New Terrorist Threats?

[Newjetjockey]

Long but interesting


Terror in the Skies, Again?
By Annie Jacobsen

A WWS Exclusive Article

Note from the E-ditors: You are about to read an account of what
happened during a domestic flight that one of our writers, Annie
Jacobsen, took from Detroit to Los Angeles. The WWS Editorial Team
debated long and hard about how to handle this information and
ultimately we decided it was something that should be shared. What
does it have to do with finances? Nothing, and everything. Here is
Annie's story.

On June 29, 2004, at 12:28 p.m., I flew on Northwest Airlines flight
#327 from Detroit to Los Angeles with my husband and our young son.
Also on our flight were 14 Middle Eastern men between the ages of
approximately 20 and 50 years old. What I experienced during that
flight has caused me to question whether the United States of
America can realistically uphold the civil liberties of every
individual, even non-citizens, and protect its citizens from
terrorist threats.

On that Tuesday, our journey began uneventfully. Starting out that
morning in Providence, Rhode Island, we went through security
screening, flew to Detroit, and passed the time waiting for our
connecting flight to Los Angeles by shopping at the airport stores
and eating lunch at an airport diner. With no second security check
required in Detroit we headed to our gate and waited for the pre-
boarding announcement. Standing near us, also waiting to pre-board,
was a group of six Middle Eastern men. They were carrying blue
passports with Arabic writing. Two men wore tracksuits with Arabic
writing across the back. Two carried musical instrument cases -
thin, flat, 18 long. One wore a yellow T-shirt and held a McDonald's
bag. And the sixth man had a bad leg -- he wore an orthopedic shoe
and limped. When the pre-boarding announcement was made, we handed
our tickets to the Northwest Airlines agent, and walked down the
jetway with the group of men directly behind us.

My four-year-old son was determined to wheel his carry-on bag
himself, so I turned to the men behind me and said, You go ahead,
this could be awhile. No, you go ahead, one of the men replied. He
smiled pleasantly and extended his arm for me to pass. He was young,
maybe late 20's and had a goatee. I thanked him and we boarded the
plan.

Once on the plane, we took our seats in coach (seats 17A, 17B and
17C). The man with the yellow shirt and the McDonald's bag sat
across the aisle from us (in seat 17E). The pleasant man with the
goatee sat a few rows back and across the aisle from us (in seat
21E). The rest of the men were seated throughout the plane, and
several made their way to the back.

As we sat waiting for the plane to finish boarding, we noticed
another large group of Middle Eastern men boarding. The first man
wore a dark suit and sunglasses. He sat in first class in seat 1A,
the seat second-closet to the cockpit door. The other seven men
walked into the coach cabin. As aware Americans, my husband and I
exchanged glances, and then continued to get comfortable. I noticed
some of the other passengers paying attention to the situation as
well. As boarding continued, we watched as, one by one, most of the
Middle Eastern men made eye contact with each other. They continued
to look at each other and nod, as if they were all in agreement
about something. I could tell that my husband was beginning to feel
anxious.

The take-off was uneventful. But once we were in the air and the
seatbelt sign was turned off, the unusual activity began. The man in
the yellow T-shirt got out of his seat and went to the lavatory at
the front of coach -- taking his full McDonald's bag with him. When
he came out of the lavatory he still had the McDonald's bag, but it
was now almost empty. He walked down the aisle to the back of the
plane, still holding the bag. When he passed two of the men sitting
mid-cabin, he gave a thumbs-up sign. When he returned to his seat,
he no longer had the McDonald's bag.

Then another man from the group stood up and took something from his
carry-on in the overhead bin. It was about a foot long and was
rolled in cloth. He headed toward the back of the cabin with the
object. Five minutes later, several more of the Middle Eastern men
began using the forward lavatory consecutively. In the back, several
of the men stood up and used the back lavatory consecutively as
well.

For the next hour, the men congregated in groups of two and three at
the back of the plane for varying periods of time. Meanwhile, in the
first class cabin, just a foot or so from the cockpit door, the man
with the dark suit - still wearing sunglasses - was also standing.
Not one of the flight crew members suggested that any of these men
take their seats.

