Posted on 12/22/2001 8:38:22 PM PST by classygreeneyedblonde
BOSTON (AP) -- Thierry Dugeon said the first he knew anything was wrong on American Airlines Flight 63 was when he heard a flight attendant 10 rows in front of him cry out, ``I need some help!'' `
`I was there in five seconds, and there were already two or three guys on him,'' Dugeon said Saturday after the Paris-to-Miami-bound jet landed safely at Boston. ``It was like everybody knew what they needed to do. It's pure instinct because it goes so fast. You're not going to think twice.''
Authorities said a man carrying a British passport in the name of Richard Reid may have been carrying explosives in the heel of his shoes and was trying to set fire to one of them when a flight attendant smelled sulfur and intervened.
Dugeon estimated that five to six male passengers subdued Reid -- who resisted at first -- using belts to bind his hands, waist, chest and feet. Two doctors injected him with a sedative from the onboard medical kit. `
`It's three months after Sept. 11. Of course, the first thing you think of is it's something to do with terrorism,'' he said.
Dugeon, a 36-year-old television reporter from Paris, said he was seated in Row 39, 10 rows behind Reid. He said he had noticed the man in the airport when boarding and there was nothing that made Reid stand out.
Dugeon said after the man was subdued, passengers searched him, found the British passport, and questioned him about whether he spoke French, English or Arabic.
Dugeon said Reid told the passengers was Jamaican, but they didn't believe him. A law enforcement source who asked not be identified said Reid was not Middle Eastern.
Over the next two hours, passengers took turns watching the sedated Reid while the crew showed the movie ``Legally Blonde.'' When the plane neared Boston, the captain told them that fighter jets would escort them to Logan. After landing, all the passengers stayed seated until the police came and took the suspect off.
Dugeon described Reid's footwear as hightop-type basketball sneakers, and said he had tried to light the front of his sneakers.
The one rule to success that can't be broken.
Targeting certain types? Why would they target this guy since he's obviously either Norwegian or Japanese?
What do you mean, "we"? Blame the French. Flight was from Paris.
lesseehere:
Swarthy appearance. Check.
Brand new passport. Check.
No luggage on long overwater flight. Check.
Ring any alarm bells, anyone? We mess around patting down 75-year-old women who are 4th generation American grandmothers from Des Moines, and we don't have the time to properly identify and closely check out scum like this. We are insane, and PC must die.
A law enforcement source who asked not be identified said Reid was not Middle Eastern.
Bravo Sierra. He sure fits the appearance profile. He's probably British or French, but from people who are from the Middle East or Southwest Asia. Maybe he's not carrying a Saudi passport (you know, those friendly Saudi allies?), but he sure looks of ME/SA extraction at first glance to me.
The spokesperson is probably confused about directions because of the assignments for NCAA basketball championship playoffs.
Was he saying, reporter Steve Kroft asked, that at the security screening desks, a 70-year-old white woman from Vero Beach, Fla., would receive the same level of scrutiny as a Muslim young man from Jersey City?
He would hope so, Mr. Mineta replied.
The secretary explained that he put his faith in the Federal Aviation Authority's computer profile system, which does not consider race, ethnicity, national origin or religion but instead tracks information on the passenger's travel history, information from the CIA and the FBI, and certain other criteria. "Things," Mr. Mineta said, "like did you pay cash for this ticket or charge it on a credit card. Do you have a one-way ticket or round trip." But the men who flew into the World Trade Center did not have one-way tickets and they did not use cash, Mr. Mineta agreed. In this case, he also agreed those triggers would not have worked. Even so, the secretary held firmly to the view that that no group should be singled out for scrutiny.
About that Mr. Abrams had more to say. We had been attacked, he pointed out, and the one thing that the attackers have in common so far is their national origin and their sex and their language. "And for us to say, well, you know, we just can't think about that…we'll just put that aside because -- call it political correctness, call it anything -- we just won't think about because it makes us feel uncomfortable, is an appalling act of malfeasance."
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Mineta, a Clinton Cabinet member (Commerce), is an idiot and ought to be fired.
Anyone who says this guy doesn't look Middle Eastern, including newswire services citing unnamed sources, should be arrested for giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
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