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Comments

1. #1
   On July 30th, 2004 at 5:31 pm, megapotamus said:

   Obviously, this guy is used to having anyone who questions him dragged of to the Department of Genital Electrification, and fears he might wind up there himself, under plausible circumstances.

2. #2
   On July 30th, 2004 at 5:41 pm, JEF said:

   This guy sounds like Cynthia Mckinney. I wonder if they operate out of the same play book.

3. #3
   On July 30th, 2004 at 5:41 pm, Angry Frenchman said:

   Dr. Moustapha is right…you are all paranoid racists. Down with Boney James!!!

4. #4
   On July 30th, 2004 at 5:51 pm, wakeup said:

   Ah, the “paranoid racist card” is thrown again. Get some anger management therapy, Mr. Frenchman, or figure out that Americans don’t have tolerance for liars or people who act inappropriately on planes. Yawn.

   Thank you, Michelle and Ms. Jacobsen.

5. #5
   On July 30th, 2004 at 5:51 pm, James Kotthoff said:

   Hey Frogboy,
   Yep we are all racist! And you are a panty sniffing butt pirate.
   You never have any normal constructive comments to post..so why do you bother posting at all?
   If you dislike the US and American’s so much why don’t you do something about it..oh sorry I forgot you are French and the French have balls the size of nuetrons when it comes to actually putting there bodies on the line for their beliefs.
   God Bless America!!!
   And screw you!!

6. #6
   On July 30th, 2004 at 6:07 pm, Baklava said:

   Michelle. I’m no longer posting here if people are aloud to cuss over and over without being blocked.

   This was a useful discussion place. But it changed.

7. #7
   On July 30th, 2004 at 6:11 pm, James Kotthoff said:

   Me? I didn’t cuss did I ?
   Sorry Baklava

8. #8
   On July 30th, 2004 at 6:22 pm, RC said:

   It’s not being paranoid when they really are out to get you.

   Bob

9. #9
   On July 30th, 2004 at 6:24 pm, Baklava said:

   You are fine James. There is one person who I won’t mention who is ruining it on purpose.

10. #10
    On July 30th, 2004 at 6:27 pm, Erik said:

    I’d say the Syrian ambassador (read: the ambassador of a nation that supports terrorism, including the support of insurgents against our troops in Iraq) needs to have a nice, hot cup of STFU.

    I wonder if Americans would be able to get a letter published in a local paper in his country if something similar happend … hmmmm.

11. #11
    On July 30th, 2004 at 6:28 pm, David2 said:

    Anybody who believes anything this guy says is in an advanced stage of Moore’s Disease. He doesn’t even bother to be clever when he lies. Of course, he doesn’t really need to be. Annie says in this report that it is up to reps on the Hill to find the Syrian band. Good Luck. If they wait for the next performance at the Kennedy Center it may take awhile.
    Of course, we may start to have Elvis sightings anytime now. You just never know in a world where nobody wants to tell the truth about anything.

12. #12
    On July 30th, 2004 at 6:29 pm, Athos said:

    Syria doesn’t accept or recognize the fact that it is on the list of terrorist supporting nations. Syria also has militarily occupied Lebanon for over 20 years and have turned it into a puppet nation.

    Frankly, any communication from a government official of Syria needs to be taken with many grains of salt, and assumed to be filled with falsehoods and inaccuracies.

    When his best retort when exposed as a liar is to scream racist - then you know that they are trying to hide something.

13. #13
    On July 30th, 2004 at 6:49 pm, americankitty said:

    Don’t let the trolls ruin it for you, Baklava. Just hit’em with a stick.

14. #14
    On July 30th, 2004 at 6:56 pm, Laurel said:

    I laugh at how they were sharing a McDonolds bag! I hope they super-sized it! Anyway I imagine this was very scary. Nobody acts like this on a flight - even my nine year old.

15. #15
    On July 30th, 2004 at 7:03 pm, Steve H. said:

    A long time ago, I wrote a piece pointing out that ethnic profiling at airports was essential, for a very obvious reason. Hijackers have to be Muslim. Our enemies are Muslim extremists, and while they could pay non-Muslims to bomb us or shoot us, they can’t pay them to give their lives on airplanes. So they have to do it themselves.

