Archive for the ‘Terrorism’ Category
What Really Happened On Airtran Flight 297?
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009So what happened on this flight? Certain accounts are being called into question, but the notion that something happened on that flight is not in dispute. Rusty Shackleford says this:
If after 9/11 native Arabic speakers don’t get why the rest of us get nervous around them on an airplane then they are living in a fantasy world.
Yes, you make us nervous. Especially when you behave in ways normally considered rude. We tend to overlook rudeness to varying degrees depending on the context of the situation.
And the language you speak does add an extra layer of context.
I certainly don’t approve of racism. But I’m also quite aware that hijackers are thousands of times more likely to be Muslims than of any other religious identity. And that a great number of Muslim hijackers are also Arabs. Like, all 19 on Sept. 11th.
So, note to readers: Arabs speaking loudly and ignoring the requests of stewardesses are probably not hijackers, just assholes.
But note to native Arabic speakers: show a little self control and sensitivity. You make a lot of people very nervous when you behave rudely. Some might call this fear irrational and they may have a point. But no more irrational than, say, instructing passengers how to use the airplane cushions as a flotation device. The odds of being hijacked and surviving a crash long enough to need them probably being similar.
Yes this sucks. We don’t live in an ideal world. It could be much worse. Embrace the suck.
From the witness I spoke to, Dr. Keith Robinson, the only people comfortable on the flight were the Arabic speaking men. They engaged in questionable behavior on the flight. They yucked it up at the baggage claim, as if the whole experience was humorous. The people on the flight seemed traumatized, according to him, and his job is to intervene in crisis situations.
Certainly, airlines want to avoid lawsuits. The TSA wants to avoid hijacking situations. And Americans don’t want to be perceived as being intolerant, even when they’re nervous (which is rational).
This seems like a cocktail for disaster.
President Obama Reaches Out To Code Pink After His Afghanistan Speech?
Monday, December 7th, 2009Big government has a very concerning story regarding anti-war activists Code Pink and their relationship with the administration:
In a move by the Obama administration that is gallingly cynical and would be considered treasonous in a less progressive era, a message sent by Code Pink and an article published by the left wing online publication AlertNet indicates the White House is working with the left wing terrorist support group Code Pink to agitate the public and undermine President Barack Obama’s newly announced Afghanistan war policy.
Top Obama funder, Code Pink co-founder and terrorist supporter Jodie Evans wrote at AlterNet of a White House initiated phone call she received last week, two days after Obama’s Afghan war speech at West Point. The Obama official said the administration wanted to “consult” with Code Pink in response to the group’s e-mail campaign targeting the White House with opposition to the president’s surge strategy.
However, it appears that the Obama administration was already in consultation with Code Pink before this reported phone call. In its message to supporters, Code Pink guaranteed their e-mails would be read by someone in the White House.
“It’s time to turn our outrage into sustained action. Use our quick and easy tool to send your response to Obama’s announcement to the Executive Office of the President–where it will be read by a member of Obama’s team! Let them know that you are mad as hell and will push back on the escalation. It is our job to continue to press them as we move forward.”
In the article at AlterNet, Jodie Evans gloats about Code Pink’s success, noting the Obama official called “three minutes” after the e-mail campaign was launched.
In an email exchange with a friend who defended the president, I said this:
I think that Obama’s decision could have gone either way. He was waiting for support to diminish as the economy got worse. It didn’t. The American people are very uncomfortable leaving people ala Vietnam. So. He waited. Well, he fiddled around with an agreement with the Taleeban. That didn’t work either. And word came out about it…people were upset.
So, Obama made the decision he didn’t want to make.
Now. He wants this thing over in the worst possible way. The only way for it to happen is to look like he tried while turning the will of the people against it. That’s it.
He can have the best generals, and does. He figures, well, if I’m in this stupid war, might as well have good guys doing it. Maybe I’ll be surprised and we’ll win or something. Meanwhile, I’ll foment discontent just in case so I can get the guys out before re-election.
