Who Believes This Is Real? (Supposed Terrorist Dry Run On Planes)
I've seen so much skeeviness by the government, including, on a personal level, a scumbag commenter here -- "Knowing" -- who pretended to be just one of us citizens, but who several times forgot to cloak his DHS email address.
(No, I haven't found out his identity -- not surprisingly, it will take a Freedom of Information Act filing to get it...not that they'll necessarily come through on that, because laws and rights no longer matter in this country, as we see time and time again these days.)
The latest is this Fox News plant, uh, sorry, piece:
Security experts for a major airline's pilot's union have warned members that potential terrorists conducted apparent "dry runs" aboard domestic flights in recent weeks, and urged flight crews not to be pressured into taking to the skies if they are fearful.A memo from the U.S. Airline Pilots Association, which represents more than 5,000 pilots who fly for US Airways, cites "several cases recently throughout the (airline) industry of what appear to be probes, or dry runs, to test our procedures and reaction to an in-flight threat."
"Bringing down an airliner continues to be the Gold Standard of terrorism," states the undated memo, first reported by WTSP-TVin Tampa-St. Petersburg. "If anyone thinks that our enemies have "been there, done that" and are not targeting U.S. commercial aviation -- think again."
On a Sept. 2 flight from Reagan National Airport in Washington to Orlando, a "Middle Eastern" man rose from his seat and sprinted toward the cockpit, before veering sharply to go into the forward restroom, according to the memo. While he was in there, sever other men moved about the cabin, changing seats and going into overhead bins, it says.
US Airways and the Transportation Security Administration confirmed the incident. Four passengers aboard the flight were detained by local law enforcement authorities upon arrival in Orlando due to suspicious behavior during the flight, according to a statement by Michelle Mohr, a spokeswoman for US Airways.
The cockpit doors are reinforced. There are scanners in the airports that -- whoops, anyone with three brain cells can get weapons or other contraband past, as Jonathan Corbett showed.
And then, it's impossible to get a bomb on the plane through the TSA -- except when they're so interested in what's in some old lady's diaper or in stealing travelers' money and valuables that they're ignoring the guy going through who spent his summer in Yemen.
I mean, come on. You'd surely have to bribe some airport worker to get your contraband on if you can't luck out by getting an old lady to go in front of you.
That is...unless you've been to the al Qaeda school of plastic surgery and had your body implanted with explosives. Whoopsie...gotta start doing exploratory surgery before people board planes.
Of course, there are two answers to all of this:
1. We cannot be perfectly safe.
2. The best way to ensure our safety is not to have repurposed mall workers stop every girl with a cupcake in a jar.
Real security involves having highly trained intelligence agents using probable cause to meaningfully investigate the, oh, 25, 100, 250 people in this country or elsewhere who are plausible suspects for blowing up an airliner. But if this is at all connected to actual terrorists, I would guess that they're sending out decoys to make it seem like their target is a plane before they go blow up a mall or, yes, all the people waiting in the airport to have some unskilled worker grope their sex parts as a pretend security measure.
Calling TSA officials "repurposed mall workers" is a grave insult--to mall workers.
Rex Little at October 12, 2013 10:55 PM
I was once on a connecting flight that was literally boarding as I got off the originating flight. All I saw of the airport terminal was the doors of my inbound flight and the doors to my outbound flight. I had several beers before I boarded the first flight, and another one on the first flight. My bladder was bursting by the time we had gotten to altitude. To say my trip to the rest room was rapid after the seat belt light went off is an understatement.
So they are now classifying normal human behavior as a terrorist threat.
There will never be another 9/11. The 9/11 terrorists used the expected in an unexpected way. That is why it worked. Now if terrorists were to try the same thing, the hardened cockpit doors and the passengers are going to stop it.
As for bombs in body cavities -- total fucking hoax. The body will absorb the blast. It is the equivalent of throwing a body on a grenade.
I am just growing to hate the bullshit everyone is perpetrating.
Jim P. at October 12, 2013 11:18 PM
Only investigating and monitoring the "25, 100, 250 people in this country or elsewhere who are plausible suspects for blowing up an airliner" would cost tens of thousands of jobs and many billions of dollars in federal security contracts. The security state is a bucket full of money, and is working well in that function.
Also, I am prepared to insist that people drive to work in pirates.
Chris Bray at October 13, 2013 12:05 AM
" . . . man rose from his seat and sprinted toward the cockpit, before veering sharply to go into the forward restroom."
Yep, that sounds like a real case - a possible "case of the runs"!
Come on; there are only two directions for a passenger to head while on a plane - either towards the rear or towards the cockpit in the front.
Charles at October 13, 2013 3:41 AM
Question to security bureaucrat: "Why are you wasting so much money and so many resources?"
Answer: "Because we can."
doombuggy at October 13, 2013 8:41 AM
I don’t believe it. This is coming from the people who do the ‘touchdown dance’ whenever they find a gun or knife someone accidentally left in their bag (despite all of those they miss), confiscate 1” pocket knives, celebrate their punitive punishment of old ladies, cancer victims, and toddlers or revel is making people change ‘threatening’ t-shirts. If there was any form of a plot it would be trumpeted to every news outlet across the world. Almost totally certain this was just a confluence of events once the fasten seat belt sign goes off: guy running to the bathroom—check; people getting stuff from the overhead bins—check; family members changing seats—check. Huge overblown attempt to scare the public and prove their relevance—check and check.
coffee! at October 13, 2013 2:32 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2013/10/13/who_believes_th.html#comment-3977423">comment from coffee!Before I knew I was allergic to one thing in this world -- and deathly allergic -- I nibbled some of Gregg's salad, which had roquefort cheese on it, before I got on a plane. I could have probably medaled in the bathroom run I made. Now I try to remember to always carry activated charcoal, which at least diminishes the hell if I eat even a little.
Amy Alkon
at October 13, 2013 3:33 PM
Lots of discussion about this on airliners.net. And yeah, the general concensus is that the guy probably ran to the bathroom for the usual reasons that people run to the bathroom. And yeah, all the rest is normal shuffling around that occurs as soon as the seat belt light turns off. It's true that there have been dry runs, and that terrorists continue in their efforts to blow up planes. But this doesn't appear to be one of them, and DHS discredits itself every time it propagates a story like this.
And it is a fact that airline employee unions have gone all in for the TSA and DHS. I'm not sure why. Some airline employees do get their jollies by being "large and in charge" with the paying customers. But it could also just be one set of unionized workers supporting another set.
Cousin Dave at October 14, 2013 7:32 AM
This just in: a swarthy gentleman needed to use the restroom.
Factual Interjection at October 14, 2013 9:53 AM
Um, every single DHS E-mail address I have ever seen consists of the first and last name, sometimes with a middle initial, each separated by a period (dot, in the vernacular) and then @dhs.gov.
How can it be so hard to figure out the identity of a person with a DHS e-mail address that way?
By the way, retired DHS federal agent here of 23 years, so I do know whereof I speak. (No, NOT the TSA!)
Carl Pietrantonio at October 17, 2013 4:51 AM
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