July 31, 2004

Zell Miller gives the reasons in his usual winning way why the Democrat Party is a "national party no more" and also why he's chosen to speak at the GOP--and not the DNC!--Convention:
See Y'All in New York


Why I skipped the Boston convention.
Here's a delicious sample:

[...]
Worst of all, Sens. Kerry and Edwards have not kept faith with the men and women who are fighting the war on terror--most of whom come from small towns and middle-class families all over America. While Mr. Bush has stood by our troops every step of the way, Messrs. Kerry and Edwards voted to send our troops to war and then voted against the money to give them supplies and equipment--not to mention better benefits for their families. And recently Mr. Kerry even said he's proud of that vote. Proud to abandon our troops when they're out in the field? I can hear Harry Truman cussing from his grave.

Sen. Miller is a national treasure and I can hardly wait to hear him speak in the Big Apple!
I just wish the man would change parties, because his heart, mind and soul are already with us and we'd just be tickled pink to have him in the Grand Old Party!

[As if to bear out what he said about Bush keeping faith with our military and Kerry and Edwards doing the exact opposite and how this has been received by our men and women in uniform, check out the story about the Marines (right below this one) who were trapped when Kerry took the campaign into their Wendy's.]

Check out sKErry's rude, Clintonian pointing finger and the Marines' many medal ribbons! If Kerry'd been just a guy, this Marine would have them take their confrontation outside, if you know what I mean! Leave 'em alone, Hanoi John, they just want to eat their lunch in peace!

DEM'S MARINE MISFIRE

Kerry's heavily hyped cross-country bus tour stumbled out of the blocks yesterday, as a group of Marines publicly dissed the Vietnam War hero in the middle of a crowded restaurant.
[I love it! Hooah!--Jen]

Kerry was treating running mate Sen. John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, to a Wendy's lunch in Newburgh, N.Y., for their 27th wedding anniversary — an Edwards family tradition — when the candidate approached four Marines and asked them questions.

The Marines — two in uniform and two off-duty — were polite but curt while chatting with Kerry, answering most of his questions with a "yes, sir" or "no, sir."

But they turned downright nasty after the Massachusetts senator thanked them "for their service" and left.

"He imposed on us and I disagree with him coming over here shaking our hands," one Marine said, adding, "I'm 100 percent against [him]."
[Good man! You are smart and brave!]

A sergeant with 10 years of service under his belt said, "I speak for all of us. We think that we are doing the right thing in Iraq," before saying he is to be deployed there in a few weeks and is "eager" to go and serve.

The Marines — all of whom serve at nearby Stewart Air Force Base — wouldn't give their names.

It wasn't an auspicious start to the senators' "Believe in America" bus tour
[Heheheh!]
— a 22-state, 43-city tour that will cover roughly 3,500 miles over 15 days in an effort to carry some of their momentum out of the Democratic convention.

Born to wealth and privilege and then marrying into more, John Kerry has been getting away with this overbearing rude behavior all his life and it's a good thing that these Marines called him on it, although to their credit, they were much more polite and gentlemanly than sKeery deserved!

No-one has earned the right more than these fine young fighting men to have their opinions heard and to vote their conscience!
It's about d*mn time that someone on the Right side of things spoke up and this was a terrific time to do it!
Whoever you wonderful Marines are out there in America, God Bless you and thank you!
We are so proud of you and grateful for all you've done and will do to bring security to the Homeland and to bring Liberty to Iraq and Afghanistan!
Kerry was a disaster of a sailor in his 2 and 1/2 months of "combat" in Vietnam and he would be even worse as Commander-in-Chief and these bold warriors who would be under his command know that only too well.
We're also going to hear a lot more from Kerry's "band of brothers" who were on the swift boats at the same time that he was in Vietnam.
They're so concerned that one of them has written a book called aptly "Unfit for Command," which is to be published on August 15.
(And yes, I've pre-ordered it at Amazon.com where it is now ranked #2 in Bestseller Books!)
Many of our military have also not forgotten that it was their absentee ballots that weren't counted in Florida 2000 because the Dimocrats threw them out, correctly guessing that they were mostly votes for Bush that wouldn't help Owlie Bore steal the election.
Semper Fi, gentlemen.
You are the real "heart and soul of America" and we love you!

Tanzanian Al Qaeda Suspect Arrested

Pakistan on Friday said it would not consider extraditing a senior Al Qaeda suspect until it finishes questioning him, and a government official said the arrest showed Usama bin Laden's  Al Qaeda terror network was "crumbling."

