Hoax or actual episode -- updates?
 

Fodors cut off the "Terror in the Skies" thread after giving Sunstar the last word, but I for one would still like to have updates on this report -- confirmation or debunking -- if anyone comes across anything.

Here is original story, with a space inserted after the ".com" so it'll wrap instead of screwing up the framing on the screen (so be sure to delete that space if you're going to try to pull up the story). Repeat: this is for updates not continuation of the sidetracking debate.

http://www.womenswallstreet.com
/WWS/article_landing.aspx?titleid=1&articleid=711

Woops, sorry -- this was originally on the Europe forum. I will repost there and please go there with any information to post.

-30-

Was it an Urban Legend??? What did I miss?

I read this article after a local radio station was talking about it last week.

Scary stuff that has you shaking your head and then asking yourself "What would YOU do" in that situation.

I tried to access the article and could not.

soccr, can you summarize? Thanks.

GoTravel, just go to www.womenswallstreet.com and you'll find the beginning of the article on the upper left corner of the page.

Summary is a bit hard but ... Jacobsen is reporting in great detail events on a Northwest flight from Detroit to LA involving the identity and actions of a group of 14 "Middle Eastern" passengers. Her take is that something extremely scary and dangerous was taking place, with ramifications for air security, profiling, homeland security, etc. There are many skeptics about this but also some updates that seem to validate at least some of her story.

Thanks for posting this Soccr. There are portions of the story that should be addressed possibly by Homeland Security.

There isn't enough Xanax in the world to calm me down if this happened on a flight I was on...

If in fact this is true, I would hope that Homeland Security is already aware of what's going on--curious that multiple air marshalls were on that particular flight.

As an aside, my family was on a Denver to New York flight 1 1/2 weeks before 9/11. Not to profile, but there was some activity on board with a middle eastern man that made my husband and I both nervous. In our pre-9/11 innocence we just shrugged it off. It was NOTHING like this woman supposedly experienced, though.

I caution everyone to stay calm until this is verified.

Thanks, Cassandra -- it is alarming but it also has some troubling aspects that invite skepticism.

(I note, however, that for some reason Fodors has already pulled the comparable thread I posted there, who knows why.)

I just finished reading all that was written on the European board and all that was written pro and against President Bush, Saddam Hussein, Michael Moore and the one person whose name I could not find "Osama bin Laden".

Until bin Laden is captured and the Taliban is destroyed I cannot feel that security has improved here within my country or any other country.

Saddam Hussein was a BAD person but Osama bin Laden is EVIL and wants to destroy all that Americans are and believe in.

I am an everyday, middle-of-the-road American who votes for the person and not the party and I need bin laden to be dealt with. And, believe it or not, there are many more Americans who feel just like me!

Ed Koch, the famous (or is it infamous??) democrat who was the NYC former Mayor said he was voting for Bush because of his stance against terrorism.

After reading the article, I went to www.snopes.com to see if this has shown up there, and whether it's an urban legend or not. I couldn't find any snopes information on this, so I contacted them to see what they can find out. Hopefully, I'll hear back from them soon. Maybe someone else has already tried this route and knows more? If not, I'll try to remember and post something if and when I hear from snopes.

GoTravel and anyone else, I didn't give you the website to invite a discussion on Bush's policies -- that got the first thread pulled.

Lee4, I checked snopes and urban legends and nothing yet, but I'm sure it'll show up shortly with either a red, yellow, or green light.

I just read that whole article and my heart was beating really fast through out. Is this true??

soccr, there are 2 other threads talking about this subject tonight and I noticed that someone else referenced snopes. THey said what they found was showing up as "undetermined." I guess I didn't search correctly b/c I didn't find anything. I expect I'll get an e-mail from snopes in the next few days and they'll send me to whatever they've got on it right now.

Also, this topic was discussed on Scarborough Country on MSNBC tonight (I found out based on another thread here) and I only caught the tail end of the show. Someone said the author of the story was a guest but I didn't see her. Right now, he's got more "experts" talking. This just gets more interesting all the time. Northwest has one of their guys on saying that this was not a "dry run."

Just wanted to clarify--the MSNBC show is still talking about this subject. I thought they were finished but everytime I flip back over there, there's another person being interviewed about this subject. I guess he's covering it for his whole show tonight.

Lee, what's the final word, over-blown or,,,,,,???

A follow-up article by Annie Jacobson is now on the www.womenswallstreet website.

cigalachanta, I have to admit I kept flipping through various channels last night and didn't see every bit of the show. I do know the Jacobsons were on again at the end of the show, with Annie asking lots of questions/making comments about how officials handled this and her husband saying he won't be getting back on a plane any time soon. They seem firmly convinced that this was a dry run by terrorists. I'm not sure what to think. There is another thread on this board with more comments about that show, so you might want to check it out.

wow, i hope this story is not true but i have a feeling it it. I dont care if its racist, but i think that every person who looks like they are middle eastern should be questioned and questioned espically if they were not born in the US or are muslium, i know it seems unfair but its not the asians, blacks, whites, or christians, jews, or atheist that are blowing up planes and making threats