The saga continues
Via Michael Smerconish’s radio show this morning, we learn that Annie Jacobsen will be posting a follow-up to her Terror In The Skies, Again article at womenswallstreet.com around 9amPST/12noonEST.
Jacobsen’s parents e-mailed me some family background:
Annie Jacobsen is our daughter!! She is NOT the science fiction writer nor the psychic (with the same name). She is well-educated (an ivy league school class of 89 and a top prep school graduate) and is quite rational. She is a world traveler. She is apolitical. Her mother is a registered republican – her father a registered independent. This is not a hoax. She and her family were with us in CT to celebrate our 40th anniversary. Our still-shaking daughter and son-in-law called us immediately after speaking with both the FBI and the LAPD upon their return to their home. We had expected the call several hours earlier so we were quite concerned.
Still nothing from the Washington Post or other MSM. No Drudge link to Jacobsen’s story, but snopes.com has posted an entry.
Meantime, here’s some good flashback reading: Stuart Taylor Jr. on the case for using racial profiling at airports from September 25, 2001.
Update: Here’s Jacobsen’s update.
Update II: As Rod Dreher says at The Corner, there’s not much new in Jacobsen’s latest story. Glenn Reynolds takes this Homeland Insecurity Moment to say “I told you so.” Hey, me, too: here.
Update III: More Syrian band research from Bluemerle. And a reader passes along another blogger’s hair-raising flight experience.
Update IV: Donald Sensing remains “underwhelmed.”
He makes much of Annie Jacobsen getting the timeline incorrect on when TSA issues its “no congregate” directive, citing references to stories about the directive from January 2004 and not July 2004, as Jacobsen had mentioned.
Sensing writes:
I found all these references with ridiculous ease while writing this post. So why did Jacobsen insinuate (and insinuate she certainly did) that the “no congregate” policy somehow originated from the trips to the john the 14 Arab men made on her flight? She is a journalist. Why didn’t she check the news record to determine whether the policy pre-existed her four hours of terror (her description, not mine)?
Because, as I said in my first post, her story is not objective, it is not unbiased. It is a fear-soaked article seeking to justify the writer’s fear. Let me repeat: It is factual she was fearful, but her fear doesn’t provide facts.
Just a minute, though. I did some quick research on Nexis and found that the TSA directive from January applied to international flights, not domestic flights. As this article from May 28, 2004 shows, domestic carriers were still struggling to figure out what the policy was and should be here at home:
Chicago Sun-Times
May 28, 2004 Friday
SECTION: NEWS SPECIAL EDITION; Pg. 9
LENGTH: 400 words
HEADLINE: Airing on the side of caution: Not always OK to walk in jet
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
BYLINE: Scott McCartney
BODY:
You’re on a long flight and, heeding medical warnings, you want to stretch your legs. But these days, airline crews sometimes leave you trapped between security directives and the fully reclined seat in front of you.The federal Transportation Security Administration told airlines in December to police gatherings of passengers on planes for possible security risks, especially near cockpit doors. Since then, airlines have interpreted that edict differently.
Four hours into a recent five-hour trip from Orlando to Los Angeles on United Airlines, Andy Thorson wanted to stretch. So he slipped into a rear galley of the Boeing 757, only to be shooed away by a flight attendant who said he wasn’t allowed to congregate in a galley for “security reasons.”
“I told her I wanted to stretch a little bit, was aware that I could not go up front to do so and so was back here,” says Thorson. Then, he asked, “Where should I go to stretch my legs?”
The answer, according to Thorson: “This aircraft, unfortunately, does not provide for that.”
United says that isn’t its policy, and that its flight attendant was confused. The TSA has instructed airlines to ban passengers from congregating in any galley on international flights bound for the United States, but not on domestic flights, says United spokeswoman Chris Nardella. “We want our customers to stretch their legs,” Nardella adds.
The TSA says it has directed airlines only to tell crews they can break up lines or gatherings if there might be a security danger.
While the security issues are real, there are other concerns. The ultra-dry cabin climate can dehydrate passengers, and sitting in cramped quarters for long periods can facilitate blood clots, doctors say.