Watching all of this, my husband was now beyond anxious. I decided
to try to reassure my husband (and maybe myself) by walking to the
back bathroom. I knew the goateed-man I had exchanged friendly
words with as we boarded the plane was seated only a few rows back,
so I thought I would say hello to the man to get some reassurance
that everything was fine. As I stood up and turned around, I glanced
in his direction and we made eye contact. I threw out my
friendliest remember-me-we-had-a-nice-exchange-just-a-short-time-ago
smile. The man did not smile back. His face did not move. In fact,
the cold, defiant look he gave me sent shivers down my spine.

When I returned to my seat I was unable to assure my husband that
all was well. My husband immediately walked to the first class
section to talk with the flight attendant. I might be overreacting,
but I've been watching some really suspicious things... Before he
could finish his statement, the flight attendant pulled him into the
galley. In a quiet voice she explained that they were all concerned
about what was going on. The captain was aware. The flight
attendants were passing notes to each other. She said that there
were people on board higher up than you and me watching the men. My
husband returned to his seat and relayed this information to me. He
was feeling slightly better. I was feeling much worse. We were now
two hours into a four-in-a-half hour flight.

Approximately 10 minutes later, that same flight attendant came by
with the drinks cart. She leaned over and quietly told my husband
there were federal air marshals sitting all around us. She asked him
not to tell anyone and explained that she could be in trouble for
giving out that information. She then continued serving drinks.

About 20 minutes later the same flight attendant returned. Leaning
over and whispering, she asked my husband to write a description of
the yellow-shirted man sitting across from us. She explained it
would look too suspicious if she wrote the information. She asked my
husband to slip the note to her when he was done.

After seeing 14 Middle Eastern men board separately (six together,
eight individually) and then act as a group, watching their unusual
glances, observing their bizarre bathroom activities, watching them
congregate in small groups, knowing that the flight attendants and
the pilots were seriously concerned, and now knowing that federal
air marshals were on board, I was officially terrified.. Before I'm
labeled a racial profiler or -- worse yet -- a racist, let me add
this. A month ago I traveled to India to research a magazine article
I was writing. My husband and I flew on a jumbo jet carrying more
than 300 Hindu and Muslim men and women on board. We traveled
throughout the country and stayed in a Muslim village 10 miles
outside Pakistan. I never once felt fearful. I never once felt
unsafe. I never once had the feeling that anyone wanted to hurt me.
This time was different.

Finally, the captain announced that the plane was cleared for
landing. It had been four hours since we left Detroit. The fasten
seat belt light came on and I could see downtown Los Angeles. The
flight attendants made one final sweep of the cabin and strapped
themselves in for landing. I began to relax. Home was in sight.

Suddenly, seven of the men stood up -- in unison -- and walked to
the front and back lavatories. One by one, they went into the two
lavatories, each spending about four minutes inside. Right in front
of us, two men stood up against the emergency exit door, waiting for
the lavatory to become available. The men spoke in Arabic among
themselves and to the man in the yellow shirt sitting nearby. One of
the men took his camera into the lavatory. Another took his cell
phone. Again, no one approached the men. Not one of the flight
attendants asked them to sit down. I watched as the man in the
yellow shirt, still in his seat, reached inside his shirt and pulled
out a small red book. He read a few pages, then put the book back
inside his shirt. He pulled the book out again, read a page or two
more, and put it back. He continued to do this several more times.

 

[Newjetjockey]

Part 2

I looked around to see if any other passengers were watching. I
immediately spotted a distraught couple seated two rows back. The
woman was crying into the man's shoulder. He was holding her hand.
I heard him say to her, You've got to calm down. Behind them sat the
once pleasant-smiling, goatee-wearing man.

I grabbed my son, I held my husband's hand and, despite the fact
that I am not a particularly religious person, I prayed. The last
man came out of the bathroom, and as he passed the man in the
yellow shirt he ran his forefinger across his neck and mouthed the
word No.

The plane landed. My husband and I gathered our bags and quickly,
very quickly, walked up the jetway. As we exited the jetway and
entered the airport, we saw many, many men in dark suits. A few
yards further out into the terminal, LAPD agents ran past us,
heading for the gate. I have since learned that the representatives
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Los Angeles Police
Department (LAPD), the Federal Air Marshals (FAM), and the
Transportation Security Association (TSA) met our plane as it
landed. Several men -- who I presume were the federal air marshals
on board -- hurried off the plane and directed the 14 men over to
the side.

