In this line of thinking, I have some other suggestions.

Students that attend High School that wear black clothing and listen to rock music should be subject to searches before they enter class. After all, as a nation, we cannot endure any more school shootings and to save our children, we must take note of those that are the most likely to be involved in such an activity.

African Americans, when pulled over for speeding, should automatically be subect to probable cause searches despite lack of it. They are, after all, statistically the most likely to be carrying an illegal substance or weapon in the vehicle.

In order to make security lines move faster at the airport, I suggest we have lines labeled "Dark-Skinned" and "Light-Skinned". Since very few people can tell the difference between someone from Greece, an Indian, and an Arab, everyone with dark skin should expect to arrive at the airport 2 hours prior to their flight and expect much more intense security checks than the rest. For the safety of the pilot and the aircraft, we should probably make all of them sit in the rear of the plane.

Sound familiar?

Did you read the link or just the quote?
Well the "Little Miss" wasn't brewing it up in her mind if the Federal Air Marshalls, other passengers and crew also noticed. The article cited other INSTANCES. :smack:

I read the whole sordid many-paged piece of barf days ago. And what I want to know is why, if they were so suspicious, they were not questioned BEFORE THE FLIGHT OOK OFF. People "noticing" does not, hasn't ever, and WON'T equal another group of people doing anything wrong. Also, failure to follow up on their "story" says to me that whatever they were doing did not warrant them being harrassed any further by airport security, air marshalls or anyone else. It doesn't prove they were up to no good; rather the opposite.

Instances of what, I ask again? Instances of people freaking out over having to share the same space with "undesirables"? Unless they are instances of something actually taking place, rather than some imaginary wrongs committed against gunshy racists, I fail to see the problem.

Reread the part you yourself quoted above. Specifically "given the facts".

And what I want to know is why, if they were so suspicious, they were not questioned BEFORE THE FLIGHT OOK OFF.

They specifically addressed this in the article. It is because the (politically correct) quota says they may only question 2 men of Middle Eastern descent, and no more. If they had questioned 2 of them, they would have lost the right to further investigate ANYTHING about the other 12. So they waited for something more concrete to go on.

And again, it didn't. I can't for the life of me understand why this article has gotten the attention it has on news sites, conservative radio shows and the like - it was a non-event.
Further, since no problems have arisen over the enforcement of this politically correct quota, it appears to be perfectly reasonable.

That's right, the Air Marshalls don't interfere with people without cause. But they are there to watch for people acting suspiciously. That's their job, that's what they did.
Hey, go fly a plane. :p

I'm sure you'll forgive me if I fail to take this woman's word for gospel. She also quoted Anne Coulter in the article, and anything I heard from her would also have to come from the mouth of Jesus before I'd believe it.

As my sainted grandfather used to say, "A piece of paper will lie still and let you write anything you want on it".

You wouldn't think so if you had been on the plane, yourself. It must have been absolutely terrifying. I hate discrimination too, but if I had been on the plane I would have been hoping that the air marshals would lock the whole 14 up in chains! It's all well and good to take the high road, sitting in our comfortable offices, and homes, but just think about what it was like for those passengers. :(

I hate discrimination too, but if I had been on the plane I would have been hoping that the air marshals would lock the whole 14 up in chains!

Nothing like letting our fears get in the way of other peoples' rights. (yeah, yeah, these guys were Syrians... Syrians don't have rights in the US, etc, etc)

These guys weren't even charged with interfering with a flight crew. They weren't charged with anything. The plane's crew and FAMs acted appropiately. I'm with Jane_Says. What's the big deal?

We're still a really nervous nation, it seems.

