whether challenging the official version or supporting it, it’s not going to be cake walk for anyone who comes forward. They’ve seen what happens. This is not like stepping up to oppose a zoning ordinance. People know full well what lies ahead for them at the hands of people who have their minds already made up, regardless of which side of the story their account supports. No doubt, there’s some soul searching going on as we speak, and quiet family discussions about duty to country vs. family. I don’t envy them.

Whatever the truth is, it’s worth being told.


79 posted on 12/07/2009 2:21:06 PM PST by Eroteme
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