Knowing what we knew, and seeing what we'd seen, my husband and I
decided to talk to the authorities. For several hours my husband and
I were interrogated by the FBI. We gave sworn statement after sworn
statement. We wrote down every detail of our account. The
interrogators seemed especially interested in the McDonald's bag, so
we repeated in detail what we knew about the McDonald's bag. A law
enforcement official stood near us, holding 14 Syrian passports in
his hand. We answered more questions. And finally we went home.

Home Sweet Home

The next day, I began searching online for news about the incident.
There was nothing. I asked a friend who is a local news
correspondent if there were any arrests at LAX that day. There
weren't. I called Northwest Airlines' customer service. They said
write a letter. I wrote a letter, then followed up with a call to
their public relations department. They said they were aware of the
situation (sorry that happened!) but legally they have 30 days to
reply.

I shared my story with a few colleagues. One mentioned she'd been on
a flight with a group of foreign men who were acting strangely --
they turned out to be diamond traders. Another had heard a story on
National Public Radio (NPR) shortly after 9/11 about a group of Arab
musicians who were having a hard time traveling on airplanes
throughout the U.S. and couldn't get seats together. I took note of
these two stories and continued my research. Here are excerpts from
an article written by Jason Burke, Chief Reporter, and published in
The Observer (a British newspaper based in London) on February 8,
2004:

Terrorist bid to build bombs in mid-flight: Intelligence reveals dry
runs of new threat to blow up airliners

Islamic militants have conducted dry runs of a devastating new style
of bombing on aircraft flying to Europe, intelligence sources
believe.

The tactics, which aim to evade aviation security systems by placing
only components of explosive devices on passenger jets, allowing
militants to assemble them in the air, have been tried out on planes
flying between the Middle East, North Africa and Western Europe,
security sources say.

...The... Transportation Security Administration issued an urgent
memo detailing new threats to aviation and warning that terrorists
in teams of five might be planning suicide missions to hijack
commercial airliners, possibly using common items...such as cameras,
modified as weapons.

...Components of IEDs [improvised explosive devices]can be smuggled
on to an aircraft, concealed in either clothing or personal carry-on
items... and assembled on board. In many cases of suspicious
passenger activity, incidents have taken place in the aircraft's
forward lavatory.

So here's my question: Since the FBI issued a warning to the airline
industry to be wary of groups of five men on a plane who might be
trying to build bombs in the bathroom, shouldn't a group of 14
Middle Eastern men be screened before boarding a flight?

Apparently not. Due to our rules against discrimination, it can't be
done. During the 9/11 hearings last April, 9/11 Commissioner John
Lehman stated that "...it was the policy (before 9/11) and I believe
remains the policy today to fine airlines if they have more than two
young Arab males in secondary questioning because that's
discriminatory."

So even if Northwest Airlines searched two of the men on board my
Northwest flight, they couldn't search the other 12 because they
would have already filled a government-imposed quota.

I continued my research by reading an article entitled Arab
Hijackers Now Eligible For Pre-Boarding from Ann Coulter
(www.anncoulter.com):

"On September 21, as the remains of thousands of Americans lay
smoldering at Ground Zero, [Secretary of Transportation Norman]
Mineta fired off a letter to all U.S. airlines forbidding them from
implementing the one security measure that could have prevented
9/11: subjecting Middle Eastern passengers to an added degree of pre-
flight scrutiny. He sternly reminded the airlines that it was
illegal to discriminate against passengers based on their race,
color, national or ethnic origin or religion."

Coulter also writes that a few months later, at Mr. Mineta's behest,
the Department of Transportation (DOT) filed complaints against
United Airlines and American Airlines (who, combined, had lost 8
pilots, 25 flight attendants and 213 passengers on 9/11 - not
counting the 19 Arab hijackers). In November 2003, United Airlines
settled their case with the DOT for $1.5 million. In March 2004,
American Airlines settled their case with the DOT for $1.5 million.
The DOT also charged Continental Airlines with discriminating
against passengers who appeared to be Arab, Middle Eastern or
Muslim. Continental Airlines settled their complaint with the DOT in
April of 2004 for $.5 million.

 

[Newjetjockey]

Part 3. Last one.

