They’re still trying to kill us

I’m not sure what to make of this story, other than TSA is a bunch of boobs:

Two men taken off a Chicago-to-Amsterdam United Airlines flight in the Netherlands have been charged by Dutch police with “preparation of a terrorist attack,” U.S. law enforcement officials tell ABC News.
U.S. officials said the two appeared to be travelling with what were termed “mock bombs” in their luggage. “This was almost certainly a dry run, a test,” said one senior law enforcement official.

A spokesman for the Dutch public prosecutor, Ernst Koelman, confirmed the two men were arrested this morning and said “the investigation is ongoing.” He said the arrests were made “at the request of American authorities.”

The two were allowed to board the flight at O’Hare airport last night despite security concerns surrounding one of them, the officials said.

The men were identified as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Soofi, of Detroit, MI, and Hezem al Murisi, the officials said. A neighbor of al Soofi told ABC News he is from Yemen.

Airport security screeners in Birmingham, Alabama first stopped al Soofi and referred him to additional screening because of what officials said was his “bulky clothing.”

In addition, officials said, al Soofi was found to be carrying $7,000 in cash and a check of his luggage found a cell phone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, three cell phones taped together, several watches taped together, a box cutter and three large knives. Officials said there was no indication of explosives and he and his luggage were cleared for the flight from Birmingham to Chicago O’Hare.

So, what did they need to actually stop him? An autographed photo of Osama bin Laden and travel brochures for Waziristan?

This sure sounds like another terrorist dry run, which happens more often than most people think. And it’s a healthy reminder that there is still an enemy out there seeking to get to Paradise over our corpses. But, what were they doing sending the suspicious goods one direction, while taking themselves to Amsterdam? Was the whole point to see what they could get on board, and Amsterdam was their route back to whomever they report to? If so, part one succeeded gloriously, and TSA again makes us ask “Why on Earth are we paying you guys?”

I’ve long argued that we make a mistake by concentrating on the tools and not the people, but this Keystone Cop episode make me wonder if profiling* would do any good, given the boneheads we apparently have “guarding” our security.

*(Oooh! I used the “p-word.” That must mean I’m a racist Islamophobic hater… or something. I shall have myself reported for sensitivity training, immediately.)

LINKS: More from Hot Air.

UPDATE 8/31/2010: Dry run unlikely? Perhaps, though the bundled items still make me very suspicious, and saying the pair was allowed to continue to Amsterdam for “investigative purposes” sounds like after-the-fact CYA.

(Crossposted at Public Secrets)

16 Responses to "They’re still trying to kill us"

Warren Crocker Herrick says:

August 30, 2010 at 9:19 pm

This story is incredible and an example of how political correctness can literally get us killed. We need to profile these radical Muslims.
nina says:

August 30, 2010 at 9:26 pm

Oh! the religion of peace…..
Carlos says:

August 30, 2010 at 11:45 pm

What else can you expect from a bunch of entitlement-minded government workers? Yes, I know, TSA is technically not government, but they are as government as teachers, or the fed, or any of numerous other examples.
Busybee says:

August 31, 2010 at 3:29 am

Is it possible that there is more to this story than we know? Maybe, as the article suggests, the men were going back to whomever they report. If law enforcement knew the suspicious items were mock bombs – and not the real thing – there was a possibility these terrorists would lead officials back to “bigger fish”. Another article reported that there were two air marshals on the flight keeping an eye these men, and the box cutter and knives were in checked luggage so not a threat to anyone on the plane.

With that said, allow me to address the snarky little remarks about TSA. Just as in any organization, there are second-rate employees who only want to draw their paycheck and there are also those who take their job seriously and do their best to fulfill their duties. I have a son and a daughter who work for TSA, and I can assure you they take their jobs very seriously. Phineas and Carlos, for those like you who see TSA employees as “a bunch of boobs” and “entitlement-minded government workers”, my son just returned to his position after a tour of duty in Iraq with the Air National Guard, and several of his co-workers also serve in the Guard; your attitude is seriously out of line. Maybe if more passengers would approach the checkpoint with an attitude of cooperation rather than antagonism, their experience would be more pleasant and TSA employees could get on with their real job – which is NOT trying to placate you because you can’t bring your water bottle past the checkpoint!
PE says:

