Attention, John Does: Have you seen these men?
Take a close look:
Readers in the Pacific Northwest alerted me to a highly unusual FBI bulletin. Via King5-TV:
The FBI is asking for the public’s help two identify two men who have been seen acting strangely aboard Washington State ferries recently.
According to federal agents, passengers have seen the men on several occasions exhibiting unusual behavior. The FBI did not say precisely what that unusual behavior entailed.
Anyone who knows the men or there whereabouts are asked to call the FBI at (206) 622-0460.
Isolated incident? “Racial profiling?” Unfounded paranoia? Only if you haven’t been paying attention. Recall the Seattle Times investigation from 2004 on reports on jihadi probing of the ferry system:
Groups of men, including one tied to a federal terrorism investigation, have videotaped Washington ferry operations, prompting federal authorities to conclude the system has been under surveillance as a possible target for an attack.
U.S. Attorney John McKay, officials in the U.S. Coast Guard and other members of Seattle’s Joint Terrorism Task Force all share in that conclusion.
“We may well be the target of preoperational terrorist planning,” McKay said.
A confidential FBI assessment of the threat to the state ferries is partly behind an increase in security for large-capacity ferries nationwide, McKay and others say.
The state ferry system is the nation’s largest, carrying 26 million passengers last year. It began implementing new security requirements — including tripling the number of cars screened for explosives — this weekend.
For its assessment, the FBI gathered 157 incidents on or near ferries that law-enforcement officers, ferry workers and passengers have reported as suspicious since Sept. 11, 2001. The Seattle Times obtained a document detailing those incidents.
The FBI determined that 19 of the incidents “were highly likely or extremely likely to involve terrorist surveillance of the ferries, with individuals asking probing questions about ferry operations or taking photos of stairwells, car decks and workers going about their jobs. Three incidents involve one man who is a known subject in an FBI terrorism investigation.”
al Qaeda-linked operatives have targeted ferries before for mass murder and violence. In Feburary 2004, the Times noted, “a man boarded a 1,747-passenger ferry bound from Manila to Bacolod in the Philippines. He carried eight pounds of TNT in a cardboard box onto the ship, left it on a bunk, then slipped off the ferry, according to news reports. An hour after departure, an explosion ripped through the ship, starting a fire that killed more than 100 people and left the ship foundering. Authorities have arrested a man who admitted to the bombing and is a member of an Islamic separatist faction with ties to al-Qaida.” It was the world’s deadliest terror attack at sea. Muslim convert Redondo Dellosa admitted he planted the bomb.
Militant Muslims working for Abu Sayyaf were fingered in another ferry bombing in the Philippines in 2005. More on maritime-related terrorism here.
Remember: If you see something, say something. Don’t let the CAIR grievance-mongerers keep you from acting. It’s significant that the FBI has gone public with the photo. As the sixth anniversary of 9/11 draws near, take nothing for granted.
***
The Seattle P-I refuses to run the photo that the FBI is disseminating. A ferry employee snapped the pic. An excerpt from the paper’s report this morning:
The Seattle P-I is not publishing the photos because neither man is considered a suspect nor has either been charged with a crime.
The FBI has no information suggesting that a terrorist attack on the ferry system is imminent, Burroughs said.
For weeks, the FBI has been trying to identify the men through “normal law enforcement channels,” she said. “We get tips periodically, but we don’t get photos normally like these,” Burroughs said. “We’re hoping to use them to resolve this quickly.”
…Burroughs acknowledged that the FBI rarely publicizes information from an investigation, unless investigators are seeking a suspect wanted for a crime. The decision was made “out of an abundance of caution” and “while keeping an open mind and realizing that what some people consider suspicious or unusual behavior actually might turn out to be something completely innocuous,” she said.
***
Related flashback: How Diana Dean sniffed out the Millenium Plot bomber.
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Trackbacks
- First Round | August 21, 2007 : The Shot! @ shotpolitics.com
- The Jawa Report
- Have You Seen These Men : The American Pundit | News and Opinion With A Conservative View
- The FBI Needs Your Help: Have You Seen These Two Men?
- Nothing has been found out about them either : thought cops
- Murdoc Online
- Ace of Spades HQ
- Wizbang
- Pajamas Media
- Four Pointer
- IMAO
- Free In Idaho! » Blog Archive » Jihadis Sleepless in Seattle?
- Sierra Faith
- Bill's Bites
- Michelle Malkin » Seattle P-I: No, we won’t help the FBI…we’ll hold a haiku contest instead!
- Captain's Quarters
- Mudville Gazette
- Tel-Chai Nation
- Blogs of War
- TeresaCentric » The Seattle Ferry Controversy: Was the PI Right Not to Publish the Photos?
- AMERICAN DIGEST
- Resent this CAIR | BitsBlog
- Maliki’s New Street Cred
- 17-Jun-07: Plain words about games
- China Declares War
- Wow…America is Frightened of Its Own Shadow… « The Blog With No Point
- Michelle Malkin » Ferry plots and Filipino Muslim converts
- Seattle Ferry Threat - Update « Waste Of My Oxygen
- Michelle Malkin » Found: The men on the Washington ferries
- American Street » Blog Archive » Ferry to the dark side
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Sons of Ishmael, clearly in the photo. God warned us about him and his off spring in Gen 16:12. Don’t ignore it as it is playing out throughout the whole world. And they are arch enemies of Ishmael’s half brother Isaac and his offspring. His hand will be against every man and everyman’s hand will be against him. And he will live in hostility toward all his brothers. Turning out to be correct information since given out by God several thousand years ago.
Support and defend the Constitution -against- all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Thanks pb, I rushed a bit on way out the door, major opps there.