    Now we read reports that the terrorists are trying to find Muslims who “look like non-Muslims.” That pretty well proves my point.

    And we also read that airport security personnel can be fined for bothering too many Middle Easterners. So I guess you send decoys in until the hassle quota is filled, and then you send in the ones with the box cutters.

    Oh, well. When enough innocent people die, we’ll get rules that work. The trick is to stay alive until then.

16. #16
    On July 30th, 2004 at 7:14 pm, DUTCH said:

    I think that P.J. O’Rourke had it right about the French in his original “Foreigners Around The World” Satire in the National Lampoon several years ago:

    French - Racial Characteristics:

    “”Sawed-off sissies who eat snails and slugs and cheese that smells like people’s feet. They take filthy pictures of each other with cheap cameras, wash nothing but their [private parts], fight with their feet, and perform sex acts with their faces. Utter cowards who force their own children to drink wine, they gibber like baboons even when you try to speak to them in their own wimpy language.”"

17. #17
    On July 30th, 2004 at 9:06 pm, Ken B. said:

    My Conclusion: If you are on an airliner, and suspicious activity is going on among Middle Eastern looking men, you are as much on your own as you were on 9/10/2001. The flight crew is at risk for their jobs if they challenge such people. The Air Marshals (apparently) are trained not to respond until an attack on the plane is imminent or in progress. Soooo, just as on Flight 93, you and your fellow passengers are your own Department of Homeland Security! Be careful up there.

18. #18
    On July 30th, 2004 at 9:09 pm, Tom said:

    The short answer: Of course he did.

19. #19
    On July 30th, 2004 at 9:28 pm, John Davies said:

    Stuart Paisley-

    Kumar is Indian. The actor that plays him is vegetarian, so I’m guessing that he is Hindi.

20. #20
    On July 30th, 2004 at 9:31 pm, RWsoccermom48 said:

    Baklava,
    Cool it. I enjoy your postings. Don’t let one or two folks with poor languauge skills (i.e. those who can’t resist the “f” word, etc.” ) keep you off this posting. If you do—they win. Stay with us.

21. #21
    On July 30th, 2004 at 9:50 pm, sky king said:

    Baklava - we know who you’re talking about. We’ll just ignore and move on. Look forward to your posts - you are an impassioned warrior - keep going.

22. #22
    On July 31st, 2004 at 12:23 am, Half Canadian said:

    We have corroboration! That’s basically what I’ve been waiting for, and kudos to Michelle for posting it.
    Thanks, I feel much more comfotable repeating the claim now.

23. #23
    On July 31st, 2004 at 12:25 am, Tom Kearney said:

    One possibility that needs to be considered about these Syrian musicians is that they were playing a mischevious prank on the passengers of the plane. Maybe they said to themselves, “hey these Americans are so afraid of Arab Muslims hijacking an airplane. So let’s act suspiciously and really give them a good scare!”

    Of course, if this is true, their behavior is still reprehensible. I have a wicked sense of humor myself, but there are certain boundaries that should not be crossed. They should all be put on the no fly list.

24. #24
    On July 31st, 2004 at 2:31 am, L. Barnes said:

    I figured I’d look at the comments for some extra information on this subject. Boy, was I naive. Michelle, why do you even bother? Get rid of the sandbox.

25. #25
    On July 31st, 2004 at 3:30 am, demonsurfer said:

    “Dr. Moustapha told me that I was a paranoid racist.”

    There’s that farking cop-out again! Damn, get someone in a corner and they accuse you of being racist. The Syrian Ambassador must’ve read the Kimora Simmons story.

26. #26
    On July 31st, 2004 at 7:20 am, odin said:

    Jihadwatch has an article about the singer of this group titled “Syrian music star sings praise of suicide bombers” at http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/002694.php

27. #27
    On July 31st, 2004 at 7:23 am, Jeff said:

    Ugh…please, give it up already. No matter how hard you keep trying to find one, there is NO news story here. None. A Syrian band flew on a plane. Woohoo. Your insistence on dragging this out and picking on these insignificant points just illustrates your defensiveness about the whole episode. Sorry, Michelle…no super-secret terrorist scoop. Just a whole lotta racism. My thoughts go out to all of the poor people of Arab descent who have to deal with this kind of crap in our country.

