July 27, 2004

Syrians flew with expired visas

Almost all of the Syrian musicians who were questioned by law-enforcement officials after exhibiting suspicious behavior aboard a Northwest Airlines flight were traveling on expired visas.
    
The 14 men
[One of the more frightening developments of this story is that apparently the jihadis decided that 4-5 man teams taking over a plane wasn't enough, probably due to what happened to Flight 93 when our fellow Americans were able to overpower the hijackers on 9/11 and crash the plane in Shanksville.
God rest those heroes and heroines!]
in the band were questioned by several agencies that make up the Joint Terrorism Task Force after the pilot aboard Flight 327 from Detroit to Los Angeles on June 29 radioed for law-enforcement assistance.
[...]
The backup band was hired to play with Nour Mehana, widely referred to as Syria's Wayne Newton
[One of the band's hit songs is "Mother of a [Muslim] Martyr" which tries to comfort a "Palestinian" mother whose son has blown himself--and some hapless Jews--up, but these guys couldn't possible be terrorists!]
, and were flying on one-way tickets with a return trip on JetBlue.
[It was my understanding, after 9/11, that anyone having one-way tickets was going to be held to be particularly suspect by the FAA and the TSA because that's what the 9/11 hijackers had, i.e. they didn't need to worry about a return trip because they'd be dead, but apparently not.]
[...]
  The Washington Times reported last week that flight crews and air marshals say terrorists are testing airline security and conducting probes, and cited several incidents including the one involving the musicians that set off alarms with security officials.
   
 Since the report, several other pilots and marshals have come forward and confirmed that groups of men are conducting what looks like dry runs for a terrorist attack.
[So what are we going to do about it???
Just wait for them to kill us again?--Jen]
   
 "We are being constantly surveilled and probed" by terrorists, one air marshal said.
[...]
 The legality of the band and travel dates has not eased the concerns of air marshals, pilots and some plane passengers, who saw their behavior.
    
Before September 11, the hijackers were "just flight students," said one U.S. air marshal. "Everything boils down to creativity and resources. And the more creative you are, the less resources you need."
   
 None of the 19 hijackers who carried out September 11 attacks were on terrorism watch lists and all had legally entered the country on tourist or student visas. Three overstayed their one-year visas.
[...]
Similar activity was reported by flight attendants on American Airlines Flight 1732 from San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Feb. 15 to New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. The six men involved worked for a cruise ship and were carrying musician's cases with instruments.
    
"The best way to travel is in large groups, no one would give it a second look," the marshal said.
   
 However passengers and the flight crew aboard Flight 327 were closely watching the Syrian musicians.
    According to passengers Annie and Kevin Jacobsen, the men sat throughout the plane pretending to be strangers, then stood nearly the entire flight in congregations of two and three and consecutively fielded in and out of bathrooms at intervals.
    One took a McDonald's bag into the lavatory, then passed it to another Syrian. The musicians also carried cameras and cellular phones to the bathroom.

When the pilot announced the landing and to fasten safety belts, seven of the men jumped up in unison and went to the bathroom. Upon returning to his seat, one man mouthed the word "no" as he ran his finger across his throat.
   
 Syria is one of seven countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism by the State Department, but Damascus has cooperated with the United States in the fight against al Qaeda, according to the State Department report for 2003, issued April 29.

"They came from a country known to support terrorism and no one noticed their visas had expired?" one pilot asked.
[This question definitely needs an answer! NOW.]
   
 Air marshals and pilots say terrorists are actively testing airline security and the behavior of the musicians mirrors a test run.
    
"Organized terrorists have been and are doing probes," a second air marshal said. The Jacobsens' account is credible "because it is eerily similar to previous incidents that have happened on planes."
    
The Jacobsens have become the subject of ridicule on some blogs and criticized in one media report by an unnamed government source, but the Federal Air Marshals Association (FAMA) issued a statement Sunday backing the family.

 FAMA also called on the government to release the recording of the pilot's call to air traffic control for law-enforcement assistance.
    
The unnamed source suggested Mrs. Jacobsen was hysterical and was the reason that law-enforcement officials were called to the airport.

In case you haven't already read Mrs. Jacobsen's account of her terror flight, check it out here:
Terror in the Skies, Again?
Frankly, I believe her.
Her story is frighteningly like actor James Wood's witness of a dry run before 9/11, but worse.
The bad guys are obviously getting smarter and bolder.

The WaTimes article ends thusly:

The second air marshal said the Jacobsens did exactly what President Bush and Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge have asked U.S. citizens to do: Be vigilant and report suspicious behavior.

Dear reader, if you fly, please do the same and I'll keep saying prayers for your safety.
One of these days, we are going to have to use racial profiling on our planes for swarthy-skinned, dark-eyed, dark-haired males from Middle Eastern countries who are Muslims, because that is who is trying to kill us!
And it's past time to stop the merciless searching of blue-haired grandmothers and blonde, blue-eyed coeds prior to boarding (whom TSA workers know only too well aren't potential terrorists!), while Arab males get a pass from airport security because it isn't "nice" or PC to single them out!
Let's just pray and hope that it doesn't take another attack as bad or worse than 9/11 to get the backing of the majority of the American people on this!