Article

2010-08-21 Home Front: WoT

A hijack threat halted an American Airlines flight just before takeoff, leaving the New York-bound jet sitting on the tarmac for several hours while it was searched and passengers were removed for extra scrutiny. The FBI later determined that the telephoned threat was not credible.

A witness inside Boeing 767 said a man and a woman sitting in the back row were taken off in handcuffs. But they were quickly released and allowed to rebook their flights.

A fellow passenger suggested the couple may have been targeted because of their appearance. Michael Anderson, a student, said he remembered seeing the couple as he was checking in for the flight to New York and saw them carrying passports from Pakistan. "It definitely seems like it was racial profiling, based on what they look like physically and the fact they are Pakistani," he said.

Posted by Fred 2010-08-21 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11132 views ] Top

#1 You look for racial profiling and that's all you think about all day, you're going to find it. The man simply does not understand Pakistani terrorism.

Posted by gromky 2010-08-21 01:13|| 2010-08-21 01:13|| Front Page Top

#2 Sigh... what is stopping this country from adopting the labor-heavy, tech-light, intelligent approach used by the Israelis, who simply ask each traveler a few basic questions and scrutinize their facial and body language intently as they respond? ie Why do you have no luggage for a one-way flight, sir / why are you so nervous / so you're an architect, OK, who was Le Corbusier? etc

The cost, while considerable, of maybe 100,000 well-trained college graduate screeners would still be far less than the billions p!ssed away by Homeland Security on Beltway Bandits and useless technologies each year.

Posted by lex 2010-08-21 02:43|| 2010-08-21 02:43|| Front Page Top

#3 How do you scrutinize facial expressions when the threat comes in a phone call?

Posted by Pappy 2010-08-21 23:00|| 2010-08-21 23:00|| Front Page Top

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