28. #28
    On July 31st, 2004 at 8:00 am, Jack of Clubs said:

    Jeff:

    You should read the rest of Annie Jacobson’s article. Michelle didn’t quote the last few paragraphs:
    “I reminded him that it was the in-flight behavior of the men (which has now been corroborated by other passengers) which caused alarm, not their Syrian heritage.[...]

    He said a few more things that aren’t fit to print.

    I suggested to Dr. Moustapha that we focus on a diplomatic solution, that perhaps he himself could help to locate the 14 Syrian musicians in question so that they could share their side of the story. I waited for an answer, but instead, Dr. Moustapha hung up on me.”
    Now, bear in mind that this is a trained diplomat. He is paid to smooth over disputes and give a favorable impression of his country. For such a person to 1) lie in a major newspaper, 2) curse at a reporter and call her a racist and 3) hang up on her is not normal behavior. If there is an innocent explanation for this, I would love to hear it. It would be better than a Brother Cadfael novel.

29. #29
    On July 31st, 2004 at 9:51 am, Lisa said:

    great,just great. I was really hoping that there was going to be a logical and innocent reason for the antics of these Syrians. I have to fly in a week.Oh,and Jeff,unless your bleeding heart libness blinds you totally, I would hope you’d have the sense to be aware of odd and suspicious behavior wherever you go. We are asked to be on the lookout for it,aren’t we?

30. #30
    On July 31st, 2004 at 11:20 am, Jack Burton said:

    Ahh, reading the other comments sections cracks me up. There’s so many victims out there waiting to be abused yet so few conservatives to abuse them.

    Sorry to pander to the left’s fears, but so what if my views of muslims and arabs are racist. I can’t think of one instance of a muslim community throwing out a violence preacher. I can’t think of one instance of a muslim community doing anything but serving as apologists for the terrorists amongst us. Assimilate into our culture, just like millions who came before you did.

    I don’t trust muslims now, just as it would have been foolish to trust Christians during the crusades. Anyone who’s religious beliefs supercede the rule of law that we have lived under for the last 200 plus years doesn’t deserve to be trusted. Anyone who’s primary allegiance is to their religion and their religious leaders and not to the well being on the United States of America doesn’t deserve to be trusted.

    I’ll gladly deflate your racist attacks and just admit that under your definition, I’m a racist.

    Wow, I feel so liberated, so free. Break from those who mean us harm, or continue being hated. It’s your choice, and the burden of proof is on you. 3,000 murdered souls demand it.

31. #31
    On July 31st, 2004 at 11:23 am, syn said:

    Islamic Fascists attacked America on 9/11/ 2001.

    Jeff, how come you only feel bad towards those of Arab decent who have to put up with ‘this’ type of crap? Are you racist towards all other Americans?

    Do you not feel bad that 3000 innocent lives slaughered by Islamic Fascist?

    Or, like Kerry, have you also forgotten?

32. #32
    On July 31st, 2004 at 12:51 pm, MM Fan said:

    Jack Burton:

    Bravo!!! Very well put!

    Yes, the left has rendered many terms meaningless: racist, bigot, sexist, homophobe, jingoist, etc.

    They have turned these labels into a badge of pride as far as I’m concerned.

    Also, the following are cause for alarm:
    multiculturalism and diversity.
    I wish I had known to run away srceaming from these words a few years back. I am wiser now.

33. #33
    On July 31st, 2004 at 3:11 pm, Tom said:

    Also, the following are cause for alarm: multiculturalism and diversity. I wish I had known to run away srceaming from these words a few years back. I am wiser now.

    I couldn’t agree more. What could possibly be worse than multiculturalism and diversity? Let’s keep America white and proud–just like Ms. Malkin.

    (Note: that was intended as irony. Thank you.)
    -
    Look, I don’t dispute feelings of anxiety on the plane. 9/11 changed everything, and most of us will feel differently when flying from here out as a result. However, the facts haven’t changed one bit: there is still no evidence to support the assertion that these musicians are terrorists. It’s one thing to dig deeper for the truth, but why are we trying to find it from the perpsective that these guys are guilty until proven innocent?