Still, airlines vary in policies:
*Delta Air Lines says it has no policy. “You’re free to move about the cabin, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the crew,” says Delta spokeswoman Catherine Stengel.
*American Airlines, on the other hand, says its flight attendants sometimes ask passengers lining up for bathrooms in the rear of the plane to sit and wait.
*Continental says it asks passengers not to congregate near any lavatory, particularly the front. But flight attendants let passengers line up for the rear bathroom.
*Northwest Airlines says its flight attendants monitor activity around the cockpit door and discourage congregating there.
Given this continued confusion through the spring and then the subsequent announcement of the TSA directive a few days after she landed in Los Angeles on June 29, I think Annie Jacobsen’s suggestion that the TSA tightened its policy because of what happened/didn’t happen on her plane is entirely reasonable.
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Categories: Airline Security, Annie Jacobsen
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I mostly agree with the arguments of Mr. Taylor. However, I don’t think he can say racial profiling is unconstitutional in some cases, but okay on a cost/benefit analysis in other cases. It is unconstitutional, or not.
Myself, I lean toward it being always constitutional, but agree that according to the cost/benefit analysis, it’s only worth it in some cases. I would use racial profiling in all sorts of terror investigations and preventions, not just airline safety, because there are many ways terrorists could kill 3000 citizens at a time, not just by crashing an airplane into a building.
Another key point on profiling is that these musicians weren’t even Americans, they were Syrians. What’s wrong with profiling foreigners from know terrorists states, knowing that Al Qaeda was trying to get their operatives into the U.S. with sports and entertainment visas, since the clampdown on tourist and student visas.
These 14 Syrians were traveling on one-way tickets for a two-day gig at a casino? How much do 14 one-way tickets from Damascus to LAX cost? And why would they return on one-way tickets?
This is just insane.
It’s pretty clear that Donald Sensing is an idiot. The guy has no idea as to Annie Jacobsen’s state of mind on the flight but that doesn’t stop him from being a subject matter expert on it.
It’s said that if you give 100 monkeys a typewriter eventually they’ll produce the works of Shakespeare.
I wonder if Mr. Sensing and the other 99 meet somewhere or work collaboratively online?
MM is fast becoming one of my favorite bloggers and I don’t say things like that often. It’s very good to see someone following up on this story. Who knows what is going on? But I would hate to see it finally be treated like a UFO sighting. There has to be evidence around somewhere. And that connection with the parents was a very good start!
Michelle, you haven’t mentioned that the band in all likelihood is the Syrian group Kulna Sawa:
http://www.geocities.com/kinankulnasawa/
I have to say that though I share many of your beliefs about flaws in air travel security, I found the follow-up article by Jacobsen curiously flat and unconvincing. I’m still looking forward to a real investigation here, one that doesn’t require me to register for updates at a financial web site!
I lived several weeks in Syria about 30 years ago and have some(not a lot) understanding of the culture. As I was reading the first Jacobsen article, I couldn’t help thinking that these Syrians had probably developed a cruel joke. That doesn’t negate the fact that Homeland should be actively seeking reasons to deport troublesome foreign visitors and these guys should have been sent on their way home just for complicating our airport security procedures and alarming innocent citizens. Visitors should be on their best behavior or expect to be asked to leave.
It might have been a joke (to them). But terrorizing passengers will bring bad karma to all. It might even bring some changes if people stop flying. And, believe me, we might enjoy paying to see a horror flick, but we will not pay to a chance to have this happen. Besides, just because it’s a band, doesn’t mean it couldn’t have been directed by the terror masters. Syrians are required to follow directions from their President, unlike those of us lucky enough to live here.
As a W supporter, this whole story is immensely unsettling, because one of my primary reasons for supporting him over Kerry is that he “gets it” re national security. Unfortunately, despite the good that W has done to date, and despite his many missteps–including the fiasco of airline security and the Mineta Quota–I fear Kerry’s approach would be more catastrophic by a factor of 1000.
Michelle, over the weekend I sent you the link to the SBS TV story dated ‘7.1.2004′ – what I failed to notice at the time was that, as an Aussie site, they use the day/month/year date sequencing – so in reality the SBS item is actually dated Jan. 7, 2004.