A woman on a plane got scared and wrote an article about it. Terrifying, but I'm sure she'll live. And here I thought all of our irrational reactions to fear instilled by the media were beginning to subside. The suggestions made in the article, and by others, seemed logical at first. "It would be stupid to ignore the obvious." "We can't be concerned with hurting other people's feelings." But after reading through some of Jane_Says' posts and thinking about the suggestions I've read, I've come to realize that the proposal of "searching everyone looks like an Arab" and "treating Arabs on airplanes as potential terrorists" is racism, pure and simple. The arguments had me going for awhile, but when you boil it down that's all this is: You're taking a group of people and subjecting them to treatment based solely on their appearance and, I think, that would be wrong. Either make security equal for everyone, or don't mess with it at all. Hurting feelings has nothing to do with this, but subjecting people to extra security based on a stereotype and hyped-up fear is wrong and, as a US citizen, I feel that I have the right to walk into an airport and not be singled out based on my race. I also expect the same treatment when boarding a bus, riding a train, attending a sporting event, or walking down the street. I tend to hope that every citizen would expect that. And while everyone hates the analogy that this is like locking up the Japanese during WWII, its the same thing: irrational fears leading to the mistreatment of and removal of rights for innocent US citizens based on their lineage.

Stop, take a deep breath. The Arab next to you might look scary, but they're probably not going to try to hurt anyone. Honest.

The deal is that they acted suspiciously; they weren't just sitting quietly in their seats, sipping coffee and reading a magazine. Sure, the fact that they were Syrians added to the passengers' anxiety, but I'm sure if the same set of events had occurred, but with 14 Anglo Saxons instead, there would still have been a considerable degree of alarm generated by their actions.

Don't forget that Annie's account of the flight was corroborated by the flight crew and other passengers. There is no doubt that her story is accurate.

There is also no doubt that the Syrians' behaviour on the plane was very odd if indeed they were just innocent musicians. What sort of plausible reason could anyone put forward to explain their actions? I hate to sound like a conservative, but the story does ring alarm bells. If Annie had not been supported by other accounts, then yes, you could dismiss the whole thing as alarmist trash, but this is not the case!

I agree Dave! When was the last flight any of you were on when people of any color behaved in those ways? Groups congregating by the bathrooms? A group of 8 (?) getting up to use the rest room as soon as the captain announced the descent? This is odd behavior on an airplane! It deserves to be thought of as suspicious.

OC, why are you suddenly Navy? (if this is addressed elsewhere, excuse me, but this is the first thread I read, and it , well, surprised me a lot)

Further, since no problems have arisen over the enforcement of this politically correct quota, it appears to be perfectly reasonable.

This statement only cements further for me my belief that you didn't actually read the article, you got to the Anne Coulter quote, got pissed off and stopped. They talk about THIS in the article too--YES, problems HAVE arisen over the enforcement of this policy, two airlines were fined in the realm of 250 to 500,000 dollars for questioning more than 2 Middle Eastern men when more than two of them were acting suspicious. The airline did what they felt they needed to do to be safe, and they were fined heavily for it. I suppose if you're saying no additional planes have been hijacked, I guess you're right, but then again if there were, none of the crew would survive to tell you, "You know, we knew something was going on, and we really wanted to question some of the men who were acting very strangely, but the quota wouldn't let us." Is that what has to happen in your mind, the quota must be proven to have tragically failed us before we can say it's wrong?

Don't forget that Annie's account of the flight was corroborated by the flight crew and other passengers. There is no doubt that her story is accurate.

I missed the other accounts. I'd be curious to read them to see other peoples' takes on the events.

There is also no doubt that the Syrians' behaviour on the plane was very odd if indeed they were just innocent musicians. What sort of plausible reason could anyone put forward to explain their actions? I hate to sound like a conservative, but the story does ring alarm bells.

It rings alarm bells for me, too, but nothing came of it. I would have been very nervous on the flight, too, but the reactions suggested in the article concerning security changes over such a non-incident are far reaching and unneeded. No one died, no one was arrested, no one was charged with anything.

Groups congregating by the bathrooms?

During my flight last month, this happened. You're not supposed to form a line or stand around near the fore restroom, either, but people still did it. It happened throughout the entire flight because we had a full 737.

A group of 8 (?) getting up to use the rest room as soon as the captain announced the descent?