OT
Flying Imam up date.
http://crosswordbebop.blogspot.com/2007/08/flying-imams-legal-skirmish.html
DarkKnight is kinda reminding me of Geraldo…
No big mustache, no drugs and no blow ups with O’Reilly.
DarkKnight’s primary (and myopic) argumentative emphasis in many of these issues seems to be the color of one’s skin above all other factors.
I think he might be Al Sharpton or a proxy thereof.
Edit: drug legalization
The first world trade center attack should have changed everyone. If the SECOND didn’t, you are on the wrong side…
Not everything has to do with race. Discrimination and profiling is wrong and dangerous, including religious iscimination. People jump to conclusions very often based on their appearence. I have really enjoyed the “Gods Warriors” coverage on CNN and how little we understand of each other.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/21/hijab.godswarriors/index.html
So, your personal endorsement of racial quotas and Affirmative Action programs would be considered wrong and dangerous? If not, that’s mighty hypocritical.
We -all- use profiling in our daily lives, including you, DK. It is natural to do so. To say otherwise is disingenuous. I understand that you have been programmed to say otherwise, but if you consider the validity of your logic when applied to the real world, your textbook Liberal position is rather foolish and naive.
Bullseye!
Its funny to see how this entire thread quickly turned into everyone refuting what DarkKnight had to say…….its also laughable how easily his lame arguments got undressed by everyone on this posting.
Let’s hope he sees the light someday.
He may be hypocritical and absurd, but at least he has manners…I’ll give him that.
Thats what you would like to think Raging… I know.
It comes with the territory of being a person who doesn’t walk lockstep with conservative principles, but posts in this conservative blog in an attempt to try and have a rational conversation with people who have an open mind. I do believe in Isaiah 1:18: “Come, let us reason together.”
Some on here do have an open mind and seek to understand other viewpoints. Others, do not seek to understand the other side, but simply to find others who agree with their position and justify their beliefs. They just dismiss opposing viewpoints by saying its “socialist”, “communist”, tree-hugging liberals, hippies, etc.
By the way, I think it is disingenuous to say I’ve “personally endorsed quotas.” What a bunch of hogwash. If you want to debate Affirmative Action, and it’s necessity at the present time based on imbalances that AA was created to aim at correcting, that is a different thread.
-From the NPR article June 23, 2003
For one, I have problems with the argument that it is natrual to discriminate (may or may not be true), therefore live with it. Let’s deprogram ourselves so that those prejudices don’t exist. Why not work to change such discrimination, relgious, racial or otherwise?
With that said, if I could be on here and “undress” some of the arguments posted on here (as some of them have logical flaws because some people refuse to answer questions that I posed), I would do so. But I don’t have time to spend at the computer all day answering everyones questions. So I will close this by stating what I have said all along. I believe and agree we must be vigilant. I also believe that it is possible to be vigilant and maintain our American values and personal liberties that has kept this country for over 230 years.
I’ve enjoyed the conversation.
PB, I think many people forget their manners, and that is why politics has become so toxic. No one wants to listen. If we all disagree, thats’ fine. Let’s disagree with respect for each other as Americans, who care for this country.
You’re right, it WAS a different thread. You must have forgotten that we (you, me and others) have already debated the AA/quota system on this blog before and you had no problem standing behind discrimination in the form of AA/racial quotas. No matter what euphemism you use, discrimination is what AA is. Yes, DK, discrimination against whites is still discrimination.
I have a little, real world project for you, DK. When you go about your daily activities tomorrow, make special note of who you associate with more readily, the types of activities you engage in, the music you listen to, etc. Be especially mindful of any stereotypical thoughts you might have about people you see or interact with. Honestly ask yourself if you are truly as non-discriminatory and non-judgemental as you purport to be on this blog. Do you tend to engage in activities and relationships that are closer to what you consider your own cultural background, or are you -truly- a man of all cultures without any preferences? I’d wager you have a preference. The funny thing is that there is nothing wrong with identifying with your own cultural and religious background above others. Doesn’t mean you have to exclude others, but it does mean you are human and it is something we all do.
We are imperfect products of our environments. While it may make you feel good and noble to say things like ‘live without prejudice’ and ‘I am colorblind’, to honestly be that way in practice is impossible and UNNATURAL. Just noting that most of your posts involve skin color as an argumentative point shows that you don’t even live by the lofty, unrealistic beliefs you supposedly espouse about viewing the world as a homogenous, colorless place where everyone is truly equal.
Don’t spout rhetorical situations back at me, just observe real life and how you interact with others. If you are truly open-minded you will see that we are all quite different and we constantly identify and adapt to those differences when going about our lives. You will also see that, in the course of daily life, you naturally discriminate, hold prejudices and profile all manner of individual traits. The people who have problems adapting to these differences are the ones who need help, but the differences are always going to be there and you can’t realistically ignore them.
That being said, if you saw people who had physical traits that matched a statistical trend in terrorism who were also engaging in suspicious behavior, you would be right to question their motives. To do so would not be evil or unfair, it would be smart.
We are neither losing our civil liberties nor being stripped of our freedoms. This is how the real world works and you would be wise to ditch the useless rhetoric and adapt in an effort to deter the threats we actually face.
Still waiting for those young men to come forward… or be brought forward by those who would otherwise protect them.
http://www.komotv.com/news/9298741.html
They’re getting their victimization case together with their peeps at CAIR.
Quotas were declared unconstitutional in 1978. They are quite different.
Personnally I don’t think these one’s would line up with CAIR, My guess is they are either hiding now bigtime or have already left the country.
and imho, I dont think they were in Seattle for the Chowder.
…STILL WAITING…
*yawn
yah - I didn’t think so.
REMAIN VIGILANT!