Terrorist "dry runs" being conducted on US planes?

[barrington]

Sleep well kiddies.

Scaremongering at its best. An account of a domestic US flight where a small army of eastern men are apparently witnessed being up to no good.

[Elijahfan]

interesting story, makes me nervous but i wont be flying a in a plane any time some either way. and when i clicked on this thread, i also turned on the tv and the 9/11 commission was giving out its final report. back to the article, i find it interesting since it wasnt reported on major news or anything. things like that would have definitely been a major story. i remember when there was the anthrax scare in the US, when a flight attendant found white powder on a plane, it was all over the news, which it turned out to be sugar.

[Richard]

Scary story. I'm not saying that we Americans should panic everytime a Muslim gets on board, but their moves were suspicious enough. So I probably would have quietly panicked.

[Kelsey]

Interesting - thanks for sharing that story. I don't doubt that that happens, and I wouldn't doubt it one bit if someone told me it happens all the time. I think the US will be attacked again in the upcoming months (dare I say sometime before November). That's a scary situation that that writer and her family had to be in. I'm not sure the idea of the crew knowing about it, but not really attempting to do anything would reassure me, even if air marshalls were on board.

[hasselbrad]

http://www.snopes.com/politics/crime/skyterror.asp

They were a group of Syrian musicians.

[Kelsey]

Hehehe....jeez...terrorism seems to be winning in the United States. Though, based only on the writer's description of the events on the plane, that was extremely suspicious.

[Pinkfairy]

Creepy. I travel a lot so all the security measures used to be really annoying but I'm now grateful for them. It was strange that the group didn't seat together , but they were all scattered. They could have been completely innocent, but you never know these days,

[Hazzle]

Originally Posted by barrington

Sleep well kiddies.

Scaremongering at its best. An account of a domestic US flight where a small army of eastern men are apparently witnessed being up to no good.

I'm with Bazzle here...scaremongering.

[Renegade]

I imagine it must be difficult for marshalls to apprehend suspicious people without having to cross the borderline of racism. I want terrorism to be prevented at all costs ,but it's hard, because it's unfair for the innocent that are apprehended just because of their appearance.

[Hazzle]

Originally Posted by Renegade

I imagine it must be difficult for marshalls to apprehend suspicious people without having to cross the borderline of racism. I want terrorism to be prevented at all costs ,but it's hard, because it's unfair for the innocent that are apprehended just because of their appearance.

Aye, it's a tough balance to draw, but it's got to be done.

[hasselbrad]

...works in favor of the racially profiled.
I had a fraternity brother who was of Lebanese descent. Jet black hair and olive skin, but, he was from Ozark, Alabama. As you can imagine, his father had much the same complexion, except darker.
He told us about how back in the late sixties, soon after his parents had gotten married, they went to Miami Beach on vacation. His dad pulls his big, black Cadillac up in front of the Fountainbleu Hotel and gets out wearing a black suit. His mother, was a tall, blonde, South Alabama beauty queen. The bellmen get the bags out of the trunk, and lo and behold, there's a 12 gauge shotgun in the trunk. For those of you unfamiliar with Alabama, there are probably two or three cars in the whole state without some sort of firearm in them.
When they got to their room, there was a huge floral arrangement and champagne, with best wishes from the manager.
They thought this chicken farmer from Ozark, Alabama was some mafioso. Said it was the best hotel stay ever. Room service...comped. Drinks in the bar downstairs...comped.