It sounds really strange when you read it in the article, but it was a normal occurance on both my departing and arriving flights out of Tampa. Everyone was sitting calmly, the captain announces that he's beginning descent, and suddenly everyone and their brother on board realizes that this is their last chance to go to the bathroom before they have to sit and wait during landing. Lines formed at both fore and aft, flight attendants got irritated, people were told to sit down and fasten their seat belts. How many of them listened and followed the instructions? Not a one: there was bladder pressure priority. It makes much more sense to me that everyone got up after the decent announcement than just doing it during a random part of the flight.

You folks with your incredible sense of prescience should work for airport security. I know I could never work out the safety of an otherwise odd-looking situation until I had all the facts in hand, but you folks seem to figure it out within a few paragraphs. That's some amazing work.

I know I could never work out the safety of an otherwise odd-looking situation until I had all the facts in hand, but you folks seem to figure it out within a few paragraphs. That's some amazing work.

Its all elementary, my dear Undertoad.

Either that, or bad armchair politics being discussed online, again. What else would I do at work, otherwise?

:guinness:

Armchair politics? Online?

You mean when people find a medium where they are anonymous and faceless, where fact-checking is nary impossible, no comment carries any consequences, nobody has any credibility whatsoever, they proceed to make...baseless claims?

That's preposterous ;-)

It'd be neat to set up a proper debate online. Get a bunch of people to argue a topic, and the spectators are responsible for checking every cited fact and then bashing the ones who pull "facts" out of thin air. You might say "nobody would be that anxious to nitpick".

And then I chuckle.

...bashing the ones who pull "facts" out of thin air...

But pulling facts out of my ass is still okay, right? If you take that away from me, this wouldn't be a real online debate, anymore! :)

I like the idea of a true, formal debate taking place online. I'm not sure how'd you'd do the fact checking, though. What would qualify as a "good source"? Its gotten to the point that if you provide a URL as a reference, I'm likely to dismiss it no matter where it points to. And that includes the news sites, because they don't always get it right and when they get it wrong they're often hesistant to do a proper retraction.

We must look to Ann Coulter for unbiased and accurate information.

My problem with airport security is that they don't seem to figure it out until 3 years later with the aid of a congressional investigation.

Airport security, and in fact any kind of security designed to protect the safety of a populace and its state, should not be the lowest paid job in the whole wide world, and should not attract the contempt of those it encounters.

I've lost count of the number of times I've been in an airport in the UK and the US and been "questioned" by someone who can barely string together three words of English (not because they're foreign, just because they're uneducated). And I've lost count of the number of times I've heard people around me berating security staff for being idiots, inconveniencing them, delaying them "unnecessarily" or being invasive.

I wonder which came first; our desire to cut costs so we can pay a high-school drop-out $2.40/hour to sleep while scanning bags or our desire to belittle those around us performing menial yet necessary jobs.

And I wonder if we'll ever realise that perhaps, in security as in the rest of the world, you get what you pay for.

I could be wrong, but after 20 minutes of thinking I'm pretty sure I detected a whisp of sarcasm in UT's post.

I never get to Anne Coulter and get pissed. If I get to Anne Coulter being listed as a reference, I get ready to grin, because it's certain that what I'm reading is a parody, and the punchline is just ahead. I read this article several times (yes, all the way through) because I just knew I had missed the joke. Coulter's every bit the reliable sorce that Rush Limbaugh is. She's nothing but a right-wing joke, on par with Pat Robertson, and everyone here is aware of that.


I'd like to read an independent account of this by one of the marshalls or flight attendants. People who deal with the flying public on a daily basis are bound to have a more reasonable view than this woman. If not, we're destined to turn all areas surrounding the U.S. into giant Gitmos where these fourteen innocents and others who look like them can be "locked up in chains" :mad: until our superior military and legislative minds can decide how to dispose of them.

anne coulter is a flame throwing entertainer... get over it. discount her all you want, but ignoring what another person says or reports just because they happen to find some value in coulter is foolish.

one of my friend's here in phoenix happens to think Mike Newcomb* is a brilliant political mind, and quotes him often. i think he is an ass, but i don't discount what my friend says just because he finds value in the ramblings of an ass.

