Scare yourself

[elSicomoro]

Arabs are an ethnic group, not a race.

Racism here is yesterday's problem...Goddamn...that was funny. It's still alive and well and just as relevant on 7/17/04 as it was on 9/10/01. All we did on 9/11/01 was put another problem on our plates that we should have added years before.

[Trilby]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

This seems very much like a sting operation, they knew these guys were up to something and let it continue in the hopes of catching them in something big.

"something big" as in--We blew up the plane? Any action then would kind of be inadequate, wouldn't it?

[jaguar]

Brianna, they might have accessed information that confirmed it was a day run, they might have had a camera watching the toilets, they might have had someone on the plane who went into the toilets to make sure. The number of air marshalls makes it fairly certain it was a sting.

[lumberjim]

seems more like a secret shopper kind of a thing. from her description, the arabs were being fairly obvious. perhaps they were involved. trying to see what the reaction of the airport security and flight team would be. the marshalls may have been there to protect the arabs from any would be heros.

just a thought

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by jaguar

Bit of a side question but I know in that situation the first thing I'd do is go to the toilet and search it, throughly, for anything odd. How would others react?

See? I had you down for the 'come close to wetting your pants, and rush to the bathroom to pee' sort. then again, i imagine that you would tell that story to your neighbor passengers so you look cool. "I just had to go check and make sure they weren't builiding a bomb in there, ya know."

I think I would do what that lady did......tell the attendant what i had seen, and cooperate.

[jaguar]

See? I had you down for the 'come close to wetting your pants, and rush to the bathroom to pee' sort.

ouch

then again, i imagine that you would tell that story to your neighbor passengers so you look cool. "I just had to go check and make sure they weren't builiding a bomb in there, ya know."

ouch.

[lumberjim]

OH, SURE. take out my smilie and make me look mean.

[xoxoxoBruce]

How do we know there were any air marshalls and not just the flight attendant trying to calm a nervous passenger?

[Undertoad]

The more I think about it, the more I think Jag's got it sussed... most flights would either have 0 or 1 air marshal on them, and here they're surrounding? I'd wager they were aware of what was going on and what could possibly go on.

[Happy Monkey]

Near the end of the article, it tahkes a surreal turn:

I continued my research by reading an article entitled Arab Hijackers Now Eligible For Pre-Boarding from Ann Coulter (www.anncoulter.com):

There are probably better ways of continuing one's research.

[DanaC]

Undertoad, given the current ( and historic)hostilities between Arabs and Jews and given the power held by the Jewish lobby in America and their (I generalise based upon what I see in the media) attitude towards the Middle East issue in particular and arab cultures in general I dont think it's racist to see that the writer is Jewish and wonder if she has ulterior motives to her article. I would likewise see an article written by an Arab about Jewish activities as potentially loaded.

I am not bigotted against Jews. I lived for 12 years with a man called Judah whose name means "Lion protector of Israel" and I have Jewish heritage on my mother's side. ( she is 1/4 Jewish) something I have always been quite proud of. I worked for years with the Anti Nazi League in the UK and have been to several rallies to hear the words of Holocaust survivors. However.......the political landscape has changed dramatically in recent decades and the Jewish Diaspora is no longer powerless and no longer the people most likely to be victimised. That dubious honour now goes to Arabs

Interestingly whilst some of the Jewish Brits obviously support the actions of the IDF many do not. Many see it as a disgraceful perversion of the dream of Israel. If I were to see an article written in the UK by a Jewish writer I wold not make the same assumption of Zionist tendencies that I make when I see a Jewish American writing an article which portrays a group of faceless, unknown Arabic men as a hidden and dangerous enemy. America is at war and so is Israel. Amongst the political elite in Washington, Jewish voices are at the forefront of the Hawks. Not so off the wall then to spot a potential political agenda in an article such as this written by a member of a group which is projecting a hawk attitude against arab cultures particularly in regard to Palestine.

[Undertoad]

Well, here in the US we intermarry and our last names are pretty meaningless.

[DanaC]

Thats a fair point Undertoad. If the writer had been discussing a less politically fraught subject matter I dont think I would have taken particular notice of her surname, for much that reason. There is of course the possibility that she isnt "Jewish" in identity despite having a Jewish surname. There's also the possibility that she is Jewish , proud of it and not the least bit Zionist.....But....When reading news articles which deal with very current and polarised issues, it's usually worth giving a moment's thought to the writer's possible political orientation. If I were to read an article about Jewish immigrants causing trouble and the name at the bottom of the article was Hussein or Waheed I may well pause to think.....Are they honest? Are they politically motivated? I woldnt necessarily have thought that 10 years ago......nor is it necessarily the case that I owld think that in ten years time. But right now, in the current climate there are soooo many people banging the drum for one side or the other in the media that really all journalists are suspect unless they are obviously *not* involved in one side of the fight or the other.

[DanaC]

"Arabs are an ethnic group, not a race."

True. Maybe then I should class it as Ethnically based bigotry

[xoxoxoBruce]

Or bigotry based on reality.