Posted on 04/07/2010 7:22:58 PM PDT by kristinn
Federal air marshals subdued a man who authorities say attempted to "light his shoes on fire" on a United flight from Washington Reagan to Denver Wednesday night, federal law enforcement officials told ABC News.
SNIP
The suspect was identified by authorities as a diplomat in the Qatar embassy in Washington, Mohammed al Modadi. The FBI said the man had full diplomat immunity as the 3rd secretary and vice-consul.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I knew, just knew, this guy’s first name would be Mohammad.
AP source: Man on flight trying to sneak smoke
*****************************EXCERPT****************************
By IVAN MORENO and DEVLIN BARRETT (AP) – 52 minutes ago
DENVER — A Qatari diplomat trying to sneak a smoke in an airplane bathroom sparked a bomb scare Wednesday night on a flight from Washington to Denver, with fighter jets scrambled and law enforcement put on high alert, officials said.
No explosives were found on the man, and officials do not believe he was trying to harm anyone, according to a senior law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The incident comes three months after the attempted terror attack on Christmas Day when a Nigerian man tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner. Since then, law enforcement, flight crews and passengers have been on high alert for suspicious activity on airplanes. The scare exposed major holes in the country's national security and prompted immediate changes in terror-screening policies.
An Arab diplomat briefed on the matter identified the diplomat as Mohammed Al-Madadi.
Two law enforcement officials said investigators were told the man was asked about the smell of smoke in the bathroom and he made a joke that he had been trying to light his shoes — an apparent reference to the 2001 so-called "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.
Thanks 4 the link. Glad to know others came to the same conclusion I did.
LOL!
They never miss my shoes! (or my wife)
It never would have happened if they hadn't banned smoking on airplanes. Is this the same response we can expect once Michigan's ban on smoking in restaurants begins 5/1/10? .......well, maybe not fighter jets but probably SWAT teams.
Actually no they haven’t. They are supposed to use deadly force ONLY if it’s absolutely neccesary. I think it should be the preferred option when you catch someone lighting his shoes on fire.
The problem with that is that less scrupulous governments (though, given the current occupation, I'm hard pressed to come up with a long list of those) would then do away with the custom themselves, and trump up all sort of charges against U.S. diplomats so that they can be intimidated and/or interrogated.
The wheels of diplomacy require proper greasing, and it doesn't always smell pretty. Diplomatic immunity works under the tacit assumption that the home country will deal with individuals who abuse it and host countries will sever (or downgrade) ties with countries who abuse it.
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(Suspect is Qatari Diplomat)
Great all we can do is send him home.
“Yeah, like torturing Christianity’s leader to death stopped that movement in its tracks.”
There is no comparison between Christianity and the murder-suicide cult of Islam.
None.
They probably want to make sure they have the facts instead of seeming desperate to break the story.
You can just cruise missile/JDAM that one.
Looks like I’m going to need a new handle after all these years...
LOL.
Fox News reported this morning that the Qatari idiot diplomat smoked a cigarette in the lavatory (I guess he also committed the federal offense of tampering with the smoke detectors) and then when he was confronted about it, he sarcastically joked that he was trying to light his shoes on fire. If this report is accurate, then while the dumbass diplomat was not an attempted terrorist he is a full-fledged IDIOT who should be convicted of first degree capital stupidity with aggravating circumstances.
Muslims are peaceful folks just like everyone else, except they like to blow up airplanes full of helpless people. When are we going to understand these poor oppressed muslims?
The difference is that three days later, His tomb was empty and in short time hundreds of witnesses were testifying to having seen him alive afterward -- many of them facing cruel death themselves just for saying it.
I doubt we would see Mecca arise from the ashes of the crater and rebuild itself.
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