    I mean, what does another passenger having a nervous reaction prove about whether or not the musicians are terrorists? Absolutely nothing–or am I missing something?

    Finally, I agree with Baklava above. People should honor this forum by keeping their fag-bashing/cursing/racist tendencies under control in their comments.

34. #34
    On July 31st, 2004 at 4:23 pm, carol herman said:

    Passengers: You can save yourselves by grabbing all of your on board luggage and throwing it to the floor from the overheads. Sure. On the floor this stuff can fly around. But it stops the path to the terrorists. ANd, if the pilot wants the luggage put back HE HAS TO ORDER THE ARABS HANDCUFFED TO THEIR SEATS. It’s that easy. We’re not part of Norm Mineta’s pass. We can save lives. Including our own. AND, THE SEAT CUSHION IS NOT ONLY A FLOATATION DEVICE IT COMES UP AND HAS STRAPS … SO YOU CAN DEFEND YOURSELVES IF THE TERRORISTS ARE SLASHING AT YOU. If this was a “test” run for the terrorists … let’s use common sense and words-of-mouth. You can even defend yourselves with a bar of soap slipped into a tube sock. That should now be a part of your carry on luggage.

35. #35
    On July 31st, 2004 at 5:35 pm, lurker gal said:

    Why does this have to be a “they were terrorists” vs “they were good guys argument?

    While I had my doubts about certain aspects of the original story, I am becoming more convinced that something strange happened on this flight.

    I would say that the fact that the house judiciary committee feels it warrants investigation supports the theory that there is more to this than meets the eye.

    At this point, I want to know what these guys were up to even if they aren’t terrorist suspects.

    Let’s hear from the airline crew about how they behaved and why. Let’s learn what levels of strange behaviour lead to passengers being asked to remain in their seats. Let’s find out why air marshall policy is reactive as opposed to proactive.

    And, yes, multiculturalism works more than one way. I don’t get to walk around in a mini-skirt in Teheran and you don’t get to make throat-slitting gestures on airplanes in the US and stand up en masse when the “fasten your seatbelt” sign is on.

    How hard is that to understand

36. #36
    On July 31st, 2004 at 6:11 pm, Peggy said:

    Thanks to the Jacobsons, I’ll be more alert from now on during flights, and I won’t hesitate demand that the plane land and have suspicious characters removed from the plane. If there are Middle Easterners who think it’s funny to ‘innocently’ terrorize Americans, they can laugh all the way off the plane.

37. #37
    On July 31st, 2004 at 6:48 pm, jeff said:

    Newsflash: Muslim proponents of terror tactics against the U.S. constitute a tiny, tiny sliver of the Muslim population. The majority of Muslim individuals in the U.S. were as appalled/shocked/saddened by the Sept. 11 attacks as the rest of us. As Americans, we need to do our very best to make sure the rights of these people are protected to the fullest extent possible. If it means feeling nervous on a plane once in a while because there are a bunch of Arab-looking people on it acting in ways deemed “suspicious” by white people then so be it. That is a small price to pay for protecting the freedom of innocents. I get the feeling a lot of you would favor kicking them off of planes altogether and rounding them up in pens. Sorry, it just doesn’t work that way. Try stopping for a moment to put yourself in the shoes of one of those people on the plane. Would you like being whispered about? Followed? Ms. Jacobsen was upset that one of the men wouldn’t smile back at her. Poor poor thing. Would you smile back if you were being stared at? Plus, even if you buy that there was any “suspicious” behavior going on inside that plane, everything subsequently checked out. Federal agents checked into this and came up with nothing. No case. No crime. Nothing. Innocent ’til proven guilty etc. etc. Ever heard of it? This story was dead to begin with, yet you continue to flog it incessantly. Lest we forget why Annie is writing for womens wall street such and such dot com and not the wall street journal. What’s news is new, and what’s not is not. Let it die.