*an extremely liberal talk show host who has gone so far as to say that bush may have helped the towers come down some how. about as fair and reasonable as hannity, just louder.

I won't get over the fact that we are treating this article like serious journalism. If that's the case, cites must come from reliable sources, and Anne Coulter is anything but. That's like getting cites about automobile safety from the guy who runs the demolition derby at the fair.

He probably knows more about automobile construction and safety than most people. It's worth a listen.

Newcomb? he is just a 3 hour belligerent political rant. on most days he makes al franken look like a bush supporter.

I think he meant the demolition derby guy...

I want to see the charges laid against the flight attendant for revealing the presence of air marshals on an aircraft.

Then I'll believe her whole account.

You know, I thought of that too. I imagined that old Eddie Murphy skit on SNL where he has makeup applied to appear white and goes about his business as a white man, finding that when blacks leave any given area, like the subway, a party starts immediately. He's given bank loans without credit hsitory or referneces, etc. "Shh! Don't tell anyone who's not lily-white, but I'm going to impart some secret information to you about our safety situation. Those dirty old darkies over there aren't being as outgoing and friendly and we'd like. They're acting weird and not speaking English. So just for you, because we're in a Special Club, here's some information that might ease your troubled little mind."


Then I imagined those fourteen guys standing around with their instruments before they got on board, saying, "You know what would be funny, guys? Why don't we walk around a lot on the plane. Back and forth to the shitter, right? I'll carry this Mickey Dees' bag around, and then you poke around in your carry on a couple of times. For a grand finale, Ali, you flip through the prayer book a coupla times and try to look pious."

You've got it all figured out, dontcha jane? Wouldn't it be funny if you were on the flight where they made that decision? You'd know exactly what was going on... it would be a laugh riot to you.

Quick question on the Coulter quote. IIRC it was made to point out the policy of not questionning more than 2 arabic people per flight. A) Do you believe this is not the policy or effect of the policy? and B) Are you in agreement with it (and if so, what the fuck?)

you're right jane. absolutely right. having air marshalls watching those 14 syrians was nothing but racist.
it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that 19 middle-eastern men flew 4 commercial aircraft into buildings and the ground with innocent civilians as their victims.
it has nothing to do with the fact that the intel currently available says that there is likely to be another attempt at hijacking a plane.
it has nothing to do with the fact that the people who have stated they intend to cause further death and destruction on american soil happen to be middle eastern men.
it has nothing to do with the fact that IF these 14 men were not truly musicians, but were hijackers who got control of the plane and used it as a weapon, people would be screaming "why didn't we do more" "you should have known..."
it has nothing to do with any of these points. you are so right jane. thank you for your wisdom.

I don't understand what "decision" you mean.

As for the policy, I didn't write it. Like I said before, if that's the case, surely a better source than Anne Coulter could have been found for it, no? As I also said before, we have zero terrorist incidents as a result of the policy. You know the old adage that begins "if it ain't broke..."

When we become so freaked out over everyone who doesn't look and act exactly the way we do that people are crying on an airplane over the mere prescence of someone who fits their image of a terrorist, then yes, that's racism. Those Middle Eastern men were not the bad guys. They committed no crime. When people are scrutinized more closely for what they might do, even when there's zero evidence, because of the way they look, that's racism. "IF" won't work in this case. We don't arrest people or harass them because of things they haven't done yet. I might be statistically more likely to be able to buy crack from a young black man in the ghetto, but that doesn't mean we should arrest them all. Middle class white guys who act strange at work might be more likely to be serial killers, but that doesn't mean we get to detain them until we're sure they're not. Uneducated, poor single mothers might beat their children more often, but that doesn't mean they should be questioned by the grocery store cashier when they use their food stamps.

And no, I don't have everything figured out, not do I claim to. But I do know that when we start giving people grief for making some of us uncomfortable merely by being here, it's a short ride to holding people indefinitely without legal counsel and without charge, to having our private phone conversations tapped by the government, ad nausem. And that would be quite a leap of logic if it hadn't already started.

Doesn't the Cellar have any arab members?

Speak up!