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian wanted in the 1998 bombings at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, was giving authorities "very valuable" information, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayyat said Friday.

Ghailani — who is on the FBI's list of 22 most wanted terrorists, with a reward of up to $25 million on his head — was arrested Sunday in the eastern city of Gujrat along with at least 15 other people, Hayyat told The Associated Press.
[...]
However, he said, the arrest of Ghailani was a "great blow to the Al Qaeda" network of bin Laden.
[...]
"This is a major breakthrough which the Pakistani intelligence and security agencies have achieved," the interior minister said in a speech to parliament later Friday, adding that anti-terror operations would continue until "we purge Pakistani society of these extremist and terrorist elements."

Ghailani may be able to shed further light on the 1998 embassy bombings or have information about terror cells or Al Qaeda operatives, particularly in east Africa, the official said on condition of anonymity.
[...]
Ghailani, who also goes by the names "Foopie," "Fupi" and "Ahmed the Tanzanian," was also one of seven wanted Al Qaeda suspects that the FBI and Justice Department asked for help in finding in May to help avert a possible terror attack over the summer in the United States.
[...]
Pakistan, which became a key ally of the United States in its war on terror after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in America, has so far arrested more than 500 Al Qaeda suspects from different parts of the country.

They included Al Qaeda No. 3 leader, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who was arrested in March 2003 during a raid in Rawalpindi, a city near Islamabad. Almost all the foreign suspects, including Mohammed, were later handed over to the U.S. officials.

Ramzi Binalshibh and Abu Zubaydah, two other Al Qaeda leaders, were also arrested in Pakistan.

Great work, Pakistan!
Don't stop now!
When Kerry and the Dims babble about how the US under Bush isn't "respected" or "loved" by the countries of the world since war began on 9/11, I think of nation-states like Pakistan, with whom we've never had such a terrific working relationship and Pakistan is slowly but steadily working its way to becoming a secularized democracy instead of an Islamic military dictatorship.

Kerry Favors Bin Laden Trial in U.S.

John Kerry said Friday he would put Osama bin Laden on trial in U.S. courts rather than an international tribunal to ensure the "fastest, surest route" to a murder conviction if the terrorist mastermind is captured while he is president.

I want him tried for murder in New York City, and in Virginia and in Pennsylvania," where planes hijacked by al-Qaida operatives crashed Sept. 11, 2001, Kerry said in his first interview as the Democratic presidential nominee.

Can you imagine what a nightmare this would be???
Just the idea of it gives me a migraine now!
If the OJ trial made you crazy and if you felt uncomfortable with Tim McVeigh and if you think the trials of Milosevich and Saddam have been farces, just think what one trial of OBL would be like to endure without wanting to go and personally execute him yourself?!
How can anyone who professes to like the American people want to put us through something like this?!
The security would cost a fortune.
And we could watch CAIR and other Muslim groups help Bin Laden lawyer up with Liberal lawyers (probably all misguided and well-meaning Jewish lawyers like Dershowitz, except for VP John Edwards who'd have to be a part of it) to get him off, because "he's really an innocent victim."
And it's inconsistent and just plain wussie for sKerry to be against the death penalty for murderers in general but to make an exception for OBL...of course, he could always change his mind!
That's why they call him Flipper!

The worst news in this story is that it's pretty clear that a President Kerry [*shudder*] would return to treating international terrorism like a domestic crime, which is one of the things that took us to 9/11 in the first place under Clintoon and Jamie Gorelick's wall.

The only thing for it, America, is to re-Elect President Bush!
I think Osama's been dead a long time, but if he's still alive and you Special Forces guys find him out there in the wilds of Pakistan, Afghanistan or Waziristan, please KILL HIM.
KILL HIM DEAD.
You can save his severed head for the trial!
If there's a US criminal trial such a Kerry proposes for OBL or any other terror biggie like Zarqawi or Mullah Omar, I won't be able to stand it and will have to volunteer for the next space mission (even though you can't smoke in space!).
This is war, people, not a special 2-hour version of COPS!
Kerry needs to go back to his yatch and his rich EUro trash friends who are in love with really stupid ideas like this one and leave us alone!

Third Terror Threat in Week Seen on Web

A third threat in a week against America's European allies appeared Friday on an Internet site known for extremist Muslim postings.

The statement claimed to have come from militants in Italy and, like a similar one Wednesday and another on Monday, was signed Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades. Friday's statement, however, dismissed the previous threats as fakes, even though all sounded the same anti-U.S. themes.

