Terrorist Dry Run?

I came across this first hand story of a Spec Forces vet on an air flight who witnessed what looks to me to be a test.

Sean Linnane: POSSIBLE TERRORIST DRY RUN?

 

Who knows? Sounds legit.

 

Always expect the unexpected, be aware of your surroundings, and trust your first thoughts when you get "that feeling." Maybe their pre-emptive action as described in the link did disrupt their jihadistic plans. It sure has been quiet on the home front lately....

 

Good Advice!

But I'm skeptical of the idea that the incident described, if it happened, was a terrorist "dry run". I find it extremely unlikely that moslem jihadists conducting a trial run of some terrorist plan would do so dressed, and acting as charactures of moslem jihadists. The very last thing terrorists in such a situation would want to do is call attention to themselves.

Sounds more to me like some group wanted to provoke a negative reaction by the authorities, perhaps to generate propaganda, or as a diversion from some other activity.

 

Thank you, thank you very much....

Yes, you are probably correct in your assessments. And quite possibly they were collecting intell for their "anti-infidel community organizers." Who knows with those people and what goes on in their minds.

Soon after September 11th, I remember the actor James Woods was on "The Tonight Show." He was talking to Jay Leno about his experiences on one of the flights days before the attack. Woods said that it was one (I don't remember which one exactly) of the flights that went from Boston or New York to the west coast he was on. One of the same flights hijacked later. There were four Middle Eastern types on the plane, with stern and determined looks on their faces that he noticed. They sat in different parts of the plane and caused no problems or drew attention to themselves whatsoever. At the end of the flight, they exited and disappeared into the crowds at LAX. After the particulars of the attacks on 9/11 got out, he was convinced that this was a dress rehearsal for the actual attack. During the interview, Woods seemed quite sober and serious about the matter, and deeply affected by it. Just a thought to consider. When reading the information in the link, the James Woods incident came to mind. Of course, it could all be a coincidence, but in these days and times, we don't have that luxury of "blowing it off" and going about our business not wanting to be bothered or inconvenienced.

And to be safe, always carry some vienna sausages or pork rinds to use as impromptu hand grenades! If there's no need for them as a defensive measure, you can always munch on them during the flight!

 

The Marietta Daily Journal - Laura Armstrong The curious case of Air Tran flight 297

Another story about this

 

If Woods noticed those guys and remembered the details, then others must have also. That means they DID call attention to themselves. I doubt very much that's SOP for terrorists.

 

I can't help but LMFAO at that article. Talk about the King of Conspiracy Theories recently! I get the impression from that article that they have the 'every Muslim is a Terrorist' POV and that it has more to do with 'the government covering up' something rather then a 'terrorist dry run'....for starters, terrorists don't 'dry run' things since it would clearly give them away.

And just think about it for the moment, what does distracting the stewardesses do? Absolutely nothing...they are not armed, the plane was still on the ground, so what good does distracting them do? The Stewardesses are helpless in any situation, so it seems kinda pointless. If something were to go down on a plane, its the passengers who are the ones who can stop it.

 

blimey..your sf diver should get on a Brit local bus..lmao..peppered thru plane..you choose your seats and the airline have no say on internal usa flights..in that case ive seen more terrorist games in a football ground..crikey...call out the guard..

 

I couldn't agree more! It sounds a lot more like he has looked back and remembered things he didn't actually think at the time if that makes sense. Why before 9/11 would he have particularly noticed that there happenned to be 4 middle eastern guys on an aircraft sitting in different parts of the aircraft? That just doesn't make sense to me.

 

Hey now, I just offered what the man said during his interview, I wasn't on the flight with him! He was convinced that what he saw was a practice run. Who knows. It never hurts to be vigilient.

Every time I board a flight (which is seldom), I always eyeball the middle eastern types to keep tabs on them, you know, to let them know that there is at least ONE almost over the hill used to be warrior watching them. Of course, now that I think of it, there are more Oriental muslims than the arab-types, and the Iranians have that Indo-European look, and the Pakistaners and Bangaladeshers look like Indians, so so much for my theory....