August 31, 2010 at 5:21 am

Welcome to the TSA system. We are proud of our record of tolerance and non-discrimination which we have been able to maintain in the face of attacks from our fiercest enemies: tea party hate mongers.
Kate says:

August 31, 2010 at 8:13 am

To Busyb…..that is a nice safe government scenario. Here’s mine: There is a mole testing the TSA working on the ground where the bomb was being sent from. He can be at this airport now and then transferred to another once he knows how he got the contraband on board or he can stay at this airport and redouble his efforts to get the contraband on using the same process and the same/different routine. Either way, these terrorists are not going to let this small snag in their plans stop them. This is how there process works. I guess you don’t remember the first bombing of the WTC?
Wayne says:

August 31, 2010 at 8:43 am

Um, not to bring down the “lets arrest everyone” mentality here, but what exactly was illegal about what he had done? Is “suspicious activity” enough to arrest, and hold some one now? If you’re walking down an alley where drug deals are known to occur, and you have cash on you, should you be arrested? Or, perhaps hitting more to home because you have rife, practice at the range, and live near the route of the president’s motorcade you should be arrested for attempted murder?

The most important thing for us to remember is that we are a country of laws. We must still wait for people to actually break the law before they can be arrested or we become a nation where people disappear in the night and are never heard from again. Pre-crime is a ridiculous notion. What if this guy was a reporter trying to “prove” there was racial profiling in the TSA by having suspicious items in his luggage? And since WHEN was having 7,000$ in cash an indictment? Listen to yourselves, you’re one step away from forming a mob and stringing him up because he looks like a foreigner and he must be beating his wife because she hides her face.

People have to break a law before the government, the TSA, or anyone can do anything. (at least that’s how it’s supposed to work, I suppose the “Patriot Act” solved some of that bothersome probable cause stuff.) Really, we’re one step away from secret police who haul people off in the middle of the night for unclear reasons, and detain them them in unknown locations for unspecified amounts of time.
Annona says:

August 31, 2010 at 8:56 am

Wayne says: “Listen to yourselves, you’re one step away from forming a mob and stringing him up because he looks like a foreigner and he must be beating his wife because she hides her face.”

One step? I’d say more than one step. Remember, Wayney, exploitation of our values is part of their game in this kind of war. Our world has been reshaped because of Islamic terrorists. To live our values blindly is to commit suicide. Do it if you want.

And by the way, the Koran DOES NOT say a woman must cover her face (it’s muslim men who require this) and DOES say that a husband may beat his wife.
JES says:

August 31, 2010 at 9:31 am

Wayne,
I think what you’re missing is the ‘probable cause’ aspect of arresting the two suspects. My understanding of law enforcement’s ability to arrest based on ‘probable cause’ is if a suspicious item or items are found then the owners of those items may be held while said items are investigated. The items mentioned in this particular story that belonged to the two suspects can be related to law enforcement spotting a ‘bag of white powder’ neatly wrapped in plastic in the rear seat of a car that’s been pulled over.
Wayne says:

August 31, 2010 at 9:33 am

Annona: “exploitation of our values is part of their game in this kind of war. Our world has been reshaped because of Islamic terrorists. To live our values blindly is to commit suicide.”

I’d argue that CHANGING our values would be them winning. If living my values is suicide, then much like the Christian martyrs of yore, I’d rather live my values of freedom, and God than allow the state to arrest and charge people in the name of my saftey. That is exactly how fascists gain power: to ensure your saftey.

I don’t really care what the Koran (Qur’an) does and doesn’t say. I don’t care if you sacrifice goats in your back yard, swing chickens over your head, or read books about an illegal topic! Until you actually violate the law, or otherwise impinge on the natural freedoms of others you’ve not done something the state should be involved in. And, just so you don’t try and twist my words: yes, enacting physical violence on another human ie: beating your wife (or anyone) is a violation of their freedom and a condemable act.
Wes says:

August 31, 2010 at 9:38 am

Ann Coulter said it best:

When 100% of the attacks on American soil come from one group, it ceases to become a racial profile. it’s called a description of the suspect.
Carlos says:

August 31, 2010 at 9:41 am

May I point out to Wayne that, first of all, it was the Dutch that arrested the supposed “planners,” not the United States.