It has been suggested that I’m far too cynical. President Obama acted as though he gave the speech against his better judgment. It wasn’t a call to victory. It was a bone thrown until the political climate changed.
And if the Code Pinkers can accelerate the political climate change…well, all to the good. It would help the President.
Another Terrorist Dry Run: Part II Interview With Witness Dr. Keith Robinson–UPDATED
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009Yesterday, I shared the account given by Tedd Petruna about Air Tran Flight 297 from Atlanta to Houston Hobby. Today, I interviewed Dr. Keith Robinson, Corps Commander of the Houston Regional Community Chaplain Corps, as he actually took the flight, with the Arab men after Tedd and many other passengers got off the plane, once it was clear that both the TSA and Air Tran were going to allow the threatening passengers to stay on the flight.
Over at RedInk Texas, you’ll see how distorted the actual news accounts were of this incident. This incident was not just a matter of an unruly passenger refusing to hang up on a phone call. The whole flight crew refused to fly and had to be replaced.
Air Tran 297 is not the first time this sort of thing has happened. Recall the Flying Imams controversy where the men sued the airlines and passengers and won a settlement from the airlines.
This circumstance occurred shortly after Major Hasan killed twelve soldiers at Fort Hood. The passengers were sensitized to a terrorist threat before the flight.
Dr. Robinson gave his first-hand account [find link here], typing up his impressions during the flight:
The flight crew hurriedly walked past me leaving the plane with their baggage. The flight
attendants were emotionally shaken, red faced, in tears and were sobbing. A new flight crew
was ordered for the flight. All remaining passengers awaited their next crew, unsure of the
ultimate destiny of this flight.
When I boarded the plane the air was tense and filled with emotion. Many of the passengers
were obviously upset and at wits end. Often passengers would look back then forward to
assess any change in the suspicious activities of the 10 hostile Middle Eastern passengers.
Although my seat was 22D I moved to the back of the plane to gain a better view of any actions
that might take place in front of me. Some of the Middle Eastern men were in the Business
Class area and the remainder was seated in the back of the plane. They spoke only Arabic and I
did not understand what they were saying although a strange burst of laughter would erupt as
they spoke.
His conclusion from the plane flight was thus:
Obviously, in Atlanta the officials from Air Tran had been placed in a difficult ethnic position that directly resulted from the inappropriate, threatening actions of these 12 Middle Eastern men. And, obviously vacillating between appropriately removing these men permanently off the plane and sequestering them for the threats they made toward these passengers on the flight…or taking the “politically correct” action of taking them off, questioning them and then putting most of them back on the plane…Air Tran took the easy way out and put most of them back on board. As in most dilemma situations both parties are never equally affected by the resulting action. By putting 10 of the men back on the plane, Air Tran decided that it was better to emotionally traumatize each and every one of the remaining passengers on Air Tran Flight 297 for the remainder of the flight. They had a chance to remove the offenders…but didn’t.
Please listen to the podcast for a 45 minute detailed account. The first many minutes are Dr. Robinson giving his background. He gets into the meat of the experience around the 20 minute mark.
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When Melissa isn’t on the radio, you can find her at melissaclouthier.com and on Twitter. Her username is MelissaTweets.
UPDATED:
They seemed to make every effort to draw attention to themselves, which makes me think it’s unlikely this is really a terror-deal, or even a dry run for terror. Perhaps “probing,” but again, they seemed to really go out of their way to get some TSA lovin’.
Not necessarily terror, then, but the demonstrations of a thin-skinned bunch determined to fuck with the legitimate fears of infidels. And prove some stupid point. And maybe get a nice fat lawsuit out of it too.
I wrote recently — about the shootings at the Texas army base — that it is the ambiguous and contradictory orders, the confused and deliberately confusing orders from the policymakers and bureaucrats, that force those attempting to execute their intentionally-baffling non-policies to err on the side of not rocking the boat and not getting fired.
