Posted on 01/09/2002 3:39:27 AM PST by Byron_the_Aussie
US President George W. Bush is sceptical about American Airlines' claim that it removed an Arab-American agent in Bush's security team from a plane for being "hostile".
"I know the man, I am most appreciative of his service to me and my wife. He is an honorable fellow," Bush said.
"I would be surprised if he was hostile."
The US Secret Service, which is responsible for presidential security, said in late December it had launched an inquiry into why the agent, headed to Texas to protect a holidaying Bush, was removed from the aircraft.
The agent, speaking through his lawyers, said he was barred from the Baltimore (Maryland) to Dallas (Texas) flight because of his ethnicity, amid fears sparked by the September 11 terrorist strikes.
"If he was mistreated because of his ethnicity, I'm going to be plenty hot. That means angry," Bush said.
But he added: "I wasn't there, so it's hard for me to comment on something which I did not see."
Yes he has, so there's only two possibilities; that he's noble, or he's a rogue.
The President thinks he's noble.
We just had a Muslim terrorist walk on a plane with explosives in his shoes didn't we? And perhaps the chances are small that terrorist would try the same scenario twice. But there is on common thread that runs through ALL of Bin Laden's terrorism. ALL of the acts were perpetrated by ARAB MUSLIM MEN, except for one, and he was still a Muslim. If you were a commercial pilot with hundreds in your care, not to mention your own life, would you take the chance?
So would I.
Have American muzzled the other staff on that plane?
If the agent was so 'belligerent', where are all the passenger witnesses?
He did but he agent became abusive and was so angry both the pilot and the Ops Control manager decided not to board him. A law enforcement witness backed up the pilot's version of events.
According to an LA Times article on 12/28/01:
The agent, a seven-year veteran, contacted the Council on American-Islamic Relations to express concern that he had been discriminated against because of his ethnicity."
The incident occured on 12/25, he didn't fly until 12/26, and the article appeared on 12/28.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - American Airlines' top executive defended a pilot's decision to bar an armed U.S. Secret Service agent of Arab-American descent from boarding a Christmas Day flight after the agent reacted angrily when the pilot questioned his credentials. Donald Carty, chief executive of AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, said in a weekend message left on a hotline for employees that the episode with the Secret Service agent was ''something that runs the very real risk of escalating beyond reason.'' ``I'm stepping in here because I think two things are worth making completely clear to everyone. ... I am completely convinced that our captain acted appropriately and in the best interest of security on his airplane,'' Carty said. Lawyers for the 33-year-old agent, who was traveling from Baltimore/Washington International Airport to protect a vacationing President Bush at his Texas ranch, last week accused the world's largest airline of racial discrimination.
Bush, talking to reporters at the White House, said ``if he was mistreated because of his ethnicity, I'm going to be plenty hot. That means angry.'' ``And I know the man, I am most appreciative of his service to me and my wife. He is an honorable fellow. But I don't know enough about the details of this particular incident. But I know there's an investigation going on, and I look forward to seeing it,'' Bush said. ``I would be surprised if he was hostile. But I wasn't there, so it's hard for me to comment on something which I did not see,'' he said.
The agent was identified in the media as Walied Shater, but his identity was not confirmed by the Secret Service. Security at U.S. airports remains heightened in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, which killed some 3,300 people in New York and Washington. Two of the planes hijacked and crashed belonged to American, and two belonged to UAL Corp.'s United Airlines. Pilots at American routinely deal with armed law enforcement officers aboard their planes, Carty said, and ``have a feel'' for what paperwork and behavior should be.
``In the judgement of an experienced pilot, backed by SOC (systems operations control) and law enforcement in Baltimore, this agent was not behaving appropriately,'' Carty said. ``And our captain simply was not going to let an angry man, with a gun, on his airplane, and I back that completely.''
The agent's attorneys said a single telephone call to the White House would have confirmed the man's identity. Bush, meanwhile, has said he would be ``madder than heck'' if the agent turned out to be a victim of racial profiling. Last week, Fort Worth, Texas-based American released an account of the incident by the pilot, who said the agent was ''confrontational'' and ``abusive.'' The airline said the pilot filed a letter of complaint with the Secret Service, which was investigating the incident.
What was that guy's name, again? I note that the Fort Worth (where American's hub is located) Star-Telegram saw fit to publish the agent's name, but not the pilot's. So pardon me if I'm a bit cynical as to whether the media have given each of the participants an equally fair go.
Yeah.