I’ve noted this over at Sensing’s website as well.
One thing is fairly certain. Our government does not like telling us about things that are going dangerously wrong in the skies. They don’t like to panic the flying public. Whether it’s wires that may melt or Syrians who are drawing up game plans for their next attack, don’t count on Bush or Kerry letting you know. I think they rationalize this is many ways. For instance, the chances that it will happen to anyone are less than (you guessed it) your chances of getting hit by lightening.
That’s an interesting point about the Aussie dating system; hadn’t thought about that. For what it’s worth, I talked to a TSA spokeswoman earlier today, and she said that the agency did issue this directive.
“At the end of June?” I asked. She said yes, but to be completely fair, it was a scratchy cellphone connection, and I wonder if she understood me.
Yep Rod, I realized my (and by extension, Jacobsen’s) error when I went back on the SBS TV website today and noticed how they showed today’s date on the front page: ‘19.7.2004′. Whoops!
I am a skeptic, I think I know what the long object was – a piece of wood for prayer purposes. I explain it all here:
http://gilkeson.net/iraq/archives/2004/07/20/whats_missing_terror_in_the_skies
Everything that should have happened on Flight 327 happened.
Passengers and crew witnessed suspicious activity, Federal Air Marshalls were watching the situation and law enforcement met the plane, detained and interrogated the Syrians upon arrival in Los Angeles.
I have no doubt that for the passengers and crew that day, the flight was terrifying. I probably would have been terrified, too – and relieved, afterwards, when I found out that all was well.
The cries here and elsewhere against the current “no racial profiling” policy are disturbing. Remember – nothing happened, and nothing has happened within our country since 9/11.
Racial profiling is a dangerous, slippery slope. If we start profiling all “Middle Eastern Looking” men on airplanes, how far behind can airport terminals and parking lots be?
If “Middle Eastern Looking” men are to be questioned on sight in airports, why stop there? What about shopping malls? Schools? Public buildings?
History has no end of examples for us of how slippery this slope can be, regardless of how noble the intentions seemed at first.
In 1961 in response to terrorist attacks in Paris related to the war for independence in Algeria, an 8:30PM curfew was imposed for Arabs, officially reinforcing their status as “second class citizens.” On October 17, 1961, tens of thousands of Arabs assembled to protest the curfew. Violence broke out and between 40 and 400 Arabs were killed (the number most commonly cited is 200), with many of their bodies tossed into the Seine. More than 50 Arabs were killed in custody at Paris police headquarters over the course of the evening.
Nazis made Jews second-class citizens. Blacks and Indians in South Africa under apartheid suffered immeasurably for years.
Blacks in our own country suffered under similar policies.
We know that these policies are wrong and don’t work.
As Americans we must resist kneejerk tendencies to “solve the problem” with these dangerous policies.
State-sanctioned racial profiling will only result in great shame for our nation.
As I stated in my fledgling blog, although I do believe that Mineta’s “politically correct” screening policies are ridiculous, here are a few things to consider:
1) Yes, there are non-Middle Easterners (men & women) who are sympathetic to the terrorists cause and who can easily be recruited,
2) People can be used as unwitting “mules” to either carry items or to help carry out plots,
(These two points alone let’s you know why Middle Eastern men in their 20s & 30s aren’t the only people who should be screened at airports, etc.)
3) It is possible that some of these “suspicious” people may very well be U.S. Agents or Marshalls keeping an eye on things,
4) If a “suspicious” person ends up having a clean background check, and is not carrying anything suspicious, what else can be done other than to keep an eye on his/her future activities? I’m sure the Feds are doing just that!
Anyway, keep up the great work Michelle!
They may have been musicians. But in Al Copone’s day, didn’t they carry machine guns in violin cases? (heh, heh)
Mr Sensing said that his McDonalds bag is empty after eating too. He doesn’t think it strange to eat in the cramped john? Appetizing smell too. Sensing ignores the FBI interview of several hours; they thought it was important.
I think this issue should be about behavior, not ethnic profiling; that would difuse much of the critizism of this article. And the behavior was quite strange. Especially in light of the article of The Observer (London) about the trial runs, testing the building of explosives in the lavatories.
