Unbelievable true story - A must read

[skydyvr 0]

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true?

that's funny... Snopes says its false.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/crime/skyterror.asp

Congratulations. You've just triggered TunaPlanet's 5000th rendition of the "Snopes isn't a reliable source of anything" lecture.

. . =(_8^(1)

[mnealtx 0]

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How do shop around for a federal gov't that doesn't treat you a certain way based on your race?

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We're talking about profiling based on race here, not how someone dresses

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Right, no reason to try and improve and make life more fair. That would take work and compromise, and those who benefit from the unfairness would suffer.

Ok, so taking action based on race is bad.... where is the huge outcry over the NAACP and the Equal Opportunity Act? Or does that not count? Why is it more important to have x number of "minorities"? Why can't we all just be @#%@#$ AMERICANS and hire the person that can best do the job, or admit the student with the higher SAT scores?????

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Michele 1]

Flyingferret, it is sooooo good to see you posting!

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After this story came out, a handful of 'sceptics' have been really nitpicking the ability to recount detail in the manner that Jacobsen did. I think this is foolish as she is a paid writer, she has better than average command of details.

See, to me, as someone who writes (yes, I've been published, but no, I'm no professional...), if you read some of my stuff, detail is what makes the story good and real and right in your face. I can describe something hopefully so that you can be right there with me...for me, details are something noticed and remembered, and if I do it, for professional writers on the calibre of Annie Jacobs, it shouldn't be any surprise they contain detail and thorough observation.

Has anyone researched other pieces of hers to see if that is a typical writing style? That would, to me, indicate veracity.

Now, as I didn't see any response regarding Syria, and it's status....

When the State Sponsored Terrorism list was created in 1979, Syria was on that list - and has not moved off it ever. The State Department had come to believe that the last direct engagement of Syrian nationals in terrorist activities was in the attempted bombing of an El Al flight in 1986.

However, it maintains it's spot on the list because of the Arms Export Amendments Act of 1989, which defines, in part, [paraphrasing...]"a terrorist state is one who allows their territory to be used as a sanctuary, provides ligistical support to terrorist or their organizations, provides safe haven or headquarters for same. Or, plan, direct, train, or assist in terrorist activities or provide financial support for those activities.

As of 1998's Patterns of Global Terrorism, some terrorist organizations who train, or maintain headquarters or "offices" in Damascus and Syria-controlled territory Lebanon are:

~Hamas,
~Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ),
~Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC),
~Hezbullah (receives military supplies using routes that traverse Syria),
~Red Army Faction (also known as Baader Meinhof), and the Action Directe,
~Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA),
~Japanese Red Army,
~Kurdish Labor Party,
~Pakistani Az Zulfikar,
~Tamil United Liberation Front of Sri Lanka,
~Moro National Liberation Front for the Philippines,
~Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman,
~Democratic Front for the Liberation of Somalia,
~the Eritrean Liberation Front.


Bill linked here
H.R.1828
Title: To halt Syrian support for terrorism, end its occupation of Lebanon, stop its development of weapons of mass destruction, cease its illegal importation of Iraqi oil and illegal shipments of weapons and other military items to Iraq, and by so doing hold Syria accountable for the serious international security problems it has caused in the Middle East, and for other purposes.
(This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the Senate on November 11, 2003. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

An article (op-ed) about Syrian activities in the Washington Times...
Op-Ed piece

"Was Syria behind the attacks in Israel? To most Middle East experts, the answer is not about Syria's support for jihad against the Jewish state. That is cast in stone. Instead, inquiry is about Damascus' practical role in the ongoing suicide attacks and related activities by Palestinian radicals at least since the al-Aqsa intifada of September 2000. The answer is yes and it is not a secret."

Some terrorist training camps in Syria include:
~Ain Saheb: just northwest of Damascus.. The facility belongs to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine or PFLP, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz, but terrorists from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and al-Qaida also use the camp for training. Israel bombed this site in October of 2003, iirc, as a response to a bombing in Haifa.
~Abu Nidal's organization maintain training camps in Lebanon's Biqa Valley, which is controlled by Syrian armed forces. Syria also supplied travel documents permitting Abu Nidal operatives to transit freely through Damascus when departing on missions.
~A "general" training camp in Jamba, and many others.

A thought about the passports. If Syria provides "safe transport" to terrorists, as they are strongly suspected to do, then acquiring 14 passports for a group of men would not be difficult. If someone travels on an illegal - but real - passport, I am not sure that it could be discovered.

As for them not being on the notorious "no fly" list, neither were the 9/11 suicide bombers. One thing a criminal enterprise will make sure of is that they don't send "known" terrorists, because that's a sure tip-off.

Do I think there have been dry-runs? Absolutely. What scares me is that people are not paying attention, and when they do, they are ridiculed and harassed because they said something. Keep in mind that the plane in question was met by many law enforcement personnel; that in itself lends credibility to her story...she didn't call them in. The pilots did the summoning, likely at the urging of the flight attendants (who were in the cabin observing). They perceived a real threat...and took action. The action taken, however, would have been too late to prevent any inflight bombing.

Ciels-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[PhillyKev 0]

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Ok, so taking action based on race is bad.... where is the huge outcry over the NAACP and the Equal Opportunity Act? Or does that not count? Why is it more important to have x number of "minorities"? Why can't we all just be @#%@#$ AMERICANS and hire the person that can best do the job, or admit the student with the higher SAT scores?????

A) Completely off topic. We were talking about racial profiling.

B) If minorities weren't at an inherent disadvantage due to institutional racism prevalent in society, then we wouldn't need to worry about race and just go with the best qualified ignoring that factor.

[Kennedy 0]

Please, please, please, please, PLEASE

everyone focus on (A), and either ignore (B) or start a new thread.

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
1*

[Newbie 0]

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To all those who spurn profiling as unfair (or worse, ineffective, which it is most certainly not) --

why does the FBI use psychological profiling when trying to catch criminals of all sorts?

One thing we know is that serial killers are most frequently white males. If we want to be fair, the next time we discover a serial killer is active in an area, we should round up equal numbers of whites, asians, blacks, hispanics... That'll be a wonderful use of resources.

it might not be the best use of resources in your eyes but it could help catch killers more quickly (Derrick Todd Lee, John Allen Muhammad, Richard Ramirez, Charles Sobhraj etc).

Sure Pareto's 80/20 rule states we can assume the person committing the offence can be grouped to a particular profile etc, but i think you leave yourself open to overlooking and missing things if you place too much emphasis on that.

"Skydiving is a door"
Happythoughts