Flying the unfriendly skies
From the Washington Times, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:
Federal officials have pinpointed an airline flight from Los Angeles to Washington as a potential terrorist target in the past two weeks and have begun scrutinizing the flight crew's luggage and using security agents to follow pilots preparing for the flight.Bomb-sniffing dogs are also being stationed in the gate area as passengers of United Airlines Flight 200 from Los Angeles International Airport to Dulles International Airport undergo more intense security checks.
The flight, which departs Los Angeles at 6:55 p.m. Eastern (3:55 local time) and arrives in Dulles at 11:46 p.m. Eastern, has been "sanitized" before takeoff, said one flight crew member who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"They absolutely tear everything apart inside the flight bag, every piece of professional literature, flight manuals, head sets, they empty the overnight bag. It's being scrutinized at a level I have never seen in over 25 years of flying," the crew member said.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has designated it as a "flight of interest," according to a memo from the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) obtained by The Washington Times.
Pilots and flight attendants "are receiving a thorough second security screening by the TSA, which includes flight bags and all personal belongings. In addition, the pilot conducting the preflight is being shadowed," the memo said.
"Shadowed," refers to a policy of preventing pilots from entering the aircraft for preflight inspections until a security escort arrives to follow their movements, said the crew member. A TSA official then observes the pilots from the terminal window.
Neither pilots nor air marshals are receiving an explanation for the intense searches, and neither is the airline nor the pilot unions, according to the memo and the crew member.
The TSA and United Airlines did not return calls seeking comment.
Off Topic, from the BBC: "Bush under fire from US ex-envoys
About 50 retired US diplomats have written to President George W Bush to criticise current American policy towards the Middle East.
...
The diplomats are planning a news conference on Tuesday to go public with their opposition, according to the American Educational Trust (AET), a foundation where some of the former envoys are based"
Okay, now look at this page from the AET. Look at some of their greeting cards, and follow the links to their childrens books. They are absolutely a pro-Moslem pressure group:
http://www.middleeastbooks.com/
Luigi:
You are so right. $70 Billion in oil revenues can sure buy you a lot of friends - with the emphasis on the "buy" part. If you look at the book titles that they are selling, the authors that they are promoting and the greeting cards, it is obvious that this is a Muslim propaganda front. Then, look at the description in AET's About Us section. These retired foreign service officers are getting paid by someone to spread this propaganda. These people have no principles. Only since I have joined the struggle against Islam, have I noticed that there seems to be a Muslim behind every bush(no pun intended)trying to influence our(the West's) news media, our religious institutions and our governments There is only one way to describe these retired foreign service officers - traitors and quislings! Make no mistake - we are at war with Islam.
About the AET Book Club
Welcome to the AET Book Club. The American Educational Trust is a non-profit, non-partisan organization incorporated in 1982 in Washington, DC, by retired U.S. Foreign Service Officers.
For the past eighteen years, the American Educational Trust has been promoting U.S.-Middle East understanding with an emphasis on informed debate on the Arab-Israeli peace process. Early in AET’s development, its founders recognized the need for quality books about the region and U.S. policies there.
To provide these books, the American Educational Trust began importing thousands of titles about the Middle East from Europe. Four times a year shipments crossed the Atlantic in sea containers to be sold by the newly-formed AET Book Club. Years later, American publishers began to recognize the market for quality, objective books about the Middle East, and began printing thousands of titles in the United States.
Another part of AET’s endeavors is the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, a magazine published ten times per year in Washington, DC. The Washington Report began in 1982 as a bi-weekly eight-page newsletter. Today, it is a 116-page full-color magazine recognized worldwide as a leader in its field. The Washington Report publishes a wide variety of views from and about the Middle East by Jewish, Muslim and Christian writers, many of whom live or have lived in the region.
Along the way, the American Educational Trust has relied on Washington Report subscribers and AET Book Club patrons to help us constantly improve our services. Ultimately, none of our efforts matter unless our customers are satisfied. Please let us know what you think about the AET Book Club by filling out our feedback form. All of the information is confidential and is used solely to improve this website. And like our circulation list, personal information is never sold to anyone—ever.
Finally, please stop in often and check out our “new arrivals” section. We’ll list new titles there as they come in. If you are interested in contributing your feedback on our website or wish to provide some suggested books, please do so by email, or fill out our feedback form. Thanks for visiting and we look forward to hearing from you.
off-topic....seems that americans don't make any difference between "HUMILIATION" & "LIBERATION"..
Chris in the UK:
That would be, 'some' Americans.., and they, speaking of the guards involved in the abuse of the prisoners, will be facing military justice. It's telling that the electric wires attached to the one prisoner were not connected to any power source. If it had been real torture they would have been and the prisoner would have experienced real physical pain. Was this psychological abuse? Yes. Was it torture? No.
Don't worry, you'll have more than enough problems dealing with your local muslim population down the road. Good luck, you'll need it.
Mike H
Chris,UK hope you were as upset when you heard of the dismembered British solders and the U.S. Marines who were also dismembered and of corse the people that the Iraqis hung from the bridge. Or have you heard of the Americain who was druge behind a truck in Saudi A. to a high school to get recruts Because all of these things piss off the American people . I hope you are also upset over the Mass Graves that some of these people in prison had a part in filling.
God Bless the USA and her Fighting Forces and those who Fight with Her Give them Strength and Courage to stay the course Amen
Folks, there is a difference between "humiliation" and "embarrassment." For anyone with self-esteem, the pictures would be embarrassing, but not humiliating.
I also think it's WAY past the time when we should be showing the pictures of the "jumpers" from the Twin Towers--the people who chose to jump to their deaths to the pavement below rather than burn. At the speed at which they fell, they literally exploded upon impact.
Unfortunately, not all of them made it out the windows on time, and were already on fire as they jumped. Children who saw the event drew pictures later showing "birds" on fire--their way of handling the horror of seeing human beings on fire falling from the sky.
It's also past time to show the video of the murder of reporter Daniel Pearl. His murderer beheaded him NOT with the swift cut of a sharp sword, but with a knife with which he literally carved Pearl's head from his shoulders. It took several attempts to sever the head, and when it was all over, the murderer held the head up by the hair for the camera.
There are many such photos available to us, and we should be showing our Kantian Americans, the French, the Germans, the Canadians, the Belgians, the Russians, and all our other "friends" what sort of Killbots they are up against.
A big part of the problem is that their jealous hatred of us causes them to agree with the Killbots' morals, and therefore their thoughts and actions; no evidence or proof will change they way they think, not ever.
We are all too willing to accept a defensive position in this comparison between cultures. It's past time for us to stop being so "sensitive" to what people of good will and decency will feel when they see the truth, and go on the offensive about the differences between what has happened in the prison in Iraq and what the Killbots do routinely to themselves and to others.
There is something called "the ethics of emergencies" which applies to the Iraqi prisoner situation. Had embarrassment (and to these men who are utterly devoid of real self-esteem, "humiliation") been the only non-torture way to elicit the necessary information, it would have been proper. But it wasn't since there is a non-invasive, totally painless "spin-off" of electroencephalographic technology that allows us to get our prisoners to reveal anything we want to know, whether they want to reveal it or not. I repeat: It involves no threat, no pain, is not invasive, and the revelations are reliable and totally beyond the control of those being interrogated. Nothing about this technology can in any way be considered counter to the terms of the Geneva Convention.
Face it, people, the people who died in the Twin Towers weren't embarrassed to death, and Daniel Pearl's death was not from embarrassment.