I'm curious what their stance is on all of this.

The moral of the story is "If you're a Brown Person, ride Amtrak so that White America can relax when flying."

And the "policy" has nothing to do with arabic people. The fine is for ANY 2 visible minority members detained for secondary questioning, not "we'll fine you as per the Too Many Brown People clause".

I personally completely disagree with any sort of hard-fast guideline such as this, but you damn well better have excellent watchdogs keeping an eye on the errant stupid fuck who wants to harass all the black people, or brown people, or something.

It may make statistical sense in light of recent events to place enormous scrutiny on arabs. But as soon as you take away all the guidelines that PROTECT the innocent arabs just trying to make a flight, a lot of them are going to get exploited.

With the amount of people in here acting the way they are, I'm willing to bet at least a couple of the airport security personnel currently employed (especially those employed since 9/11) are just itching to catch some "dirty arab" ready to bomb a plane.

Once an ethnicity is put under the magnifying glass on account of a bunch of assholes from that ethnicity, it is IMPERATIVE we make sure that the vast majority of innocent arabs aren't targeted.

And I don't give a shit about how uncomfortable white people are at the moment. Think about how insanely uncomfortable regular-Joe arabs are right now, knowing that every time they go outside, someone thinks they're going to set off a bomb, and if they look at somebody the wrong way, they're a terrorist.

we also used to allow cockpit doors to stand open in flight, the policy used to be for pilots to comply with terrorist demands if immediate landing wasn't available... those practices never had negative results, until...

sometimes you can't wait for bad shit to happen before you open your eyes. "brown people" are not being targeted. the current intel suggests that there are going to be further attempts at hijacking from muslim terrorists, who are generally, from arab descent. certain things raise red flags. if there are enough red flags then further scrutiny is required.
14 syrians - check against data base for terrorist affiliation, if none found clear for travel
14 syrians on one way tickets, pay closer attention
14 syrians who do not sit together but take items into a restroom and pass it off to each other pay very close attention.
anything other than this and the air marshalls, DHS, who ever is responsible, would have been remiss in their duties.

the 14 syrians were not denied access to flights, they were not harassed in the air, they were not detained on the ground. they were watched, as they should have been.

Not detained my ass.

If they were watched, investigated and cleared and went on to play their concert without incident, that'd be one thing.

If they were watched, investigated and cleared and went on to play their concert, oblivious to the fact that their mere presence and innocuous behavior creeped out a skittish white fellow passenger with 9/11 on the brain (they didn't SMILE BACK at her! The horror!), who then posted a paranoid rant about her flight experience online, lighting up the Internet and talk radio with debate as to whether they were REALLY sinister Syrian terrorists testing out methods of blowing up American airplanes in the name of Allah, making them minor celebrities of an unwelcome variety, that's quite another.

I thought Driving While Black was a bit much, but Flying While Arabic takes it to a whole new level.

BTW, the lead picture on this <a href="http://www.salon.com/tech/col/smith/2004/07/21/askthepilot95/">Salon article</a> is hysterically appropriate.

Never trust a man with an accordian.

That white chick in the front freaking out looks like Beth Littleford. Beth Little ford is hot. That is all.

I'd be all worried that she'd pull that face during coitus.

As an aside, has anyone seen any mainstream media coverage of this episode? I know it's been all over the internet, and my husband is the producer of a local radio talk show and the rednecks have been burning it up there, but has CNN or any "reliable" news source had anything to say?

If she did, I'd assume I'd done something very, very right or very, very, wrong.

How to get you to support the current president. It's an old old trick. Promote fear. Only question remaining is who really is the source of this speculative article. He looked Arabic and did not smile back. Dear god. The world is going to end. Did I mention the Arabic looking character driving slowly through my neighborhood looking at front doors?

I believe the guy wrote a book called "Give me a Break". Promote fear and suddenly enemies are everywhere.

Last time Ashcroft tried to promote fear, the centrist Tom Ridge instead said it was nonsense (chatter was not unusual) and refused to raise the Warning to Orange. This must have infuriated the extremists who needed that threat warning for that week's approval numbers.

