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Clumsy Attempt to Bypass Airport Security Or Pinging the System? (analysis)
STRATFOR ^
| 9.11.06
Posted on 09/12/2006 11:53:42 AM PDT by gopwinsin04
Yemeni-born U.S. citizen Mohammed Ghanem was arraigned in a Wayne County, Mich., court Sept. 9 after he allegedly tried to pass through a security checkpoint at Detroit Metro Airport with a knife concealed in a hollowed-out book.
Although the incident probably was not a militant hijacking attempt, it does raise red flags because militants have been known to use similar tactics to gauge security at airports.
Ghanem, a busboy from the Detroit suburb of Hamtramck, which has a large Yemeni immigrant population, was arrested Sept. 7 after he tried to pass through an airport metal detector with the knife. The fact that Ghanem was holding a one-way ticket to Yemen via Jordan on Royal Jordanian Airlines probably first attracted the attention of screeners.
Ghanem's reasons for having the knife are unclear, though his lawyer said Ghanem was traveling to Yemen to get married and "didn't know where the knife came from." He was jailed on a $500,000 bond for possessing a weapon in the sterile area of an airport.
Although it is possible Ghanem is a mentally disturbed individual who was seeking to carry out a lone-wolf attack as the fifth anniversary of 9/11 approached, it seems more possible that he was pinging the system to test security response.
In other words, what would seem like a clumsy attempt to smuggle a knife into a secure area in reality could have been intended to get him caught.
The 9/11 hijackers carried out dry runs during the summer of 2001, and Abdel Basit (aka Ramzi Yousef), one of the masterminds of the failed Operation Bojinka plot to blow up multiple airliners over the Pacific Ocean, carried out a dry run aboard Philippine Airlines Flight 434 in December 1994.
In that case, the device detonated but did not destroy the aircraft.
(Excerpt) Read more at stratfor.com ...
TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: Michigan; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: detroit; hamtramck; knife; plane; yemen
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To: gopwinsin04
Send him straight to GitMo.
2
posted on
09/12/2006 11:55:38 AM PDT
by
xcamel
(Press to Test, Release to Detonate)
To: gopwinsin04
"a knife concealed in a hollowed-out book. Although the incident probably was not a militant hijacking attempt"
Most people cut a hole in their books to store things in. I feel like I must be in The Twilight Zone"
3
posted on
09/12/2006 11:57:01 AM PDT
by
kempster
To: kempster
'Ghanem's reasons for having the knife are unclear, though his lawyer said Ghanem was traveling to Yemen to get married and "didn't know where the knife came from."
To: xcamel
Send him straight to
GitMo Hell.
fixed
5
posted on
09/12/2006 12:00:26 PM PDT
by
Ouderkirk
(Don't you think it's interesting how death and destruction seems to happen wherever Muslims gather?)
To: gopwinsin04
Ghanem, a busboy from the Detroit suburb of Hamtramck, which has a large Yemeni immigrant population . . . Why? What is the purpose of letting a large Yemeni immigrant population settle here?
6
posted on
09/12/2006 12:01:41 PM PDT
by
Vigilanteman
(Are there any men left in Washington? Or are there only cowards? Ahmad Shah Massoud)
To: gopwinsin04
"Ghanem is a mentally disturbed individual who was seeking to carry out a lone-wolf attack.." There's the ping for you...
Seattle Jewish center shooter - "mentally disturbed..."
SF "drive over" killer - "mentally disturbed..."
Carolina mow down killer - "mentally disturbed..."
DC Snipers - "mentally disturbed..."
I guess being a muslim killer in the US makes you immediately "mentally disturbed..."
7
posted on
09/12/2006 12:04:42 PM PDT
by
xcamel
(Press to Test, Release to Detonate)
To: gopwinsin04
Although it is possible Ghanem is a mentally disturbed individual who was seeking to carry out a lone-wolf attack as the fifth anniversary of 9/11 approached, it seems more possible that he was pinging the system to test security response.
Of course he is. All the Muslim killers here are mentally disturbed. The Seattle Jewish community center shooter, the San Francisco bumper care driver, the North Carolina student in his rental car, etc., etc., etc.
LBT
-=-=-
8
posted on
09/12/2006 12:04:43 PM PDT
by
LiberalBassTurds
(R.I.P. Christopher. We will never forget and have done our best to avenge.)
To: gopwinsin04
Don't all copies of the Koran come with a knife inside the cover?
9
posted on
09/12/2006 12:05:05 PM PDT
by
Alouette
(Psalms of the Day: 90-96)
To: xcamel
LMAO, great minds. You obviously type faster. :-)
LBT
-=-=-
10
posted on
09/12/2006 12:05:29 PM PDT
by
LiberalBassTurds
(R.I.P. Christopher. We will never forget and have done our best to avenge.)
To: gopwinsin04
Or--the buggers might have determined than they can economically destroy the airlines by pulling one of these stunts everyday.
To: xcamel
Add the LAX terminal shooter to yout list...
To: LiberalBassTurds
geeez.... great minds think alike....
13
posted on
09/12/2006 12:06:24 PM PDT
by
xcamel
(Press to Test, Release to Detonate)
To: gopwinsin04
though his lawyer said Ghanem was traveling to ......know where the knife came from." Oh BS you know exactly where it came from and you were testing to see if you would get caught. Now that you are busted you're on your way to Gitmo, where you will be tried as a terrorist and executed by drowning in pigs blood
14
posted on
09/12/2006 12:06:32 PM PDT
by
Ouderkirk
(Don't you think it's interesting how death and destruction seems to happen wherever Muslims gather?)
To: gopwinsin04
Ghanem, a busboy from the Detroit suburb of Hamtramck He could afford to buy a ticket to Jordan on a busboy's pay? Must take in a whole lot of tips.
15
posted on
09/12/2006 12:06:35 PM PDT
by
Alouette
(Psalms of the Day: 90-96)
To: Vigilanteman
Why? What is the purpose of letting a large Yemeni immigrant population settle here? Diversity my FRiend....we need Yemeni retards in America for diversity....and to make sure we pay no mind to the man behind the curtain.....;)
16
posted on
09/12/2006 12:07:02 PM PDT
by
ScreamingFist
(Annihilation - The result of underestimating your enemies. NRA)
To: xcamel
Send him straight to GitMo. Send him HALFWAY to Gitmo and let him swim the rest of the way!
17
posted on
09/12/2006 12:07:10 PM PDT
by
ExSES
(the "bottom-line")
To: gopwinsin04
18
posted on
09/12/2006 12:08:01 PM PDT
by
talleyman
(Kerry & the Surrender-Donkey Treasoncrats - trashing the troops for 40 years.)
To: xcamel
Hehe, no doubt. :-) See #10.
All the best!
LBT
-=-=-
19
posted on
09/12/2006 12:09:17 PM PDT
by
LiberalBassTurds
(R.I.P. Christopher. We will never forget and have done our best to avenge.)
To: gopwinsin04
Although the incident probably was not a militant hijacking attempt, it does raise red flags because militants have been known to use similar tactics to gauge security at airports. Who is stupid enough to believe that b.s.? What moron would make such a ridiculous conclusion based on the FACT that he was trying to smuggle a knife onboard the plane?
20
posted on
09/12/2006 12:11:35 PM PDT
by
demkicker
(democrats and terrorists are intimate bedfellows)
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