Liberal Avenger Extreme,
Nobody is talking about setting curfews or restricting Arabs from flights.
After all of the events in the last decade (including the Cole, Embassy Bombings, first WTC bombing and September 11th) it is smart, prudent and reasonable for us Americans to watch, document and even question middle-eastern men who are acting suspicious.
That’s all we are saying. Liberals (I think like yourself) are calling us racist when our perspective is that we are reasonable, prudent and smart.
Ignoring “patterns” is what it seems liberals are after. For what cause? Utopia is good to try to strive for but guess what sweety, it aint gonna happen.
Human nature dictates that communism won’t work and nor will ignoring “patterns”. We will tend to try to work smart and calling us names like racist will only make your party lose at election time because we don’t like to be called names.
Strive for utopia by arguing some other way please. Or actually…. keep it up so enough of the 53% vote for George Bush in November
I am pretty sick of Sensing and his quest to backflip through every obvious point in Jacobson’s experience. He is just dying to avoid facing reality.. And if enough people think this way, die we all will.
Ah, Baklava, if only it were so easy.
You missed the point of my comment… These sorts of policies always seem reasonable and prudent in the beginning but turn ugly over time.
P.S. Communism works in China.
Communism works in China? It sure does, I guess. The One child rule makes for lots of dead and/or abandoned female infants. If communism is so preferable, what compels you to stay in a democracy?
Stalin, Pol Pot, the Kymmer(sp?)Rouge, yeah, they all “work” quite well at killing great numbers of people. Sorry, I get just a little irritated when people extol the “virtues” of communism.(Sorry to get so OT)
Thats quite allright, Coastygirl. Indeed, the examples you gave were all horror shows (its spelled Khmer, by the way). I didn’t say that Communism was wonderful – I said that it worked in China.
China employs, houses and feeds its 1.2 billion people. Its Communist government emerged after thousands of years of wave after wave of feudalism, famine, war, suffering and turmoil. These are no small accomplishments.
We Americans on average know little about day to day life in China. You have to give them some credit.
Communism works in China… hmmm. We’ll tackle that one later.
Regardless, for those of you interested (all two of you) in my comments about Sensing/Jacobsen/terrorism, feel free to check me out at http://www.blogingham.blogspot.com. This is my last shameless plug, so sorry if it comes as an offense to anyone.
Kindly,
Blogingham!
“P.S. Communism works in China.”
Not really. The economic boom that is happening in China as we speak is because of the privitization of state owned industries and newly capitalistic forces at work there. Communism as an economic system didn’t work and is being phased out.
“If “Middle Eastern Looking” men are to be questioned on sight in airports, why stop there? What about shopping malls?”
After they blow up a few shopping malls, they can be questioned there too. And after a few car bomb explosions in the heart of Manhattan, you can bet that Arab nationals driving cabs will be scrutinized too. Maybe you’ve missed some specific information since 9/11, but its’s not just anybody trying to kill us. It’s a pretty obviously identifiable group. Being questioned and given additional scrutiny is far different than being capriciously incarcerated.
I’m for random searches and not profiling Americans.
why do I want random profiles? Here’s Bruce Schneier– tell me how his argument is wrong, because as I wrote in a different thread, if there is a pattern to how we screen, then anyone who knows the pattern can avoid the pattern. ONLY random searches prevent this. Bruce writes:
” Profiling has two very dangerous failure modes. The first one is obvious. Profiling’s intent is to divide people into two categories: people who may be evildoers and need to be screened more carefully, and people who are less likely to be evildoers and can be screened less carefully.
But any such system will create a third, and very dangerous, category: evildoers who don’t fit the profile… [and also] Evildoers can also engage in identity theft, and steal the identity — and profile — of an honest person. ***Profiling can result in less security by giving certain people an easy way to skirt security***”
“There’s another, even more dangerous, failure mode for these systems: honest people who fit the evildoer profile. Because evildoers are so rare, almost everyone who fits the profile will turn out to be a false alarm. This not only wastes investigative resources that might be better spent elsewhere, but it causes grave harm to those innocents who fit the profile.”
Baklava, to answer you from another thread- I’m Libertarian (and our current candidate imo just isn’t the guy to get the message out) so either possible result in November isn’t a win for me.
