Flight 327, I have one question...

I have one question about Flight 327 ... If the incident with 14 Syrian "musicians" was completely innocent, why was 99% of the original report redacted? What's to hide if their intentions were so innocent? Hmmm?

Airlines don't want to admit these "dry runs" are happening, but they are. It's bad news for airlines, Homeland Security and all the related organizations. I put my faith in the passengers and Federal Air Marshals. It is becoming increasingly clear that passengers are the last line of defense when flying.

According to the Homeland Security report, the "suspicious passengers," 12 Syrians and their Lebanese-born promoter, were traveling on Flight 327 from Detroit to Los Angeles on expired visas. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services extended the visas one week after the June 29, 2004, incident.

The report also says that a background check in the FBI's National Crime Information Center database, which was performed June 18 as part of a visa-extension application, produced "positive hits" for past criminal records or suspicious behavior for eight of the 12 Syrians, who were traveling in the U.S. as a musical group.

In addition, the band's promoter was listed in a separate FBI database on case investigations for acting suspiciously aboard a flight months earlier. He was detained a third time in September on a return trip to the U.S. from Istanbul, the details of which were redacted. (Washington Times)

This is an immigration problem, a Homeland Security problem, and FBI problem, and certainly a problem for the individual airlines. When, please tell me when, will we take these dry runs seriously? Just today, "An American member of al-Qaida warned President Bush on Tuesday to end U.S. involvement in all Muslim lands or face an attack worse than the Sept. 11 suicide assault, according to a new videotape." (read it at Peace and Freedom)

Annie Jacobson was on that flight and her reporting in Women's Wall Street is not hyped, it simply states the facts of what happened. Read “Terror in the Skies, Again?” and read Jacobson's book, "Terror in the Skies: Why 9/11 Could Happen Again".

Anne Morse at NRO also has an excellent article on this "dry run". Go read any of these links for all the frightening details.

Others:
Hot Air

Go visit Bob McCarty Writes, who announces today "BMW Reaches 88th Spot in WordPress Top 100". Congratulations Bob.

Other reading:

Pakistan Is Going Down the Road of the Shah’s Iran, The Independent Institute

Comments

[salinkis]

Um, because the report is a critique of the means and methods used by TSA, Air Marshalls whose activities are classified?

Hey, just a guess. Most of this report has basically been available for more than a year.