38. #38
    On July 31st, 2004 at 7:28 pm, David2 said:

    It’s an important story and a mystery. I hope it never dies intil the truth is discovered. It’s a lot more interesting than the Laci Peterson trial or Michael Jackson saga. The flying public would like to know what goes on up there. Especially what the crew will allow to go on without interference.
    Why would anyone want this story to go away? If I don’t want to read about something, I ignore it. I don’t plead for it to be censored so nobody can read it. Censorship is wrong. I learned that from a liberal. Let’s not flip flop on that issue.

39. #39
    On July 31st, 2004 at 7:28 pm, Ishmail said:

    If I put myself in the shoes of the Syrian “musical band”, I might discover that there’s a bomb in them.

40. #40
    On July 31st, 2004 at 7:31 pm, Toren said:

    Jeff, your wilful ignorance about the facts of this case is mind-boggling. The lead musician is an outspoken Islamist. All but one of the men were flying on expired visas. Syria is a terrorist nation. These guys were acting suspiciously. But luckily we have people like Jeff out there who are clairvoyant and omniscient and just “know” these guys were no threat. Wow, thanks Jeff! But next time remember to communicate telepathically with the people on the flight so they won’t be worried, okay?
    Thanks.
    I’d really like to know why some people think that it was so unreasonable to detain the Syrians for a couple hours after their amazing parade of highly suspicious behavior, when everybody knows so much as a joke about a knife or bomb in a security queue will damn sure guarantee you a few “fun” hours with the TSA?
    Or are we back to the same old stupidity of cavity searching Iowa grandmothers while letting Akbar and his shifty-eyed pals on board without a quibble because their random number didn’t come up?
    I was detained at SFO last year for over 90 minutes (missing my flight) because I was carrying some scuba gear in my carry-on bag, and none of the TSA geniuses knew what it was (isn’t it their job to know this kind of thing? Oh, yeah–they’re government employees. Never mind, sorry I spoke.). So they buggered around for over an hour without any detectable plan before requesting (as I had asked as soon as the problem arose) over their radio net if any TSA agent on site was a scuba diver and could they look at this “weird stuff”…? When the gal finally showed up 25 minutes later and confirmed it was indeed scuba gear they finally let me go. Where is the liberal outrage over my experience? Oh, right…I’m not a “person of color,” so it was just reasonable and proper security.
    As the head of El Al security once said in disgust “The United States does not have [an airport] security system, it has a system for bothering people.”

41. #41
    On July 31st, 2004 at 9:26 pm, MM Fan said:

    More empty labels / badges of pride: ethnocentrist, xenophobe, hate-monger

    The Left’s enemy: all middleclass whites, Conservative blacks, Conservative “others,” patriotic, Christian, Jewish, western, American, America, Capitalist, SUV driving, Wal-Mart shopping, Gun-owning, traditional families…

    The Real Enemy: The Muslim Religion, the Muslim culture, Islamic-controlled countries, The Left, Socialism, Communism, Marxism

    Suspect List: Muslim-Americans, Muslim foreigners, Mosques, Muslim “Charities,” CAIR, Leftist apologists/enablers, Leftist Professors, ANSWER, Move-On.org

    Useful Idiots: Liberals, bunny-hugger pacifists, Jimmy Carter

    Plan to Defeat the Enemy:
    I feel that there are good elements in the Muslim Religion and the Muslim Culture, such as family values, hospitality to guests, architecture, cuisine, tradition of trading/commerce, etc.

    However, the bad elements such as violence, aggression, intolerance, oppression-of-women, and irrationality must be eliminated. In order to do that, we must acknowledge that they exist. That means we have to get over our love-affair with multiculturalism and moral-equivalence.

    After we acknowledge the problem, we must defeat it’s present power structure. Only then can positive forces emerge from under all the oppression. In short, the Islamic world needs to modernize before they destroy Western Civilization and all the other civilizations, too. The first step toward doing this was removing the violent power structure in Iraq and Afganistan. Now that we have done that, we can get them going in the right direction by nation-building. They need rule-of-law, basic civil rights, freedon of speech, representative democratic government, capitalist/market economy, educational system (other than madrasses), etc. Then, the Islamic World will be free to pursue Happiness instead of Jihad.

    Until the Muslim World gets a Total Make-Over, we have to be vigilant against the threat of terrorism.