From what I witnessed, Northwest Airlines doesn't have to worry
about Norman Mineta filing a complaint against them for
discriminatory, secondary screening of Arab men. No one checked the
passports of the Syrian men. No one inspected the contents of the
two instrument cases or the McDonald's bag. And no one checked the
limping man's orthopedic shoe. In fact, according to the TSA
regulations, passengers wearing an orthopedic shoe won't be asked to
take it off. As their site states, "Advise the screener if you're
wearing orthopedic shoes...screeners should not be asking you to
remove your orthopedic shoes at any time during the screening
process. " (Click here to read the TSA website policy on orthopedic
shoes and other medical devices.)
I placed a call to the TSA and talked to Joe Dove, a Customer
Service Supervisor. I told him how we'd eaten with metal utensils
moments in an airport diner before boarding the flight and how no
one checked our luggage or the instrument cases being carried by the
Middle Eastern men. Dove's response was, "Restaurants in secured
areas -- that's an ongoing problem. We get that complaint often. TSA
gets that complaint all the time and they haven't worked that out
with the FAA. They're aware of it. You've got a good question. There
may not be a reasonable answer at this time, I'm not going to BS
you."

At the Detroit airport no one checked our IDs. No one checked the
folds in my newspaper or the contents of my son's backpack. No one
asked us what we'd done during our layover, if we bought anything,
or if anyone gave us anything while we were in the airport. We were
asked all of these questions (and many others ) three weeks earlier
when we'd traveled in Europe -- where passengers with airport
layovers are rigorously questioned and screened before boarding any
and every flight. In Detroit no one checked who we were or what we
carried on board a 757 jet liner bound for American's largest
metropolis.

Two days after my experience on Northwest Airlines flight #327 came
this notice from SBS TV, The World News, July 1, 2004:

"The U.S. Transportation and Security Administration has issued a
new directive which demands pilots make a pre-flight announcement
banning passengers from congregating in aisles and outside the
plane's toilets. The directive also orders flight attendants to
check the toilets every two hours for suspicious packages."

Through a series of events, The Washington Post heard about my
story. I talked briefly about my experience with a representative
from the newspaper. Within a few hours I received a call from Dave
Adams, the Federal Air Marshal Services (FAM) Head of Public
Affairs. Adams told me what he knew:

There were 14 Syrians on NWA flight #327. They were questioned at
length by FAM, the FBI and the TSA upon landing in Los Angeles. The
14 Syrians had been hired as musicians to play at a casino in the
desert. Adams said they were "scrubbed." None had arrest records (in
America, I presume), none showed up on the FBI's "no fly" list or
the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists List. The men checked out and they
were let go. According to Adams, the 14 men traveled on Northwest
Airlines flight #327 using one-way tickets. Two days later they were
scheduled to fly back on jetBlue from Long Beach, California to New
York -- also using one-way tickets.

I asked Adams why, based on the FBI's credible information that
terrorists may try to assemble bombs on planes, the air marshals or
the flight attendants didn't do anything about the bizarre behavior
and frequent trips to the lavatory. "Our FAM agents have to have an
event to arrest somebody. Our agents aren't going to deploy until
there is an actual event," Adams explained. He said he could not
speak for the policies of Northwest Airlines.

So the question is... Do I think these men were musicians? I'll let
you decide. But I wonder, if 19 terrorists can learn to fly
airplanes into buildings, couldn't 14 terrorists learn to play
instruments?

 

[CSY Mon]

Same story....

http://forums.flightinfo.com/showthread.php?t=36804

 

[RightBettor]

Just remember you shouldn't refer to muslims as being "violent" because it will make them angry enough to kill you.

 

[flx757]

But I wonder, if 19 terrorists can learn to fly
airplanes into buildings, couldn't 14 terrorists learn to play
instruments?

Nah...probabaly not well, anyway.

 

[lowlycfi]

Jeez, can anyone say 'urban legend'. I got this story in an e-mail about a year and a half ago only it happened on Delta from ATL to PDX. Same story, different names and I think I remember the guy having a Burger King bag instead of McDonalds.

 

[TonyC]

Jeez, can anyone say 'urban legend'. I got this story in an e-mail about a year and a half ago only it happened on Delta from ATL to PDX. Same story, different names and I think I remember the guy having a Burger King bag instead of McDonalds.

I think they decided the Burger King bags attracted too much suspicion, and the chemgoo tended to leak through their lighter-colored bags more easily, so they've pretty much gone with McDonald's and Chik-Fil-A lately.

 

[FLB717]

The same people who scream that you violated thier civil liberties (Micheal Morre) today will scream that you did not do enought tomorrow (NYC) to prevent a attack.