 

I find i get confused though as soon as i get on a air kuwait flight...

 

Come on now A-58, all you are doing is making a lot of innocent folks feel as though just because they have a certain skin tone you think they are probably a terrorist, doesn't that sound a bit unpleasant to you? That'd be like me eyeing up every American I see/hear to let them know I'm watching in case they start shooting school kids just because some nutjobs have done so in the past (or indeed 'eye balling' any Irish folks in case they are IRA).

IMHO this kind of behaviour is exactly the kind of thing that pushes young Muslims into the arms of extremeists.

 

I concur. If the author was in the front in first class, how did he know what the guy in the back was doing and also about the porno thing? Sounds fishy to me.

 

Totally agree. Timothy Mcveigh isn't exactly a muslim and there are alot of those like him gunning for the current government.

 

Yes, I clearly understand that not all terrorists or bad guys dress in black, or all one race or color, or have the same motivation, or are from the same town or country or whatever. Thanks for pointing that out. The people who want to behave that way come from all walks of life, I completely agree. But you CAN be aware of the surroundings, and of the situation you are in to give you that little edge over the average "dipstick" on the street who wanders aimlessly in life with their head stuck in their a$$, thinking that bad things always happen to others while they babble continually on their cell phones to other silly "nimrods" with their heads stuck up their a$$e$ as well.

I'll never let my guard down, no matter who gets offended, no matter where I go. If it pleases you or anyone else, feel free to be one of the sheep. Not me. I'm going to be a survivor, and hopefully so will the people with me. I've been a policeman too long, going on 28 years next month, so training and experience have become second nature to me, things that have served my well in my career will not be easily disregarded and forgotten when off-duty or upon retirement. If a terrible situation never presents itself, then I will thank God for that. If it does, I pray that I will conduct myself accordingly, and to do my best when the time comes in whatever way I can. When in a restaurant or a public place, I sit with my back to the wall, observe the doors, nonchalantly observe people coming and going, others behavior, etc. I'm not giving the "evil eye," constantly staring them down or calling them out or something like that. Just being aware of my surroundings, keeping up with what's going on that's all. There are ways to be vigilent and wary without drawing attention to yourself. And seldom do I leave the house unarmed. Actually, we are required by procedural order to be armed at all times, just in case the unexpected occurs. Besides, it's better have it and not need it than to need it and not have it you know. And if anyone is humored by this information, or thinks that it is just "too much," then that's fine too. They just don't know much about the "dark side," and hopefully they never will have to find out.

And Stefan, please understand that I don't intend this post to be the start of a flame war with you or others who don't see or perceive things the way I do. That is not the intention at all.

 

1.) Indonesia has the highest Muslim population in the world (202,867,000)
2.) How many Middle-Easterners do you know?
3.) You do realize that just because they are Middle-Eastern doesn't mean they're terrorists. Terrorists are fundamentalist Muslims, just like the KKK is a fundamentalist Christian group.
4.) And please enlighten me into what an "arab-type" is. I know what an Arabic person is, but what's an "arab-type"?
5.) By the way its Pakistani, not Pakistaner.

I understand that after the terrorist attacks that it becomes instinct to judge, it's how our mind works. But instead of spreading this fear we seriously need to realize that not EVERY single Arab person is a terrorist and that not EVERY Muslim is a terrorist. How many terrorists do you know from Indonesia? Or Bosnia? Turkey? Azerbaijan? I'd be willing to bet that there are more murderers and serial killers in American than there are in the Middle East.

Sorry I just hate people who single others out by their race/religion. You can have your opinion and I'll keep mine.

 

Before you make this attack personal, you must understand that latter part of the paragraph of mine that you quoted was meant by me to be making fun of myself and my self-styled stated theory. Sorry if it didn't come off to you as such. Read it again in that light and maybe it will make more sense that way, and have a chuckle at my expense, on me....

