By now, most are aware of the attempted bombing of the NW airlines flight into Detroit. The episode and its aftermath do little or nothing to reassure that airline security is any better than it was before this incident. The experience of flying is rapidly transmogrifying into a virtual signing in to a state of voluntary imprisonment, with no pesly Constitutional nicities to be troubled about. (If prisons treated inmates like some of the TSA regulations treat airline passengers, the ACLU would be in full cry and out for blood.)
A Michigan man who was aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 says he witnessed Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab trying to board the plane in Amsterdam without a passport.
Kurt Haskell of Newport, Mich., who posted an earlier comment about his experience, talked exclusively with MLive.com and confirmed he was on the flight by sending a picture of his boarding pass. He and his wife, Lori, were returning from a safari in Uganda when they boarded the NWA flight on Friday.
Haskell said he and his wife were sitting on the ground near their boarding gate in Amsterdam, which is when they saw Mutallab approach the gate with an unidentified man….While Mutallab was poorly dressed, his friend was dressed in an expensive suit, Haskell said. He says the suited man asked ticket agents whether Mutallab could board without a passport. “The guy said, ‘He’s from Sudan and we do this all the time.’â€
HUH? Boarding an international flight WITH NO PASSPORT? WTF? Putting this along with the fact that there was no prior reservation, the ticket was one-way and bought with cash, MIGHT a rational person suspect that there was “something rotten in Denmark”? (OK – actually Netherlands, but you get the picture.) NOT confidence inspiring circumstances.
Two al Qaeda Leaders Behind Northwest Flight 253 Terror Plot Were Released by U.S.
Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the Northwest bombing in a Monday statement that vowed more attacks on Americans.
American officials agreed to send the two terrorists from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia where they entered into an “art therapy rehabilitation program” and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials.
Guantanamo prisoner #333, Muhamad Attik al-Harbi, and prisoner #372, Said Ali Shari, were sent to Saudi Arabia on Nov. 9, 2007, according to the Defense Department log of detainees who were released from American custody. Al-Harbi has since changed his name to Muhamad al-Awfi.
Both Saudi nationals have since emerged in leadership roles in Yemen, according to U.S. officials and the men’s own statements on al Qaeda propaganda tapes.
Transferred from Gitmo to art therapy in Saudi Arabia? HUH? Political correctness run amok here, or what?
Napolitano: No indication of larger terror plot
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says there is no indication that the man who attempted to destroy an airliner in Detroit on Christmas Day is part of a larger terrorist plot.
Napolitano refused to say whether Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has a connection to al-Qaida, citing the ongoing criminal investigation.
The phrase “poor situational awareness” comes immediately to mind.
Failed plane bomber Umar Abdulmutallab has bragged to FBI agents that there are more young men plotting to launch attacks on the West.
The 23-year-old Nigerian has told security chiefs of a sinister network in Yemen who are ready and waiting to strike.
The reports come after The Sun revealed that cops fear that 25 British-born Muslims are plotting to bomb Western airliners.
The fanatics, in five groups, are now training at secret terror camps in Yemen.
And finally – the responses after the fact – a serious misapplication of admittedly limited security resources.
‘Absolute chaos’ at NYC airports
Innocent fliers: TSA has gone plane insane
Airline passengers thwarted the Christmas Day terror plot — and now passengers are getting the shaft.
International fliers are falling victim to insanely repetitive security questions, invasive pat-downs and overzealous flight attendants who restrict their every move, passengers fumed yesterday.
For all the gory details read the article.
As far as we are concerned here at the Chief’s outpost…automotive travel is definitely the way to go.