Go read about Krar- a real Texas terrorist. I don’t expect Texans to
take responsibility for him because there isn’t any such thing as collective blood guilt. I didn’t expect Russian-Americans to apologize for the “death to America” (what else are 10,000 nuclear missiles?) attitudes of the Soviet Union. I don’t expect French-Americans to apologize for the French government’s behavior. I don’t expect Cuban-Americans to apologize for Castro.
Certainly, if you specifically know a criminal you have the responsibility to act. But I don’t want nor expect any group of Americans to bear additional burdens because of who their ancestors are or who their ancestors are related to.
I don’t want Arab-Americans (many of whom are Christian or other religions, as a side-note) to bear any additional burden or responsibility that other Americans don’t have to bear. This is because I don’t believe in collective guilt AND because I believe they are behaving just like all other Americans in reporting criminals. Just as I don’t expect Mexican-Americans to have to bear responsibility for the existance of illegal immigrants.
I don’t believe that Arab-Americans are more likely than anyone else to be knowingly hiding a criminal. I don’t believe I have the right to go up to an Arab-American and say “I bet you’re hiding someone. You know a potential murderer and aren’t telling anyone. I bet this because you’re of Arab ancestry.” (And I wouldn’t say this to a Mexican-American either, that “I bet you’re hiding an illegal immigrant”). That’s why I don’t want profiling. I want random searches.
I believe individuals are responsible only for their own behavior, and for knowing about the potential acts of their immediate circle of family and friends.
I think the airlines need to be careful with what they’re doing. We need to protect the Constitution and stop terrorism, but we also have to remain reasonable. If the flight attendant is watching the guy, it should be OK, especially considering that long flights of sitting still are a health risk.
Deep-vein thrombosis, a blood clot in the legs, is caused by sitting for long periods of time. It already killed a news reporter in Iraq. We need to watch out for things like these as well as terrorism.
Also, I think the lack of media coverage proves that we are going too far in trying to win the “war on terror.” Like I said, we have to be reasonable. This whole “we can’t question the president” thing has gotten out of hand. Debate is the heart and soul of Democracy. Let’s not leave that behind.
Liberal Avenger Extreme,
Keep speaking. You do more for common sense centrists like Michelle Malkin, George Bush and I than we could dream of.
Communism in China is responsible for millions of deaths in order to keep the system going. There is a small taste of freedom going on right now and under the table trade and limited ownership (I have friends who are Chinese who have reported to me such). In recent years we have seen a sharp uptick in the use of resources such as wood and steel as prospertity is increasing the standard of living in China dramatically. These facts will impact America greatly.
Kathy (not getting it),
It’s not a ancestry issue. It’s a numbers game. It’s the fact that whole communities are filled with hate have hate filled teachings to their young and it is very easy for any one of them to say “enough is enough” and report their brothers and sisters. To keep making it an “ancestry” issue is to continue to not get it. Sorry. I’m trying to be blunt to make my point. I wish you would get it.
You put words in people’s mouths. Nobody is saying we have to “go up to” Arab’s and ask them or accuse them of hiding anyone. But estimates by muslims themselves say that 10% of their own people are extreme Western Civilization haters who want us irradicated. 1 in 10. I would expect that anyone who is coming across that 1 in 10 would WANT TO MAKE LIFE BETTER for themselves by reporting and turning in the extremists among them so that they can raise their families and live in peace. That was my last try with you. Please don’t put words in my mouth or say that I’m saying something that I’m not. I wish you’d get it. I didn’t say that individuals aren’t responsible for their behavior. I wish I could get through to you because I have libertarian leanings but am not as extreme (libertarians believe in a cut in government of 80% – I would advocate for a continuation of current spending with reprioritatizations for the next 10 years because a cut would hurt the economy even though it would be preferable if starting from scratch).
Alex,
It has gone way past “questioning the president”. Please be serious. In a time of war the people on the left are accusing Bush of lying, betraying the country, leading us to war to enrich his friends, etc. It is plenty OK to be against the war in Iraq, but why can’t the left be against the war without having to resort to “UNTRUTHS” and really endangering this country’s national security in the future.