I don’t see anything changing this. Even after 14 people were killed at that army base, it’s not going to change.
Thanks to rockhead.
He also links to the Canadian Free Press (notice how many stories they’ve been breaking recently?):
On November 17, an incident took place aboard AirTran Flight 297 scheduled to fly from Atlanta Hartsfield Airport to Houston that the media does not want to cover and everyone from the airline to the TSA and other government agencies want to keep very quiet. The reasons, I have been told, is fear of predatory lawsuits, negative publicity from accusations of religious profiling, and the obligatory subjugation to mindless mandatory Muslim sensitivity training that make a mockery of our American system of values. Interestingly, one airline official told me “we don’t want to become another flight 300,” which is a reference to a very similar scenario that took place aboard US Airways Flight 300 exactly three years ago.
I was first contacted about this incident two days after it happened by a passenger who was aboard AirTran Flight 297. Based on the allegations made by this passenger, we conducted additional research, interviews and investigation, all of which takes time to insure accuracy, and are now able to release our report of the incident that took place aboard that aircraft. Be prepared to be shocked, angered, and perhaps saddened by our national and corporate acquiescence to mafia-type tactics by Islamists who are engaged in a full frontal assault, and laughing about it.
It’s also hitting airline industry blogs.
Another Terrorist Dry Run
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009Remember the flight from Atlanta to Houston that got turned around because of the guy who wouldn’t get off the phone? That’s not what happened. From the website Nobody Asked Me via Pierre LeGrand:
I was in 1st class coming home. 11 Muslim men got on the plane in full attire. 2 sat in 1st class and the rest peppered themselves throughout the plane all the way to the back. As the plane taxied to the runway the stewardesses gave the safety spiel we are all so familiar with. At that time, one of the men got on his cell and called one of his companions in the back and proceeded to talk on the phone in Arabic very loudly and very aggressively. This took the 1st stewardess out of the picture for she repeatedly told the man that cell phones were not permitted at the time. He ignored her as if she was not there.
The 2nd man who answered the phone did the same and this took out the 2nd stewardess. In the back of the plane at this time, 2 younger Muslims, one in the back, isle, and one in front of him, window, began to show footage of a porno they had taped the night before, and were very loud about it. Now….they are only permitted to do this prior to Jihad. If a Muslim man goes into a strip club, he has to view the woman via mirror with his back to her. (don’t ask me….I don’t make the rules, but I’ve studied). The 3rd stewardess informed them that they were not to have electronic devices on at this time. To which one of the men said “shut up infidel dog!” She went to take the camcorder and he began to scream in her face in Arabic. At that exact moment, all 11 of them got up and started to walk the cabin. This is where I had had enough! I got up and started to the back where I heard a voice behind me from another Texan twice my size say “I got your back.” I grabbed the man who had been on the phone by the arm and said “you WILL go sit down or you Will be thrown from this plane!” As I “led” him around me to take his seat, the fellow Texan grabbed him by the back of his neck and his waist and headed out with him. I then grabbed the 2nd man and said, “You WILL do the same!” He protested but adrenaline was flowing now and he was going to go. As I escorted him forward the plane doors open and 3 TSA agents and 4 police officers entered. Me and my new Texan friend were told to cease and desist for they had this under control. I was happy to oblige actually. There was some commotion in the back, but within moments, all 11 were escorted off the plane. They then unloaded their luggage.
We talked about the occurrence and were in disbelief that it had happen, when suddenly, the door open again and on walked all 11!! Stone faced, eyes front and robotic (the only way I can describe it). The stewardess from the back had been in tears and when she saw this, she was having NONE of it! Being that I was up front, I heard and saw the whole ordeal. She told the TSA agent there was NO WAY she was staying on the plane with these men. The agent told her they had searched them and were going to go through their luggage with a fine tooth comb and that they were allowed to proceed to Houston. The captain and co-captain came out and told the agent “we and our crew will not fly this plane!” After a word or two, the entire crew, luggage in tow, left the plane. 5 minutes later, the cabin door opened again and a whole new crew walked on.
