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Arabia
U.S. bans five Saudi airline pilots
2003-09-12
EFL:
The United States has banned five Saudi Arabian pilots from flying into or otherwise entering the country, a Bush administration official said Wednesday.
We heard about a few pilots being banned. Now it turns out they’re Saudis, what a surprise!
The pilots, who work for Saudi Arabian Airlines and regularly flew into the United States, were told in late August that they could no longer enter the United States. The administration official said he was not aware of any appeals. The official said a check of multiple databases over the summer turned up information that indicated an association between the pilots and known al Qaeda terrorists.
Is there anybody in Saudi who isn’t?
The official said there is no information to indicate the five had been involved in plotting terrorist activity involving aircraft or any other mode of attack, the official said.
"But we ain’t taking no chances."
Since September 11, 2001, the names of pilots, co-pilots and engineers from some foreign carriers have been checked against watch lists. Over the summer more intensive reviews involving more databases were performed and these five names "appeared, or appeared several times," the official said.
Saudi pilots on a watch list, what are the odds? (1 to 1)
Posted by:Steve

#2  One of these clowns will fly into a football stadium filled to capacity, using an alias he borrowed from an approved Pakastani pilot. Once this happens will we even know? Do we plan to run his juiced reamins through some kind of strainer hoping that he is carrying a wallet with an accurate driver's liscence?
Posted by: Super Hose   2003-9-12 4:13:27 PM  

#1  Amazing, ain't it? The majority of the Sept 11th hijackers were Saudis, and now the majority of the pilots that have been disallowed to fly into US airspace are Saudis too!

I wonder if GWB has noticed this and begun to put two and two together.....?
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2003-9-12 11:50:02 AM  

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