"I thought Driving While Black was a bit much, but Flying While Arabic takes it to a whole new level."
*chuckles* well said

ok, no body questions the fact that this woman is an idiot just trying for her 15 minutes of fame. the debate was whether the 14 syrians should have been a subject of interest or not.
her article was foolish and serves no purpose except to stir people up. it shouldn't have been published. that does not change the fact that the 14 raised a lot of little flags and LE has learned that you have to pay more attention.

how long were they in prison? did they have cuffs put on? or were they merely questioned? i have been questioned in airports before because of my flight patterns and some items i used to carry. answer the questions; if you have valid, answers carry on with your life. i don't really give a shit about hurting feelings, i don't really give a shit what color they are. if they were 14 white guys in the exact same situation, they should also be questioned.

Here is a NYTimes article on the story.

Already there's a problem... they claim to be musicians, but one of them admitted he was a drummer.

And yet another point of view. :)

Just one week later, the same company that arranged Mehana's performance, also booked Carrot Top!

Dun dun duuuuun! :eek:

There are other terrorist acts we should consider, here.

I'm not registering for NYT, but appreciate the link. If anyone who is already registered would like to provide any more of the text, I'd much appreciate it. And I just know that the National Review link was offered in jest. At least, that's what I'm going to pretend...

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=842422004
Being a selfish bastard, the bit that really got me is that they were doing dry-runs on middle east to western europe flights, i take the damn flights.

Sorry for the long post.

I believe you. I'm sure you pretend all points of view, you don't subscribe to are a joke. Don't forget to pretend that truck isn't coming when you step off the curb, Dave...er, uh....I mean Jane. :)

Thanks, CB. I appreciate the text. Considerably different view of the same situation than Ms. Annie, huh?

Bruce, I'm betting there was a joke there, but consider me whooshed.

The NYTimes article:

What Really Happened on Flight 327?
By JOE SHARKEY

Published: July 20, 2004

There is no doubt that something out of the ordinary happened on Northwest Airlines Flight 327 from Detroit to Los Angeles on June 29. The plane was met at the airport by squads of federal agents and police responding to radio messages from the pilots about concerns that 14 Middle Eastern male passengers had spent the four-hour flight acting suspiciously.

But was the episode a dry run for a terrorist attack, as is now being widely suggested on the Internet and on talk radio, or an aborted terrorist attack? Or was it an innocent sequence of events that some passengers, overcome by anxiety and perhaps ethnic stereotyping, misinterpreted as a plot to blow up their plane?

The story of Flight 327 was first told in a 3,300-word online article, "Terror in the Skies, Again?" by Annie Jacobsen, a 37-year-old freelance writer from Los Angeles. Ms. Jacobsen's report was published last Tuesday on a Web site for women, www.womenswallstreet.com. It is compelling reading.

I have since spoken at length with Ms. Jacobsen, and also with an official of the Federal Air Marshal Service, who confirmed the gist of Ms. Jacobsen's narrative, if not her interpretation.

On June 29, Ms. Jacobsen; her husband, Kevin; and their 41/2-year-old son were returning home from a family visit in Rhode Island when they boarded a connecting flight in Detroit, Northwest 327. While boarding, both she and her husband became aware of a group of six men of Middle Eastern appearance who followed them on board. One wore a large orthopedic shoe. Two carried what appeared to be small musical instrument cases. One wore a yellow T-shirt and was carrying a big McDonald's sack.

As the Jacobsens settled into their seats, they watched a second group of Middle Eastern men board. These men were in communication with the first group "absolutely from the get-go," Ms. Jacobsen said. Furthermore, she said, "they all seemed to be checking in with the guy in the yellow shirt," who was sitting across the aisle from her.

Mr. Jacobsen, 38, who is the president of an import-and-design company as well as an actor in television commercials, was already feeling uneasy. "When I first got on the flight, my instincts said that something was wrong,'' he recalled. "I did turn to my wife and say, 'We must get off this flight.' " He didn't follow through on that, however, because he didn't want to create a commotion based on a whim, he said.