Again…..this is where I had had enough!!! I got up and asked “What the hell is going on!?!?” I was told to take my seat. They were sorry for the delay and I would be home shortly. I said “I’m getting off this plane”. The stewardess sternly told me that she could not allow me to get off. (now I’m mad!) I said “I am a grown man who bought this ticket, who’s time is mine with a family at home and I am going through that door, or I’m going through that door with you under my arm!! But I am going through that door!!” And I heard a voice behind me say “so am I”. Then everyone behind us started to get up and say the same. Within 2 minutes, I was walking off that plane where I was met with more agents who asked me to write a statement. I had 5 hours to kill at this point so why the hell not. Due to the amount of people who got off that flight, it was cancelled. I was supposed to be in Houston at 6pm. I got here at 12:30am.
Recall, this post from Michelle Malkin and her thoughts on Anne Jacobson about the James Woods incident where Mohammed Atta was in a “dry run” a month before 9/11.
This has happened before. It could happen again. Will a country so cowed by political correctness, like the Army was, be unwitting dupes in their own demise yet again? If people in the Army were afraid to call out a psychotic superior, will common citizens resist?
I don’t believe we can count on the “officials” here any more than we’ve ever been able to count on them. Americans must be self-reliant. They must stand up for common sense. They must resist the social pressure to ignore threats because it might offend someone to do so.
Thomas Freidman Admits There’s An Anti-American Narrative, He Just Let’s Himself Off The Hook
Sunday, November 29th, 2009Wow. After you get past the shock that a liberal admits there is an anti-American narrative, chew on the fact that the liberal Thomas Friedman still can’t admit how his own ideology feeds and nourishes the anti-American narrative:
Have no doubt: we punched a fist into the Arab/Muslim world after 9/11, partly to send a message of deterrence, but primarily to destroy two tyrannical regimes — the Taliban and the Baathists — and to work with Afghans and Iraqis to build a different kind of politics. In the process, we did some stupid and bad things. But for every Abu Ghraib, our soldiers and diplomats perpetrated a million acts of kindness aimed at giving Arabs and Muslims a better chance to succeed with modernity and to elect their own leaders.
The Narrative was concocted by jihadists to obscure that.
It’s working. As a Jordanian-born counterterrorism expert, who asked to remain anonymous, said to me: “This narrative is now omnipresent in Arab and Muslim communities in the region and in migrant communities around the world. These communities are bombarded with this narrative in huge doses and on a daily basis. [It says] the West, and right now mostly the U.S. and Israel, is single-handedly and completely responsible for all the grievances of the Arab and the Muslim worlds. Ironically, the vast majority of the media outlets targeting these communities are Arab-government owned — mostly from the Gulf.”
This narrative suits Arab governments. It allows them to deflect onto America all of their people’s grievances over why their countries are falling behind. And it suits Al Qaeda, which doesn’t need much organization anymore — just push out The Narrative over the Web and satellite TV, let it heat up humiliated, frustrated or socially alienated Muslim males, and one or two will open fire on their own. See: Major Hasan.
Let’s see, Bush is evil. The elevation of Abu Grahib. Newsweek publishing the flushed Koran accounts and Friedman is putting the blame on the Arab press?
You have got to be kidding me.
I’m not as inclined to let Friedman off the hook as Don Surber. This back pedaling looks a lot like a subtle defense of President Obama the day before he pushes the surge in Afghanistan. Asking for more troops on the backdrop of losing more troops, seems a lot like justification to me.
And it’s charity Friedman and the liberal elites would never have extended to George Bush. And, by the way, it doesn’t take a freaking genius to know that Hasan is a terrorist. It’s rather self-evident.