U.S. officials and some terrorism experts believe Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, which claimed responsibility for the Madrid train bombings that killed about 191 people on March 11, lacks credibility and has only tenuous ties to al-Qaida. It has issued claims for events in which it almost certainly had no involvement, including blackouts in North America and Britain.
[Hmmm. The rash of these last summer was so strange!
Are they sure it wasn't the bad guys?--Jen]

"From here in Italy, and from Britain and Bulgaria, and all European countries, we call on all our people to mobilize and prepare to engage in the battle, a new type and style of battle. Prepare to shed blood, let us make it an endless bloody war," Friday's statement said.

The statement said European governments were at risk "so long as you are in the shadow of the vile government of (President) Bush."
[All these attacks!
Either we're winning the war or these guys are Dimocrats!--J.T.]

All this week's statements referred to an April 15 audiotape in which al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden said he was calling a truce for three months and urged European states to leave Iraq, Afghanistan and other Muslim countries within that period or risk a terror campaign. The statements noted the truce period has expired.

Apparently, the Enemy has singled out Italy's Silvio Berlusconi to be the first target, but I think he can live with the threat and may God continue to bless and protect him!
The implication, of course, behind these threats to Europe, is that once they've "taken care of" our allies with the dispatch of the Madrid bombings , they'll come after us again.
What else is new?
I hope Silvio yawned on TV and said, "This is how an Italian faces threats from thugs!"
We'll get through this summer's events like the Olympics, the GOP Convention and the election with God's Grace, but get through it we will and so will our friends and allies like Italy, Bulgaria and the U.K.!

HILLARY'S ADVICE TO PREZ

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton warned President Bush against evoking too many 9/11 images in his re-election campaign and the GOP convention in New York or Americans would reject him as an "exploiter."

Clinton said that while Bush, as commander in chief, is entitled to bring up and talk about the 9/11 terror attacks, relying on it too heavily will invite criticism and ultimately backfire.

As far as I'm concerned, let the backfiring begin!
I hope the Bush Team talks about 9/11 and preventing another one to the max;
after all, that's what started this war and what we're fighting for!
Kerry and his people aren't missing a trick about his "heroic" military service in a war that happened 30 years ago and from which sKerry played a major part in our withdrawing ignominiously without victory.
This election is about 9/11 and nothing but 9/11 and if President Bush takes advice from Marxists like Hillary Clinton we're all doomed fershure!
Bush should run on his wonderful record and the superb way he's dealt with the 9/11 attacks and conducting the war against the Islamist terrorists that attacked us that day is the most important part of his record and the key role of his second term, too!
Let Hitlery pound sand!
Who died and made her Karl Rove?

July 30, 2004

Report: Zarqawi captured on Syrian-Iraq border -

Reports in Kuwait on Friday said a man assumed to be Al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab Zarqawi has been captured near the Syrian border.

The report claimed that the man was captured during a joint operation by U.S. occupation forces and Iraqi police, Al Siyasah newspaper, quoting Iraqi sources, said Friday.

This is the first report and it is Al Jazeera, but I can surely hope it's true!
I'm warming up my ululator and keeping my bottle of Californian champagne on ice.

Here's Howie Carr in the Boston Herald:
Here's what he really said

If he really wanted to properly introduce himself to the American people last night, why didn't John Kerry use his trademark line, the one he has employed for so many years around here, whenever anyone calls him on anything?
     "Do you know who I am?''
     Instead - before the now famous balloon and f-bomb drop on CNN - we got the lame refrain, "Help is on the way.''
     Presumably, good help, which as John and the widow Heinz can tell you, is awfully hard to find.
     It was an odd speech, and by the way, is it over yet? I thought he'd served in the Senate, but apparently he was fighting in Vietnam with a band of brothers from 1968 until last year when he announced for president.
     If you used Kerry's speech to play the drinking game, where you take a sip whenever someone says a certain word, then you've probably got a hangover this morning if your word was "Vietnam'' or "fight'' or "war.''
     Thank God this convention is finally over.
[Believe me, I did!--Jen]
It turned into Mumbles Menino's Iraq war. Many fled the city in terror, so in case you didn't watch Liveshot's speech, let me provide you with the lines themselves, and then, in italics, what he really meant.
     "People are working weekends; they're working two jobs, three jobs, and they're still not getting ahead.''
     It's hard to get ahead when gigolos keep cutting in line in front of you.
     "And what can I say about Teresa?''
     Three words will suffice: one billion dollars.
     "She's down to earth, nurturing, courageous, wise and smart.''
     Did I mention her five mansions worth $50 million, and her $35 million Gulfstream V?
     "Opportunity for all - so that every child, every parent, every worker has an equal shot at living up to their God-given potential.''
     You too can marry two heiresses. It's the American dream.
     "My fellow citizens, elections are about choices.''
     Which is why I try to be on both sides of every issue. You choose which side you're on, I'm there for you.
     "I rode my bike into Soviet East Berlin.''
     It was a Schwinn - I'd never even heard of an $8,000 Serotta back then.
     "As president, I will ask hard questions.''
     Sommelier, which of these two imported $125 Merlots which you recommend?
     "So tonight we say: Help is on the way.''
     I'm sending my butler.