    The Left, communism, socialism, and Marxism must also be exposed and defeated. Fortunately, we won the Cold War with the Soviet Union. But there is a vast leftist mindset in academia in this country that still won’t surrender.

42. #42
    On July 31st, 2004 at 10:04 pm, Box said:

    “As time changes, so do their agents. WWI was manufactured to destroy the Russian monarchy. WWII was manufactured to create anti-semitism, mass exodus of the jews, send the world economy into ruin, and to set up the next step: Democracy vs. Communism. WWIII will be used to destroy American sovereignty. “Communism” was completely made up and wasn’t supposed to work. like I said in a post awhile back, their main weapon is setting all things against each other, especially ideals. So they use communism to be the great evil of the world, and everyone here has a common enemy, instead of worrying about the government. The Illuminati has always known America would be it’s toughest hurdle. We used to have the smartest, strongest, most creative people in the world. Now look at us. By design, they have chaotically destroyed the values of our country by using our hate against us. After the wall fell and with it “Communism” (never to be thought of as a good thing, which it is, because we destroyed it so it must be bad), we needed a new enemy.

    Just like that clip that john posted before “The Lone Gunmen”, is showed how we have to manufacture enemies now to finish the job of desetroying America. Without an enemy, America would continue to prosper until an outside enemy posed a challenge. So, back in the day, they created Al Qaeda and have been using them ever since to carry out terrorist activities around the world, and in the past 10 years, have brought them to America itself. You can see how the “terrorists” are used to take our freedoms away. They pose no other threat to anyone. But we allow the government to keep using them and keep taking our rights away, mainly due to ignorance.

    It used to be that if you didn’t know about Illuminati, it wasn’t going to hurt you. I’m afraid those days are over and they are now very proactive in bringing about your death, be it through fluoride in the water, chemtrails in the air, terrorist activities, FEMA camps, forced vaccinations, the coming (very soon) new depression or wars, they are coming for you. So yes, you can say there is no conspiracy that rich interests run the world, but when you can see that they have an agenda of one world government and killing 80-90% of the population, that is a conspiracy. If everyone knew that, do you think they’d continue to sit on their asses?

    As far as communism, it would only be good for them as an end government, but it would be with a king. All the people would be communal slaves and the illuminists would be our masters with one overall master. Once they have all the money, all the production and all the distribution, what does it matter what form of government they use, they still win.

    I know it’s weird, but most of what they do in ways is reverse psychology and double think. They used communism to vilify it (just like they used Hitler to vilify anti-semitism which they still hide behind to this day), but they do plan on using it again. The mother country and one with the most allegiance to Illuminati is Russia, and from what i have read, they plan on having a Russian king for all eternity once everything is established.”

43. #43
    On July 31st, 2004 at 10:57 pm, Louis said:

    Jeff stated:
    “Newsflash: Muslim proponents of terror tactics against the U.S. constitute a tiny, tiny sliver of the Muslim population. The majority of Muslim individuals in the U.S. were as appalled/shocked/saddened by the Sept. 11 attacks as the rest of us.”

    This is pure speculation. Prominant Muslim leaders were, by and large, to busy declaring that racist, white America would take its revenge on Muslims to bother condemning the attacks.

44. #44
    On August 1st, 2004 at 12:06 am, Jim Martin said:

    Muslims will appear strange no matter where they are or what they do. It’s their culture, which is different from what is found in America, at least outside of New York City, which has plenty of pushy and rude people.

    Put Muslims on an internatonal flight and you can bet they will act like they own it. Once in the air they do what they please and take no notice of other passengers, Keep in mind they are use to riding local buses jammed full of all sorts of people.

    Don’t expect them to look around for guidelines by the actions of the other passengers as how to act. They don’t want to learn Western habbits; think what would happen when they got back home?

    The McDonald’s bag was the surprise, I didn’t know McDonald’s makes lambbergers. Maybe it was a supersize order of French Fries and one of them left the ketchup packets in the restroom. And the reason one took his camera into the restroom — he wanted a picture to show the folks back home — that the loo was not one of those Turkish things the Middle East is so fond of.

    Just giving them the benefit of the doubt.
    Stuart Paisley: Now that you have told us what you are; can you express it in langauge desent people understand?