The Tough Liberal: NY Is A-OK With Being A Terrorist Target–Updated
Monday, November 16th, 2009Glenn Greenwald and his sock puppet said this on Twitter today, articulating, the self-congratulatory meme within the leftosphere:
RT @AnonLib “Strange that being ‘tough on terror’ = publicly soiling yourself at thought of being in same state as an imprisoned terrorist”
Newsflash lefties: You can’t have it both ways. Either these guys are scary dudes wanting to kill everyone and have buddies wanting to do the same or they’re hapless criminals who aren’t terrorists at all–they’re just misunderstood criminals. If it’s the latter, there’s no reason to be concerned which really means only a lame-o would be afraid. Therefore, you can’t claim extraordinary courage and bravery out of one side of your mouth, while diminishing the threat of these hardly-dangerous petty criminals out of the other side.
At least people who see terrorists for what they are–homocidal maniacs driven by psychotic ideology–rationally see the implicit threat to other innocent Americans, too. It is not cowardly to note a threat and protect the innocent from it. It is smart.
Sending KSM and his terrorist minions to New York City doesn’t demonstrate the lefts’ bravery, it demonstrates their stupidity. They would put innocent citizens at risk while costing the state millions. Oh yeah, brave.
UPDATED:
And this goes for you, too.
UPDATED AGAIN:
Brian Faugham notes that Mike Lupica has turned against the terrorist transfer to NY for civilian trial:
Is it truly so hard to see – as Lupica does – that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is getting exactly what he wants – the attention of the world as he mounts his own defense? Recall: the first thing Mohammed said after his capture was that he wanted to go to New York to consult with his lawyer. Rather than keeping him buried in a cell, the White House is rewarding him with the show trial of the century – one which will allow KSM to make his case to the entire world. How does this further American interests?
The great irony in this is that this process began when liberals told us that the prison at Guantanamo Bay had to be closed because it was the greatest terror recruiting tool Al Qaeda had ever had. Thanks to Barack Obama and Eric Holder, they’re getting a better one.
And that’s why the libs like Greenwald are so disingenuous. They lick their chops at making Bush look bad and fail to recognize that they kill the country in the process and feed Al Qaeda along the way. Or, maybe they do see those implications and seek the destruction of their own.
The Khalid Sheik Mohammed Folly & The Obama Administration
Monday, November 16th, 2009For the best analysis, listen to this Brass Balls Radio podcast. The lawyers Clyde Middleton and Bill Dupray, Jimmie Bise of Sundries Shack and Steve Schippert of Threatswatch discuss the trial and what is up with Obama. I encourage you to listen.
James Joyner says this about the civilian trial:
First, these men are not citizens of the United States. Second, they’re accused war criminals. They simply should not be tried in U.S. civilian courts. Rather, they should either be held accountable in a Nuremberg-style international forum or treated as war criminals by a U.S. military tribunal under the mechanisms provided by Congress and approved by the Supreme Court.
Aside from the virtual certainty that the trial will devolve into a media circus, there’s an incredibly good chance that Mohammed and his comrades will go free. The fact that KSM was repeatedly waterboarded would seem to taint any subsequent evidence, including his own confession.
It’s only a head-scratcher if you don’t consider that this is an indirect way for the Obama administration to put the Bush administration on trial without putting Bush directly on trial. Although, I can see the defense wanting to depose President Bush about his decision to okay water boarding. This is a bone thrown to the hard left.
Is Trying 9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed The Dumbest Obama Idea Yet?
Friday, November 13th, 2009Trying the evil Sheikh in New York City under the American legal system is the dumbest idea ever in the history of dumb presidential legal ideas and that’s when compared to the biggest poop pile of dumb Obama ideas generally which are the worst in any American presidency ever.*
If you disagree, please share an example of a dumber Obama idea.
*I keep wondering if perhaps that I might be being hyperbolic here. Maybe I should rewrite that obnoxious run-on sentence and couch a little. Maybe I should say,”It seems most unwise to bring a mastermind terrorist to New York City, home of the injustice, try to seek a fair trial, give him the right to explore all evidence against him, fund his defense by the taxpayers, etc. Most, problematic, that.” But no. It’s just plain dumb. Or insane.
