The WaTimes headlines with a report on possible "dry runs" being conducted by terrorists aboard U.S. flights. The incidents reported are concerning; scary even. According to the article, airport security is under constant terrorist surveillance, and planes, passengers, and crews are being tested by small bands of suspiciously behaved men. It certainly sounds like another strike is in the works.
Here’s a counter-view of the events described courtesy of NRO.
Annie Jacobsen’s experience on the Northwest flight was covered extensively in the blogosphere, especially by Michelle Malkin. The bottom line, revealed in an article in National Review Online yesterday, is that the strange Middle Eastern men were in fact musicians.
Nevertheless, explaining away that one incident doesn’t detract from other matters of concern.
One of these incidents was definitly not a new strike in the works. Go to the National Review site and read an article about it showing that the Syrians were an band playing a show in California.
Before September 11th, Americans worked hard to treat all poeple as equals, with no regards to race or country of origin. Witness the the newly released video showing the ACTUAL terrorists being searched in Logan airport before they attacked our country. They looked like, and were treated like any other traveler who set off the detector. Several of these men who did set off the metal detectors, requiring an even more detailed search of their clothing, were allowed to continue because we try to put our suspisions aside. Today we do not want to make that same mistake. We notice behaviors and actions that are suspicious. It’s unfortunate that we must take a closer look at some but not others. But we did not create this environment. The terrorists created it. Middle Eastern travelers may feel unfairly targeted. Some are. We don’t like that. But we like it even less that we are at war, something that gets lost in this discussion. And this is something that, again, we did not create. We still try hard to treat all Middle Eastern travelers as though they are not terrorists. Likewise, Middle Eastern travels could do us the courtesy of not acting suspicious and becomming indignant if asked to answer a few more questions than they would like. The threat is not gone. If you act like you mean us harm, don’t be surprised if you are a target of further searches.
Joe, I’ve kept up on the Jacobsen story. I do believe they are musicians but they could also be terrorists or working for terrorists. With that said, my feelings are that terrorists are probing us and deliberately trying to spook us.
I am skeptical of some of the stories especially ones saying they are trying to build bombs on plane, you need an explosive agent and that is hard to get on a plane. I think a take-over of a plane like 9-11(with box-cutters) is going to be a lot harder to successfully pull off because people are going to fight back. Pre-9-11, people thought a highjacking meant a trip to Cuba. Post-9-11, people know what a highjacking could lead to and they will resist.
So musicians can’t blow a plane up? I seem to remember Hitler was an artist!
Sure, musicians can be terrorists. Musicians are much more likely to just be musicians. Part of the goals the terrorists have is for us to become so jumpy that we persecute musicians to the point where we make them so frustrated they *become* potential terrorists because of our humiliating honest people who just want to live their lives.
There’s an art to living alert to possible enemies without succumbing to the terrorists’ plots. It’s clear that we’re not quite masters of that art. We need to be.
my buddies’ band from seville, spain (a nato ally) had the US gov’t thwart their plans for a US tour. they were supposed to have played tonight at the union memorial terrace in madison, wisconsin, but since their lead singer somehow ended up on a "no fly list" on thursday they had to cancel. that was a pretty prestigious gig, in front of 4000 people and would have done wonders for their commercial success in the midwestern united states. plus 7 more gigs including two in chicago, bloomington indiana, and NYC. we are kicking ourselves in the face folks, this is another victory for al qaeda. small and seemingly insignificant but together all these incidents represent a fundamental problem and threaten our open and free society and culture (not to mention our economy!!!) by the way, speaking of economics, since i printed the t-shirts for the tour out of my own pocket, I now get to eat $1,750 worth of t shirts for a band that wasn’t allowed to show up. those same 250 t shirts would have netted me around 3 grand had I had the opportunity to sell them. thank you, bush administration, tom ridge, mohammed atta, and lockheed martin, and knee-jerk politicians. "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Ben Franklin