NWA 327: Dry run for terrorists or misunderstandin

Re: NWA 327: Dry run for terrorists or misundersta

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I can guarantee you on any flight I go on, I can FIND suspicious activity if I'm looking for it. That guy over in 13A keeps going to the bathroom. Is he building a shoe bomb, or does he have a bladder infection? Those two teenagers are looking at me funny. Are they just being normaly angst ridden teens, or are they plotting on how to take me down during a hijacking?

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Have you considered a position at the TSA? (I'm talking management, not screening). This sounds right in line with their philosophy. And you left out that blue-haired lady with the knitting needles. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: NWA 327: Dry run for terrorists or misundersta

But if we close down the borders to all but US citizens (and I suppose the citizens of the 20 other countries that let us just send our people over with no visas since they extend that courtesy to us) would it really make us safer? Timothy McVeigh was the all-American boy, after all. John Walker Lindh joined al Qaeda, and so did Jose Padilla. And then there are the Brits and Aussies as well.

As for the musicians, I said they were bungholes. But bunghole does not equal terrorist. Otherwise, the guy who took a dump on the serving cart would be rotting in Gitmo right now.
 
Re: NWA 327: Dry run for terrorists or misundersta

[ QUOTE ]
But if we close down the borders to all but US citizens (and I suppose the citizens of the 20 other countries that let us just send our people over with no visas since they extend that courtesy to us) would it really make us safer? Timothy McVeigh was the all-American boy, after all. John Walker Lindh joined al Qaeda, and so did Jose Padilla. And then there are the Brits and Aussies as well.

As for the musicians, I said they were bungholes. But bunghole does not equal terrorist. Otherwise, the guy who took a dump on the serving cart would be rotting in Gitmo right now.

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Well, again, their behavior was the crux of the problem. Remove that and there arabness would have not caused a problem. (Although I still suspect they were the reason FAMs were assigned to the flight). No need to document anymore that more people then Jacobsen, including the crew, and the FAM found reason to suspect their behavior.

As to the border. My point is that it is not a civil liberties issue. Every country has the right to defend it's borders and allow entry as it sees fit.

And I hope you are right that our biggest threat now comes from non-arab, non-muslims. If we can eliminate them from the equation we are in pretty good shape. I've always said a threat is a threat. Prior to 9/11 our biggest threat for violence in the air was a white american male on prozac. These were the guys flipping out and having to be restrained by passengers. Airliners have had restraint devices onboard for years because of that. So one threat at a time.
 
Re: NWA 327: Dry run for terrorists or misundersta

Oh, I'm not that naive. I wish we could say that non-Arab, non-jiahdists are our greatest threat now. Unfortunately, we know that is not the case.

My point is that al Qaeda is smart. They ain't gonna be sending guys over with long beards and turbans to attack us. Look at the pictures of the guys who committed the September 11 attacks at the security gates. Would anyone have thought, hey, this guy is going to take over a plane and crash it into a landmark?

That is what makes them so scary.

And it's what makes trying to stop them with profiling so ineffective. While we're running around, looking for "middle Eastern looking" men, they'll slip a light skinned Pakistani or Syrian in who looks more "American" than I do.
 
Re: NWA 327: Dry run for terrorists or misundersta

Ok, so I havn't read this in a day or so, but I just want to throw down and say that I'm more scared about redneck white dudes than I am arab guys on airplanes. Stupid white rednecks have almost gotten me killed more than arab's have.

AND YOU PLAY BALL LIKE A GIRL...there, that should stir things up good /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Hate to say I told you so but....

Non-Arab Recruits for al Qaeda

To avoid the intense scrutiny on travelers from certain Middle Eastern countries, al-Qaeda is believed to be using operatives from Chechnya, Bosnia and, when possible, Western Europe. Not all are Arab, and not all are men. All are thought to be Muslim, but a few have pretended to convert to Christianity to deepen their cover, the senior intelligence official said.

“There was a legitimate concern right after 9/11 that the face of international terrorism was basically from the Middle East. We know differently,” Ridge said. “We don't have the luxury of kidding ourselves that there is an ethnic or racial or country profile.”
 
Re: Hate to say I told you so but....

Well sounds like Ridge is on the case. This sould be good news.

BTW, I was thinking about the American "tradition" of only going to war when threatened so I looked up a quote from JFK (the original, not the new one). This was from his inaugral address and at that time was not controversial as we still, as a nation, had a clear understanding of our history: "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
 
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