Great stuff, Mr. Carr!
Then there's Jeff Jacoby's take over at the Boston Globe and the title says it all as you will see:
Buzzwords and cheap shots

OHN KERRY told us more last night about his childhood memories of bike riding in Berlin than he did about his nearly three decades in public office.

ADVERTISEMENT

"I ask you to judge me by my record," he implored, but then said virtually nothing about it. There was a single throwaway line about his time as a prosecutor. Nothing at all about being elected lieutenant governor. And just three sentences about his 20 years in the US Senate. Twenty years! A third of his life! Yet neither in his speech nor in the video that preceded it did Kerry say anything about what those two decades have meant to him or what lessons they may have taught him or how he thinks they have prepared him for national leadership.

"Judge me by my record," he says. But all night long -- all week long -- there is only one part of Kerry's long record that the Democrats have wanted Americans to notice: the part that ended 35 years ago when he came home from Vietnam. Why are they so reticent about everything he's done since?
[Of course, it's because he's either MIA in the Senate, missing about 80% of the votes, or when he does vote, it's on the Left side of the aisle and against things he claims to stand for like a strong military.--J.T.]

His political career wasn't the only thing missing from Kerry's speech.

"This is the most important election of our lifetime," he said. "The stakes are high. We are a nation at war -- a global war on terror against an enemy unlike any we have ever known before." And with that, he launched right into a discussion of -- what? The nature of that unprecedented enemy? The threat from radical Islam? His strategy for victory? No: After raising the specter of an enemy "unlike any we have ever known before," Kerry promptly started talking about -- jobs. Coming less than three years after 9/11, this is the most important election of our lifetime. But why that is, Kerry has yet to say.

He spoke of his empathy for the young grunts "carrying an M-16 in a dangerous place" and about his respect for "all who serve in our armed forces today." Couldn't he have spared a few words to salute those troops for their two great achievements of recent years -- the toppling of vicious tyrannies in Afghanistan and Iraq?

Kerry's cheapest shot came at John Ashcroft's expense: "I will appoint an attorney general who actually upholds the Constitution." And how, exactly, does Ashcroft undermine the Constitution? By abiding by the Patriot Act that Kerry supported?
[To be fair, Kerry also slammed SecDef Rummy and VP Cheney, too. "Leave no Bush Administration official" behind should have been sKerry's motto.--Jen]
That's something else the Democratic nominee never explained. He did, however, enjoin President Bush to stick to the "high road" and avoid "small-minded attacks."
[Thus leaving the field clear for the Dimocrats to continue their orgy of Bush hatred. I don't think so, Sen. Ketchup!]

All in all, it was a pedestrian address, uninspiring, cliched, and humorless. It made sure to work in all the poll-tested buzzwords -- I counted 17 mentions of "strong" and "strength," 28 of "value" or "values." But buzzwords don't decide elections, and they aren't the key to a swing voter's heart. Kerry may yet prevail over George W. Bush, but he didn't close the sale last night.

All in all, Kerry said nothing to convince me that he should be put in the Oval Office or that President Bush had not done things or did do things that would warrant his not being returned for a second term.
In fact, the man was so arrogant and snotty and condescending about those of us who support the President and the war that all it did was motivate me to give more money to the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign!
Bottom line is this: President Bush has earned a second term.
But that being said, Kerry is a lousy candidate.
He's so lousy, such a liar and a prevaricator and a flipflopper, that I think his candidacy is an insult to the American people.
For this reason, Kerry needs to be resoundingly defeated.
And if there's a God in Heaven who really loves us (which I know there is!), Bush will win reelection in a landslide.
I'm praying for that daily and I hope you'll join me in that prayer, along with praying for our troops.
Let's win one more for the Gipper!

July 29, 2004

Edwards promises victory in Iraq - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - July 29, 2004

Sen. John Edwards vowed last night that if elected, he and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry "will win this war" in Iraq.