BTW, By lumping Michelle, George Bush and I in the same sentence I made an implication that I can’t let stand and have to correct. George Bush and many republicans are to the LEFT OF CENTER while I believe people like Michelle Malkin and I are centrists and maybe a little to the right (as I explained I would like to allow for current spending for the next 10 years with re-prioritizations but a true centrists might allow for increases at the rate of inflation).
George Bush on almost every issue tries to split the difference between a conservative and a liberal and manages being LEFT OF CENTER.
For instance – For non-religious reasons I don’t agree with the federal government spending on stem-cell research. It wasn’t something intended to be spent on by the federal government in the constitution. I believe that stem-cell research could be done better and more efficiently by private companies. If a company could meet DEMAND for a CURE by inventing the SUPPLY for the cure with stem cells they could and would. Umbilical cord stem cell research has already been responsible for 40 uses/cures.
Unfortunately in George Bush’s quest to please and not ruffle feathers he tried to split the middle and allowed for federal government spending on stem cell research with a limited array of stem cells and current stocks of stem cells. What did that buy him from the left? More vitriol and hatred and name calling.
Many of us conservatives (or centrists) who are to the left of libertarians but to the right of liberals and I believe common sense centrists wish that enough was enough and know that there is no pleasing the press, liberals and the communists, and the socialists.
If it means killing, relying on force, or slander the left tries to “control” with an iron fist.
Read the Road to Serfdom for an understanding of how the left leads to the worst atrocities in the worlds history and an understanding of how capitalism (people choosing who gets what resources – the definition of capitalism) is what is responsible for prosperity, doing good works of charity (feeding the poor), and cleaning up the environment (as we are able to prosper and care about our environment but poor nations are not even able to do things like provide for sheltor and food not to mention care for their surroundings/environment).
I said so much. Sorry.
Baklava,
Maybe we’re talking different past each other because we’re not talking about the same thing. If so, I apologize.
My question is: should Arab-Americans be asked to bear burdens that other Americans don’t have to share? Burdens could include racial profiling or the assumption that they need to be questioned more than any other type of American. Burdens could also include the assumption that Arab-Americans are more likely than other Americans to be hiding a criminal or someone with criminal intent.
I understand that some say that racial profiling is either not a burden or is a necessary burden that Arab-Americans must accept. Having met someone who is always searched at airports (research “David Nelson”: because of one criminal D.N. all D.N.’s in the US get searched each time they fly), and for other reasons I believe that always being searched is a burden and a hardship. To tell someone “you will always be treated as if you are a criminal at the airport- in front of friends or family- because you have a tainted name” is wrong. I don’t want any American to be treated that way, to be treated as anything but an individual.
And I then argue that racial profiling is dangerous- because if we’re doing racial profiling then we aren’t doing random searches, and random searches are safer. Profiles = a pattern, and patterns can be broken.
Kathy,
I think it should be understood by Arab’s in America that we are acting with reason and prudence and watching, documenting and questioning Arabs who are acting suspicious.
I’m not asking Arabs to bear any further burdens than understanding that we as members of the human race are destined to pay attention to “patterns” and if Arabs want to erase that “pattern” they need to try to cleanse themselves as best as they can so they can raise their own families and live in peace (from our watchful eyes).
Here is the key Kathy. If Arabs don’t want to “bear that burden” then they don’t have to but they should understand that we are smart and prudent and reasonable and WE WANT SECURITY and therefore paying attention to patterns (so-called profiling) is what people will call for as reasonable, prudent and smart.
Unfortunately it is U.S. policy to not pay attention to patterns and to that end we are wasting resources, making ourselves less secure and aren’t acting smart.
We all hope for the pattern to be broken.
We’d all love utopia and security.
Again. If it were elderl Polish women who committed the atrocites of the 1993 WTC bombing, Embassy bombings, Cole bombing, September 11th and many other terrorist acts you’d better believe that security personnel as well as Americans would be MORE INTERESTED in the activities of elderly Polish women.
To call those of us who are prudent, reasonable and smart racist (you might not have but others have) is a card that shouldn’t be played in the free exchange of ideas. The use of names like racist is intended to shut people up and INTIMIDATE.