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Routine Turned to Mayhem on Terror Flight
Wall Street Journal ^ | December 26, 2009 | Neal Boudette and Andy Pasztor

Posted on 12/26/2009 3:46:57 AM PST by reaganaut1

Seconds after passengers spotted flames climbing above the back of a window seat midway down the left side of Northwest Flight 253, Friday's routine descent toward Detroit's main airport turned into horror, mayhem and instant heroism.

Just as the widebody Airbus A330 made a rumbling sound as the landing gear started down, horrified travelers in seats around the young Nigerian later detained as a terrorism suspect started screaming, according to eyewitness reports by passengers. Flight attendants quickly joined the hubbub around the man in seat 19A, repeatedly screaming "What are you doing?"

There was a pop and then smoke wafted through the cabin. A passenger then climbed over several seats, lunged across the aisle and managed to subdue the suspect, the eyewitnesses said. The Nigerian man was placed in a headlock before being dragged up to the first class cabin. Passenger Zeina Seagal told CNN that after the suspect was collared and parts of his burning pants were removed, flight attendants quickly grabbed fire extinguishers and doused the fire at his seat.

"We saw the fear in the flight attendants eyes" when they ran in the aisles and "grabbed the fire extinguishers," Michelle Keepman, a passenger who had been seated near the back of the plane, recalled.

Many of those seated further back didn't initially understand the reason for all the commotion. Roey Rosenblith [...] was in seat 38J, near the rear exits, when he heard the sounds of a struggle coming from many rows ahead. "People were yelling and screaming," he recalled hours later in an interview [...].

When a flight attendant sprinted down the aisle past his seat and then ran back in the opposite direction clutching a fire extinguisher, Mr. Rosenblith realized something was seriously wrong, he recounted. "At that point everybody was terrified."

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: abdulmutallab; airbusa330; amsterdam; flight253; nigeria; terrorism
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To: hennie pennie

You can bet this dirty muslim had inside help from fellow muslims working at the Amsterdam airport.


21 posted on 12/26/2009 4:58:59 AM PST by jimbo123
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To: reaganaut1

Too bad the perp wasn’t beaten to death. Has CAIR posted bail yet?


22 posted on 12/26/2009 5:02:26 AM PST by pnh102 (Regarding liberalism, always attribute to malice what you think can be explained by stupidity. - Me)
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To: Paige
This is my complaint with TSA. People such as myself (white, blond, blue eyed) get tagged and morons like this one who have the INTENT to kill innocent people are not once tagged.

No kidding. I personally like how they do things in Israel. If you're a-rab or muslim, you get the third degree.

23 posted on 12/26/2009 5:05:06 AM PST by pnh102 (Regarding liberalism, always attribute to malice what you think can be explained by stupidity. - Me)
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To: reaganaut1
A passenger then ... The Nigerian man was placed in a headlock...

Folks there should make sure the perp doesn't bite his lip. Don't want the passenger to turn into a defendant for punching the perp.

24 posted on 12/26/2009 5:09:39 AM PST by C210N (A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take everything you have)
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To: Kartographer
we are all first responders in the war we now find ourselves in
True, particularly on airplanes. I think we all learned the lesson of 9/11 on airplanes: sitting docilely, not rocking-the-boat, is not the way to save your life in an airplane hostage situation.
25 posted on 12/26/2009 5:12:53 AM PST by samtheman
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To: bgill
And now cameraman is wandering the streets of the US free as a bird. Hope they’re re-checking the manifest closely for any and all accomplices.

Maybe they should just find the passenger I heard being interviewed while I listened to the news on my radio this morning. Let's just say that it didn't seem to me as if English were his mother tongue.

ML/NJ

26 posted on 12/26/2009 5:16:08 AM PST by ml/nj
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To: narses

Did the terrorist feel the thrill run up his leg? Hope he burnt his package.


27 posted on 12/26/2009 5:16:28 AM PST by 70th Division (I love my country but fear my government!)
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To: narses
Nice. Those oh so tolerant, civilized Dutchmen.

Actually my experience at the Amsterdam airport a number of years ago would have me believe that their security procedures are much better than ours. They actually have a person ask you questions; and presumably evaluate your answers. (The Israelis do this too.)

ML/NJ

28 posted on 12/26/2009 5:21:27 AM PST by ml/nj
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To: reaganaut1

Should have broke his neck

Or at very least Rodney King beatdown.....


29 posted on 12/26/2009 5:36:48 AM PST by njslim
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To: jimbo123

Thank you!!! You would think that a CIC would take a few moments to make a statement on the incident, thank the hero and reassure the public. Even Clinton did that when the Oklahoma city bomber was caught. But this creep in Hawaii has not A CLUE!!


30 posted on 12/26/2009 5:41:55 AM PST by SueRae
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To: reaganaut1

He certainly was a hero. Thank God he was there.


31 posted on 12/26/2009 5:45:28 AM PST by McGavin999
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To: bmwcyle

The passengers didn’t actually get to beat on him, but he was put in a headlock...does that count?


32 posted on 12/26/2009 5:46:22 AM PST by Apple Blossom (Politicians are like diapers, they both need changed regularly, and for the same reason.)
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To: Kartographer

“...we are all first responders in the war we now find ourselves in.”

It is time we exercised that responsibility regarding the out-of-control Congress dealing death and distruction to our liberties and to this country.


33 posted on 12/26/2009 5:53:07 AM PST by GGpaX4DumpedTea (I am a tea party descendant - steeped in the Constitutional legacy handed down by the Founders)
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To: narses

Wait, so this guy can go to college in London, but Savage is banned from the country? Nicer


34 posted on 12/26/2009 5:54:22 AM PST by AdamBomb
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To: Paige
This is my complaint with TSA. People such as myself (white, blond, blue eyed) get tagged and morons like this one who have the INTENT to kill innocent people are not once tagged.

It is because everyone knows the KKK is making such a big comeback in the US. At least that is what they said on the TV the other night when they were promoting a special report to run next when.

Us white folks are going to soon be demonized again to cover for Obiwans incompetence.

35 posted on 12/26/2009 5:57:35 AM PST by suijuris
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To: reaganaut1

If this happens again, all normal people should pile on the terrorist. Jump on him. Grab his weapon. Try to put out the fire. Do something - or it’s a plane crash and everybody dies. Better to be injured or burned than have the plane go down.


36 posted on 12/26/2009 5:58:42 AM PST by Leftism is Mentally Deranged
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To: reaganaut1

Wonder if the “passenger” was a sky marshal?


37 posted on 12/26/2009 6:01:47 AM PST by kittymyrib
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To: SueRae
You would think that a CIC would take a few moments to make a statement...

Statement: "The Dutchman acted stupidly. We must wait until all the facts are in before judging the Nigerian whose pants alledgly caught fire."

38 posted on 12/26/2009 6:08:27 AM PST by CPOSharky (Maybe nuclear winter would cure global warming.)
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To: reaganaut1

Was it a Northwest flight or a Delta flight? This article says Northwest, the photo on Fox web site says Delta.


39 posted on 12/26/2009 6:19:19 AM PST by ops33 (Senior Master Sergeant, USAF (Retired))
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To: SueRae

Well, he is off the mainland, and the govt. did say it was a terrorist attack, unlike Ft. Hood, where he ‘dithered.” Maybe he should play MORE golf, he does a lot less damage that way.


40 posted on 12/26/2009 6:22:50 AM PST by Tuscaloosa Goldfinch ( T.G., global warming denier.)
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