What an idiot!
Sen. Edwards, we've already achieved victory in Iraq!
Saddam's awaiting trial in a humble cell, the rape and torture rooms of his are closed forever and the new democratic Iraqi government is sovereign and hard at work.
Guess you haven't noticed while you were busy running for President.
The question is, What are you gonna do about Iran and North Korea...and Darfur...and Syria and Lebanon...and Saudi Arabia?
The American public should be furious that the Dim Libs are giving them empty rhetoric like this about problems that have already been solved and not talking at all about the very real and gathering "new dangers" (to borrow from Baroness Thatcher).
And what about all of our fine soldiers who achieved the victory of OIF--what are they to think when they hear Edwards... that they didn't really depose Saddam in record time, secure any WMD programs and clean out as many evildoers as possible before the handover?
For shame!
Inadvertently, however, Edwards brings up a good subject for us all, which is "What will total victory in the GWOIT really look like?"
Discuss.
Use extra blue books if necessary.

Go ye here:Rapid Response Team on Democratic Convention on National Review Online
I should have posted this link on Monday...Sorry!
NRO staff writers Larry Sabato, Peter Robinson, John McLaughlin, Dan Casey and Barbara Comstock give us fair, balanced and on-the-scene Conservative punditry on the freak show jubilee that is the Dimocrat Convention.
Check it out--it's definitely what Peter, Dan and Tom won't tell you, but that you need to think about!

July 28, 2004

Al-Qaida Suspect Arrested in Texas

A South African woman picked up in Texas almost 10 days ago may turn out to be a key, high-level al-Qaida operative.

Her name is Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed. She was stopped at McAllen Miller International Airport on July 19. She was headed to New York.

Eddie Flores of the U.S. Border Patrol office in McAllen, Texas, tells FederalNewsRadio.com that a review of her papers raised some concerns.

"In looking at her documents, they did not find any entry documents in her passport where she was legally admitted into the United States," says Flores.

Ahmed produced a South African passport to the agents with four pages torn out, and with no U.S. entry stamps. Ahmed reportedly later confessed to investigators that she entered the country illegally by crossing the Rio Grande River. Ahmed was carrying travel itineraries showing a July 8 flight from Johannesburg, South Africa, to London. Six days later, Ahmed traveled from London to Mexico City before attempting to travel from McAllen to New York.

Government sources tell FederalNewsRadio.com that capturing this woman could be comparable to the arrest of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of 9/11. It was revealed in court Tuesday that she was on a watch list and had entered the U.S. possibly as many as 250 times.

Tuesday, the South African government issued a warning that al-Qaida militants and other terrorists traveling through Europe had obtained South African passports, and authorities believe they got them from crime syndicates operating inside the government agency that issues the documents.

Wow! Good work on the part of Texas authorities!
I hope they're on the lookout of the other members of her cell, because you know she's not alone...
Do we need any more arguments for closing our borders? I think not!
I'm fully expecting President Bush to present a strong proposal for this as part of his re-election campaign because he's wise and we can't win the WOT or protect the homeland from attack if our borders remain so porous!
I think that this is what the President means when he talks about making changes based on the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, because they cited the open Canadian and Mexican borders as a huge problem and now we have the nabbing of this key woman operative!
Keep in mind that the Millenium bomber was also caught trying to enter the country by another on-her-toes US border guard!
Obviously, we have some sharp people working the problem, but the fact that this woman confessed to entering the country 250 times with no problem before her arrest is chilling.
I'm thinking we need to take a clue from the Israelis and build a terror fence on both the North and the South and make sure it's patrolled by the National Guard or armed drones or something or somebody who means business about stopping those who attempt entry illegally!
(Don't hold your breath waiting for the Dims to address this problem of our national security at their DonkeyCon, because they won't!
To them, illegals are more voters for them, even if they're jihadi killers.)

Democrats hopping mad over 'bunny suit'

The campaign of Sen. John Kerry yesterday accused NASA of leaking a widely circulated photo that shows the candidate wrapped from top to bottom in a baby blue "bunny suit," implying that it was a "dirty trick."
    

One campaign official told The Washington Times last night: "All I can say is it was not an authorized release."

    But the National Aeronautics and Space Administration told Fox News that the Kerry team saw the photos before publication and passed on their release.

Too funny!
I think this was supposed to be the Kerry campaign's answer to President Bush's "Top Gun" photo on the USS Lincoln, but it backfired big time!
It reminded some of us of the "sperm drop" of Woody Allen's in "Everything you always wanted to know about Sex."
Others opted for the Oompa Loompa look from Willie Wonka.
But we all had the unshaken impression that sKerry was a huge dork.
Oh well. At least he doesn't look so Lurch-like!

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!