Here's my answers to your questions. I take it that the questions were directed at me, and were not rhetorical in nature.

1. I stated in post #11 that I realized that there were more Oriental muslims than arab-types, but I didn't check the exact headcount. Thanks for posting your findings.

2. I know several Middle-Easterners. Two friends of mine are businessmen in my area, and they are from the middle-east. One owns a Mediterranean Restaruant where I eat frequently, and the other owns and leases about 20 duplex apartments in the LSU area. One is from Iran (a Muslim) and the other is Palestinian (a Christian-he was born that way, not a convert). I consider them friends (been knowing them since 1987), and we have spoken many times about the current unpleaseantnesses going on in that part of the world that affects our respective countries and peoples over many beers, playing poker, going to strip clubs, smoking cigars and chasing women, etc. Another owns another business in the LSU area too, but I don't see him so much these days. He is from Gaza, and does not like to discuss politics and things like that, so I let it go at that. The first two that I mentioned really dislikes the man from Gaza a great deal due to his cheesy business and financial dealings with other less-fortunate and poorer students of middle-eastern decent that go to LSU. Another friend who is from Lebanon owns a string of Greek-Lebanese eateries in town (about 6), and does quite well, well he does pretty good since he quickly paid off what the IRS claimed that he owed "without questions." I used to have a small cigar business, and the last two men mentioned were on my route, meaning they allowed me to set up my humidors in their shops. We did ok, but not great. I have been to these mens homes many times, especially immediately after the attacks on September 11th to let them know that I would assist them if they needed. These people tend to keep to themselves in times of turmoil, and they did so in the days after the attack, and again when US forces went into Afghanistan and Iraq. In other words, they kept a low profile.

3. Yes, I know that if someone is middle-eastern or of the Muslim faith that doesn't automatically make them a terrorist or an extremist. I pointed that out also in post #16. I really don't think that the KKK is a fundamentalist Christain group. Maybe they claim to be, but the Christian church doesn't claim them as such. The Klan is just a terrorist group that puts on that cloak of rightousness to gain acceptance of the un-knowing and un-enlightened types.

4. Well, an arab-type is a person of arab decent. Simply put, someone who is Arab, is an Arab-type. That's just my speech pattern. Nothing demeaning or disrespectful was meant by it.

5. Yes, I understand that the correct way to refer to someone who lives in Pakistan is Paskistani. Again, I was making light of the situation by poking fun at myself by writing it out like that.

And to address your last sentence, you pointed out that you "hate" some people who have certain or different positions than you do. I never stated that I hate anyone, rather I hate the way that some people choose to behave in public, especially the way that makes for a most unpleasant time for others who would rather just go about their business. And I'm sure that some people can read into my posts, as with others whatever they want to. That's to be expected. If you have a misunderstanding with my posts or position, call me out on them. No problem there friend.

I understand that when posting things in a forum, it is hard to make one's point or position clear to those who read such drivel in ways that it was not intended. Hopefully this clears things up a little for you. If you want more definition, feel free to PM or email me. I will gladly bring you up to speed on matters that matter most to you that I comment on in this forum.

 

A-58, thanks for your reply. I think I read your post in a negative manner, normally when I hear someone talk like that it is in a negative way. I apologize if I was harsh, I didn't mean to be. We all have initial reactions and I fear that most people will stick to these reactions and view people as someone they're not (I notice my dad and other people of his generation tend to do this). The same goes for the "arab-type" quote, normally when I hear that I think it is racial or something, but vernacular is different for different people, heck you live in Louisiana and I live in Ohio lol, I'm sure we each have different ways of speech.

By the way, that's really cool that you've met people from several different locations in the Middle East, and I'm glad to hear you offered to help them if they ever needed it. I'm afraid not many Americans would have done that, especially after September 11. Very nice to hear!

Anyways I'm sorry for reading your post wrong and thanks for not completely lashing out at me for it!

 

No problem dude. Let's head over to the WW2F pub for some brewskies and war stories. You can get the first round if it makes you feel better....