 

[Spur]

Jeez, can anyone say 'urban legend'. I got this story in an e-mail about a year and a half ago only it happened on Delta from ATL to PDX...

Not this story. From the NY times 2 days ago:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/20/business/20road.html
What Really Happened on Flight 327?

[size=-1]By JOE SHARKEY[/size]

Published: July 20, 2004

here is no doubt that something out of the ordinary happened on Northwest Airlines Flight 327 from Detroit to Los Angeles on June 29. The plane was met at the airport by squads of federal agents and police responding to radio messages from the pilots about concerns that 14 Middle Eastern male passengers had spent the four-hour flight acting suspiciously.

But was the episode a dry run for a terrorist attack, as is now being widely suggested on the Internet and on talk radio, or an aborted terrorist attack? Or was it an innocent sequence of events that some passengers, overcome by anxiety and perhaps ethnic stereotyping, misinterpreted as a plot to blow up their plane?

The story of Flight 327 was first told in a 3,300-word online article, "Terror in the Skies, Again?" by Annie Jacobsen, a 37-year-old freelance writer from Los Angeles. Ms. Jacobsen's report was published last Tuesday on a Web site for women, www.womenswallstreet.com. It is compelling reading.

I have since spoken at length with Ms. Jacobsen, and also with an official of the Federal Air Marshal Service, who confirmed the gist of Ms. Jacobsen's narrative, if not her interpretation.

On June 29, Ms. Jacobsen; her husband, Kevin; and their 41/2-year-old son were returning home from a family visit in Rhode Island when they boarded a connecting flight in Detroit, Northwest 327. While boarding, both she and her husband became aware of a group of six men of Middle Eastern appearance who followed them on board. One wore a large orthopedic shoe. Two carried what appeared to be small musical instrument cases. One wore a yellow T-shirt and was carrying a big McDonald's sack.

As the Jacobsens settled into their seats, they watched a second group of Middle Eastern men board. These men were in communication with the first group "absolutely from the get-go," Ms. Jacobsen said. Furthermore, she said, "they all seemed to be checking in with the guy in the yellow shirt," who was sitting across the aisle from her.

Mr. Jacobsen, 38, who is the president of an import-and-design company as well as an actor in television commercials, was already feeling uneasy. "When I first got on the flight, my instincts said that something was wrong,'' he recalled. "I did turn to my wife and say, 'We must get off this flight.' " He didn't follow through on that, however, because he didn't want to create a commotion based on a whim, he said.

In great detail, Ms. Jacobsen's article describes the "unusual activity" the men engaged in during the flight. Other passengers and the flight attendants became alerted to it, also. Ignoring the "fasten seat belt'' signs, the men went frequently and in succession to the lavatories, and congregated near the galleys in pairs or threesomes. The man in the yellow shirt gave her a "cold, defiant look" when she caught his eye, she said.

About two hours into the flight, with tension building, her husband decided to approach a flight attendant with his suspicions. The flight attendant said the crew were already aware of the odd behavior, including the fact that parcels like the McDonald's bag were carried into the lavatories.

"She said I was 'right on schedule' with what I was feeling was happening, that she was aware of it, that they were passing notes to each other, that the pilots were aware of it, and that there were people on board who are 'higher up than you or me' that were watching them," Mr. Jacobsen said. He presumed, correctly, that this was a reference to undercover federal air marshals.

Later, as the plane was in its final approach to Los Angeles, at the stage of a flight when even the flight attendants are strapped into their seats, "suddenly, seven of the men stood up in unison," Ms. Jacobsen said. Some walked toward the back lavatories and some toward the front. Two stood by the aircraft door. The flight attendants remained silent, she said.

"I don't have any words to explain how terrified I was" at that point, said Mr. Jacobsen, who added that he clutched a pen in his hand to use as a weapon, while thinking: "I hope I'm not the only one who will react. I hope I don't choke and get scared."

Then the plane landed without a problem. Waiting at the door were officers from the Federal Air Marshal Service, the F.B.I., the T.S.A. and the Los Angeles Police Department. The 14 men were questioned at length and released. The Jacobsens also were questioned for over an hour.

Yesterday, a Federal Air Marshal Service spokesman, Dave Adams, a law enforcement officer for 30 years, said that the suspicious characters on Flight 327 were musicians. The man in the yellow shirt was a drummer, he said.