Terror in the Skies, Again? (page 2)

Double Edge

how do these people know how to get around so many security loopholes?

I think they've had numerous undiscovered "dry runs" since 9/11. Scary stuff.

Big Tex

I suspect that it's going to take another blown up plane to convince PC morons in the U.S. that we're now in a war with Islamic Fundamentalists, and that wartime measures are almost certainly necessary

No, it won't matter. If the PC Police are still in full force after 9/11 nothing is going to change their mind. Terrorism, like drugs, can be stopped.

If I remember correctly, Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War. I'm not advocating measures like that, but certainly common sense should be used. This is a war, much different than the Cold War and it is one we could lose.

aniron

I work for a security firm in Britain. Recently all the security in ports around Britain has been tightened up.

We had to attend a course to bring us up to date on what these arrangements are.

There the person taking the course told us that from intelligence reports (mind you what do they count for these days) the next target for terrorists could be a cruise ship. It seems terrorist have a number of ships (they say) sailing round the world. That they plan to stop a cruise ship or even sink one with missiles. Prime targets are those they sail out of Florida and round the Caribbean.

How true this is who can tell. But there again no one thought anyone would fly a plane into a skyscraper.

berten

The scare level must be kept at a certain level,so that no one feels safe anymore.

And this story just helps it along.

Problem-Reaction-Solution.

-Create the problem (Terrorism)

-Wait for the obvious reaction

-Then hand the scared population *your* solution...

wednesday

listening to the news recently they are warning that Alqueda is probably going to or already is using Westrners

instead of Eastren descent people to carry out some of their terrorits activites. So really, who do u look out for? could be anyone.

Satanus

Maybe syrians are afraid to pee alone. Maybe they pray in bathrooms. Maybe bathrooms look like prayer clostes to them. But seriously:

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One of the things I learned in the years I have spent in law enforcement at both the federal and local level is that witnesses of traumatic events relate few details. When people are frightened or otherwise psychologically shocked, their minds don't record movies, but snapshots, and not many of them, either.

Annie's story has a wealth of detail, so much that I find myself disbelieving that she could have been as afraid as she says she was. Since she nowhere indicates that she took contemporaneous notes, I have to conclude her story was written from memory, and written at a minimum many hours after the flight landed.

Look at what Malkin says FAMS confirmed:

... there were 14 Syrians on the flight; they were questioned by the Los Angeles Police Department, FBI, FAM, and so on; they were a musical band.

That's it. This is a far cry from confirming that Annie's story is all its impressive detail is accurate. In fact, it's not even close.

As charitably as I can, let me explain why I think that Annie considerably embellished her story, and not necessarily embellished it deliberately (but might have in some parts; she's a paid writer after all).

One thing professional investigators learn is that almost every witness they interview understands the events concerned through certain, pre-existing templates. One reason different witnesses of the same events give accounts often greatly varying from each other is that their templates are so different. So investigators learn to be suspicious of details, except for the real, main details that are so obvious or important that they break through anyone's template.

Example: a bank robbery gone bad. Witness A says the robber fired his gun several times. "B" says it was nine times. "C" says it was a half-dozen. "D" says the robber had an automatic weapon and sprayed the area. What have they agreed on? Only that the robber fired his gun more than once.

Like most Americans, Annie Jacobsen has a certain template of post-9/11 airline travel that Arab men, especially multiples, are a potential threat aboard an airliner. This is not an unreasonable template, given that it wasn't kilt-wearing Scotsmen who committed 9/11's grim deeds. I have that template, too.

But unconsciously this template affects how she interpreted the events aboard the airliner. She was predisposed to understand the Arab men's actions in threatening ways. She even admits it. Before all the passengers even finished boarding:

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."

NB: the plane was still loading passengers, and Annie has already decided that the Arab men are threats. She has already decided they are threats - for what? They made "eye contact" with one another and seemed to agree about something. Might thay have been ensuring they were all together and simply acknowledging that fact?

This is the mighty thin gruel from which Annie constructs a banquet of a near-death experience. Even a McDonald's bag, carried by one of the Arabs, becomes ominous:

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.

Hmm... The bag was full, then it was "almost empty," then it was gone. Sounds like what happens to my McDonalds bag when I finish eating.

Her whole story is rich with such innuendo, after which we learn that nothing happened

What I am very skeptical of is the wealth of minutiae she reports. Michelle Malkin wrote that OpinionJournal's James Taranto pointed out that the Annie Jacobsen who offers "Creative Writing, Dreamwork, Individual Psychotherapy" lives in Canada, not LA. But I think the account shows some pretty creative recollection, anyway.

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http://www.donaldsensing.com/2004/07/casing-northwest-327-threat-or-hoax.html

'Course, ya'll all will not want to miss the sequel promised by annie and her e-ditor http://www.womenswallstreet.com/WWS/article_landing.aspx?articleid=713&Titleid=0

Book due to be released soon.

S

heathen

I think both berten and satanus made good points . A newspaper writer will use sensationalism in order to keep the attention of readers and so will the government since they pretty much run the newpapers here in the US . I would just be nervous that there were so many arabs on the plane . I'm all for what ever security measures need to be taken in public transportation to ensure the safety of passengers .

Terror in the Skies, Again?