A few days ago, I blogged about Annie Jacobsen's account of her family's flight from Detriot to Los Angeles. "Terror in the Skies, Again?" was a scary, eye-opening article.
Clinton W. Taylor at NRO identifies the Syrians. They were a band. They played at the Sycuan Resort and Casino in San Diego.
This is reassuring for this particular case, but there are a few other considerations I want to point out before people go back to sleep.
1. June 29th was a day of heightened alert, with the Dept. of Homeland Security indicating "unusually specific internal warning".
2. Remember the citation of Jason Burke's article in The Observer, dated February 8, 2004. The title of the article was "Terrorist bid to build bombs in mid-flight: Intelligence reveals dry runs of new threat to blow up airliners." Just because this case may have been a false alarm doesn't mean that there's absolutely no threat.
3. When the dog bites, watch him. Terrorists, historically, use airliners. Ms. Jacobsen is to be commended for her vigilance. This incident may not have been a dry run, but we know that terror cells are plotting further attacks on civilians on US soil. Increased awareness is a GOOD THING, and I thank her for giving us all a much-needed head's up.
Like Michelle Malkin, I prefer a false alarm to a flaming plane.
I also prefer to have my countrymen alert and observant.
Kudos to Ms. Jacobsen.
posted by Linda on July 22, 2004 05:04 PMI agree. Ms. Jacobsen behaved the way I would want anyone on a plane to behave. Be suspicious of people who behave suspiciously. It might save a couple hundred lives, if not more.
Those idiots who accuse Jacobsen of overreacting need to come see me, to get a good sense of what real overreacting might consist of. They wouldn't enjoy the experience, but then, education is not always fun.
Posted by: Michael at July 30, 2004 10:24 PMDid, as a passenger reported, 7 of the 13 Syrian musicians whose behavior was terrifying some passengers stand up in unison and take strategic positions by the lavatories and the exit door during final approach to Los Angeles, an act that would have been a frighteningly overt and unambiguous provocation?
They did not, according to the Federal Air Marshal Service, which had previously left unchallenged assertions by Annie Jacobsen, a freelance writer on the flight, that they did.
"What happened was, they were already standing up in the aisle before the seat belt signs became illuminated," said Dave Adams, a spokesman for the agency, which represents air marshals who travel undercover on airplanes.
"The flight attendants asked them to sit down and the men respected the orders and sat in their seats. Two gentlemen asked why they had to, and a flight attendant told them 'Because, so please take your seats.' And they obeyed," he said.
The new information, he added, came from "subsequent interviews of flight attendants on this matter by our personnel."
So there was absolutely no sudden move by the men on final approach?
"None," Mr. Adams said.
Care to provide a citation for your assertation, Gohepcat?
AGAIN, because you seem to have missed the point the first time around, Annie Jacobsen is to be commended for her alertness and courage in pointing out the holes that still exist in airline security.
AND I prefer insulting a Middle Eastern Wayne Newton to seeing another building in America burn with innocents inside because some extremist nutjob decided that flying an airliner into it would be a fine idea.
I suggest you go back out to the archives at Women's Wall Street and review the additional information that has been posted.
Posted by: Linda at August 17, 2004 03:57 PM