In great detail, Ms. Jacobsen's article describes the "unusual activity" the men engaged in during the flight. Other passengers and the flight attendants became alerted to it, also. Ignoring the "fasten seat belt'' signs, the men went frequently and in succession to the lavatories, and congregated near the galleys in pairs or threesomes. The man in the yellow shirt gave her a "cold, defiant look" when she caught his eye, she said.

About two hours into the flight, with tension building, her husband decided to approach a flight attendant with his suspicions. The flight attendant said the crew were already aware of the odd behavior, including the fact that parcels like the McDonald's bag were carried into the lavatories.

"She said I was 'right on schedule' with what I was feeling was happening, that she was aware of it, that they were passing notes to each other, that the pilots were aware of it, and that there were people on board who are 'higher up than you or me' that were watching them," Mr. Jacobsen said. He presumed, correctly, that this was a reference to undercover federal air marshals.

Later, as the plane was in its final approach to Los Angeles, at the stage of a flight when even the flight attendants are strapped into their seats, "suddenly, seven of the men stood up in unison," Ms. Jacobsen said. Some walked toward the back lavatories and some toward the front. Two stood by the aircraft door. The flight attendants remained silent, she said.

"I don't have any words to explain how terrified I was" at that point, said Mr. Jacobsen, who added that he clutched a pen in his hand to use as a weapon, while thinking: "I hope I'm not the only one who will react. I hope I don't choke and get scared."

Then the plane landed without a problem. Waiting at the door were officers from the Federal Air Marshal Service, the F.B.I., the T.S.A. and the Los Angeles Police Department. The 14 men were questioned at length and released. The Jacobsens also were questioned for over an hour.

Yesterday, a Federal Air Marshal Service spokesman, Dave Adams, a law enforcement officer for 30 years, said that the suspicious characters on Flight 327 were musicians. The man in the yellow shirt was a drummer, he said.

"We interviewed all 14 of these individuals,'' Mr. Adams said. "They were members of a Syrian band" traveling to a gig at a casino near Los Angeles, he said, adding that their names were run through "every possible" data bank and terrorist watch list. "They were scrubbed. Nothing came back."

Mr. Adams said he spoke by phone to Ms. Jacobsen for 90 minutes on Friday night. "This is an individual's perceptions," he said of her account of the flight. "Obviously, since 9/11, everybody's antennas have risen, and people are very concerned when they see something like this." He said that onboard air marshals did not intervene because the men weren't "interfering with the flight crew."

Even so, he said, he had no doubt that "most of the stuff did happen" as Ms. Jacobsen described it.

Aware of recent reports that the F.B.I. is worried that teams of terrorists may be practicing ways to sneak explosive device parts onto planes and assemble them in flight, Mr. Adams said, air marshals aboard Flight 327 "checked out the lavatories, and nothing looked like it was in disarray after these people went inside; everything was thoroughly inspected."

Ms. Jacobsen isn't convinced. No one has disputed any of her facts, she said, and in an article that she posted on the Web site yesterday, she asked why the Syrian band hadn't been identified. (I couldn't locate them, by the way). She wrote of receiving numerous e-mail messages from airline crew members, several of whom said they believed that terrorist-team dry runs had happened on flights. She said that "political correctness" had become a "major roadblock for airline safety."

I asked her about the inevitable charge that ethnic stereotyping was driving her narrative. "I am simply not a racist," she said. "I travel everywhere. I was just in India, working in a Muslim village. I'm not afraid of any culture. This situation was entirely different. I have never been so terrified."

Imad Hamad, the regional director of the Michigan office of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said that he knew nothing more about this incident than what Ms. Jacobsen had reported. "I think this level of high anxiety has been implanted in our hearts and minds, and even those who are good people with good intensions cannot help but to look at things in a very suspicious way," he said. "We've got to be vigilant as citizens, but we also have to be calm."

As for the Syrian band, "They gave their little performance in the casino and two days later they flew out on a JetBlue flight from Long Beach to New York," Mr. Adams said.

Thanks, I really appreciate it.