Second, I believe it is illegal to put even fake bombs on a plane in the United States. It’s kind of analogous to using a toy pistol in a robbery – it’s still considered armed robbery, even if the pistol can’t fire so much as a spitwad.

Get over it, lib-boy. You’re on the wrong side on this one and acting exactly as those who would kill you are hoping most people will act.
Kate says:

August 31, 2010 at 9:54 am

So Sorry to upset your applecart Wayne, but as Carlos so aptly noted….the arrest was made in Amsterdam. Now isn’t that a place a liberal can really let his hair down? Why not call the Dutch Embassy and complain instead of trying to come here and paint this blog with your liberal paint-by-number routine….yeah, we all all rifle toting, rednecks, yeeehawwww!

If you want to see the true face of facism try looking at Obama and his ilk….or better yet check your mirror.
Wayne says:

August 31, 2010 at 11:49 am

@Carlos: Did you read the same blog post I did? The Dutch arrested them “at the request of American authorities.” Even so I’m responding to this blog post calling for them to be arrested on American soil “So, what did they need to actually stop him?” I’ll admit it was my assumption the way you stop him from boarding the plane is arrest him. I suppose you could just refuse him entry.

I hope by your pejorative “lib-boy” you mean libertarian because the only liberal I am is in the classical sense. I guess in your mind only liberals wish the laws to be obeyed? My point is until they’ve broken the law I don’t want to see people arrested, is that liberal to you? It may be illegal to use a fake gun in a robbery but the robbery still has to occur, from this report it doesn’t sound like they hijacked the plane with a fake bomb, which would be analogous to your example. It sounds like someone got on a plane with some weird stuff in his luggage. I’m also railing against the association of carrying cash and criminality. I’ll assume you can figure out why that implication is a bad idea. Although maybe a narrow minded statist such as yourself doesn’t see any reason for using cash money in your life, so you assume no one else should be able to carry it either.

@Kate: Great job jumping to conclusions, you jumped so fast you missed the mark, by such a wide margin it’s funny to me.

Do you even know what Fascism is? Obama is a socialist/communist, where the govt owns the means of production, and the working class is rewarded for doing labor, regardless of it’s economic worth. I thought that would be clear now that the Govt. owns/runs GM and is trying to tighten their hold on other sectors like banking and finance.

On the other had Fascism is based on nationalism and hegemony, typically strengthened by identifying an enemy to galvanize the public against. That would be what closer to what this article is suggesting: let’s give the government power to protect *Americans* from “those guys” who are different from us. You play well into the role by labeling anyone you don’t agree with as a liberal and vilifying them, instead of listening to what they are saying and responding with anything substantial. When I look in the mirror to see Fascism, I see you and your statist buddy Carlos, not Obama.
Michael haltman says:

August 31, 2010 at 12:28 pm

It is just one more example of the national security failures of the Obama White House. I wrote a similar story this morning at the Examiner titled

“TSA and USA: terrorist dry run on a flight out of Detroit a success (for the bad guys)”

Why are we paying these guys?
Carlos says:

August 31, 2010 at 6:42 pm

OK, Wayne, let me try to get through to you one more time.

Try taking a toy gun into a federal courthouse. No, you didn’t commit any “real” crime, but they’ll arrest you anyway because of the idea behind the act.

And, BTW, fascism is simply a particular form of socialism, one that demands the owner of a business retains ownership of his business, but has to run it as the government wants, not how it most profits the business owner. That way, if the business fails it’s the owner’s fault. If it succeeds it’s entirely due to the government.

And finally, does the term “conspiracy” have any meaning to you? They may or may not have been acting in concert with each other (my guess is they were, but I’ll concede that they may not have been), but they certainly didn’t hatch their little scheme(s) all by themselves. To begin with, I doubt very seriously either was mentally capable of hatching such a scheme; secondly, neither was able to lay their hands on that kind of cash without outside help.

So who supplied the cash? I don’t know, but don’t hold your breath waiting for our Apologizer-in-Chief or his minions to find out, or the MSM (but I repeat myself).

As far as the “pejorative” “lib-boy” goes, if it offends you, it must be hitting pretty close to home.

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