This story has really taken hold in the blogosphere. Check Hugh Hewitt and Michelle Malkin . Michelle has several posts on the subject and has done some digging. She confirms many of the facts in the original story, at least that these things happened although we don't that these men were anything other than the musicians they claimed to be. Donald Sensing has some skepticism and asks some good questions.
I think what disturbs me is that there doesn't seem to be a clear plan in place for situations like these. The flight crew was concerned but didn't seem to be sure what action to take. There were sky marshalls aboard but they seemed to be waiting for something to happen. If these were terrorists who were assembling a bomb, you can't wait until they do something, because that "something" could be the bomb going off. This might be another case of "we're always fighting the last war"; we're expecting hijackers, but they've sent suicide bombers.
I think there were plenty of people who were willing to do something but they weren't sure what to do, or they were afraid of making a mistake and doing the wrong thing. A caller to Hugh Hewitt's show, a flight attendent, said that the airlines were afraid of being accused of racism by the Transportation Safety Administration. Many people have mentioned the "no more than 2 people of a particular ethnicity can be questioned" rule. We have created a climate where people are afraid to act to save their lives and the lives of others because they're afraid of getting sued or fined. This is absurd.
There should be a clear policy in place. When there are people on a plane that have aroused the suspicion of the crew and passengers, the captain should announce, "We have a security situation. Everyone must remain buckled in their seats for the remainder of the flight." If there are people who refuse to take their seats, everyone on the plane knows there's a problem and should feel free to act in their own defense; the captain should then land the plane at the nearest airport, with fighter jet escort.
Flight attendents do not seemed to be trained and flight crews are still, by and large, not armed. How many people have to die before this is taken seriously by the bureaucrats?
We have to do away with these PC rules. We are dealing with Islamic extremism which is centered in the Middle East. Ethnicity is, unfortunately, a relevant part of a profile; it should never be the only factor, but it has to be considered. If you want to blame someone, blame Al Qaeda, blame the Saudis for spreading their poisonous Wahabiism around the world.
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