CAIR doesn't seem so bad, when you make that comparison. :)
News Releases FOR RELEASE: Thursday, Jan. 3, 2002 AMERICAN HOLDS FIRM ON PROTECTING THE SAFETY OF ITS PASSENGERS FORT WORTH, Texas American Airlines today said it would not be deterred from protecting the safety of its passengers by frivolous claims of racial profiling asserted by the Washington, D.C. law firm of Relman & Associates. The company said: "American carries out its security obligations according to the guidelines provided by the Federal government. Those guidelines are applied equally among all passengers, and the company vigorously resents any suggestion of racial discrimination. "Threats of lawsuits will not deter us from justly applying the security programs established to protect the tens of millions of customers who entrust us with their lives each year." American finds the "facts" released by the law firm today surprising and irresponsible since the firm has not discussed this incident with any American Airlines employee involved. Airline employees said the passenger, an armed Secret Service agent, behaved inappropriately. The airline said that, while it also would prefer to resolve this situation in an amicable way, it cannot allow misleading information to go uncorrected. American therefore feels obligated to release the attached copies of incident reports filed by the captain of Flight 363 and the manager of the airlines System Operations Control center who spoke directly with the passenger. "These reports paint a clear and consistent picture of what occurred during this agents attempt to board Flight 363," the airline said. "While well let the reports speak for themselves, we will reiterate that American will not allow any armed individual onboard, regardless of who he or she is, if that person is angry or acting in a manner that the crew believes could jeopardize the safety of the flight." American can confirm that, as stated in the captains report, he has filed a letter of complaint with the Secret Service. As this incident is now under investigation by the Secret Service, American cannot comment beyond this statement. Text of Captains Statement Misconduct of Armed Passenger Debrief Detail: Armed passenger * flight 363 BWI/DFW. Flight was scheduled to leave at 1715. I was notified that due to a mechanical at the next gate - they would hold our push for approximately 30-40 minutes to try to accommodate those pax going to DFW. A few moments later the *1 flt attendant brought to my attention that she and other flt att were concerned about the actions of one of the pax. This pax left the aircraft with carryon bags still in his seat. He told the flt att. Please dont leave without him. While the pax was away a flt att observed books in the individuals seat which were written in what she assessed was Arabic style print. Upon further investigation - when the individual came back it was determined that he was in fact our armed passenger. I then decided to stop my pre-flt and review the AA E2. The form was unreadable because it was a carbon-copy and there were missing items. I then had the agent come back and recheck his credentials and give me a new AA E2. Again this form was filled out improperly. I left my seat to speak to the individual. He appeared nervous and anxious. With all the forms that I received in error I determined that the most prudent course of action was to call dispatch to phone patch me to the SOC. I asked them to fax me a copy of what the Secret Service credentials looks like. He advised me that BWI should have this information. BWI in fact does not. We still were accommodating the connecting passengers and had time to further determine the proper credentials of this person. While all this was going on the individual approached me in front of the lead agent and asked why he was being denied boarding for so long. I disclosed to him that the paper work was not correct and that I needed to have this fixed before he would be accommodated. This was an AA issue and none of his concern. At this time the individual became very hostile with me. Upon all the information that I had up to this point - I had doubt as to his actual representation as a Special Agent for the Secret Service. 1. *Two improperly filled out AA Form E2. 2. *Flt atts bringing to my attention what appeared to be strange behavior. 3. *Hostility toward me for trying to correct my required paper work. I then had the Maryland Airport Authority police determine his proper ID by calling the Secret Service as to his legitimate status. This took about ten minutes to complete. In the interim I was given a third improperly filled out AA Form E2. This had no signature of the LEO. No initial as to the traveling status of the officer. No phone number. While the police were determining the proper status of this individual this person came up to me with loud abusive comments as to his being denied boarding. That he has the powers of the White House behind him and that this is not of [sic] the end of this matter. The police agreed with me that there was a legitimate concern because of his unprofessional behavior. This was all in full view of every passenger boarding the flight. He then said he would not board the flt. As it turned out he was an actual LEO. After the events of 9/11 and another of our fls targeted with explosives and causing injury to a flt att I absolutely felt correct in having this individuals [sic] identification validated. After three improper AA Form E2s [sic] and the behavior of this individual, I needed to be 100% sure of his credentials. If he just let us do our job of getting the paper work in order, he would have been boarded, and it would have been a pleasure to carry an armed passenger. With the lives of the entire passengers and crew, I was uncomfortable with his actions and did what a Captain should do and edge toward the side of safety and not move the aircraft until Im confident that all issues are satisfied before taking off. As a note, I am filling [sic] a misconduct report with the Secret Services Internal Affairs division. I would suggest that AA Security follow up on this matter because this individual made the entire crew uncomfortable with his actions and absolutely with his confrontational behavior toward me. The police officer who was very helpful was officer (redacted). The case # was (redacted). The Secret Service Agents name was (redacted). Passports and fraudulent IDs can easily be altered to look passable. With all the items to this event not adding up, I absolutely believe I acted in the best interest of my crew, pax and AA. Text of SOC Managers Statement: I was working as Center Manager on Christmas and received a call from Captain (employee number ) flying flight 363 from BWI/DFW. The Captain had a concern about a passenger onboard his flight. The Captain first requested a fax containing all wanted terrorist photos that American had available. I explained that this was not possible and asked exactly what problem he was encountering. He said that he received paperwork for a passenger that stated he was a Secret Service Agent and would be traveling armed. The Captain said that the paperwork contained scratched out flight numbers and may have been altered. I then suggested that the Captain request new paperwork. The Captain called back again and stated the he was still questioning the validity of this passenger working for the Secret Service because the secret service agent had failed to fill the paperwork out properly again. I asked if he had looked at the agent credentials. He said you work for the airline, you know how easy it would be to get fake I.D. I suggested that I could call the Secret Service and verify that this passenger was in fact an agent. I asked the Captain to request the agents superiors [sic] name and number. The Captain said that we should not use his information because he could have a friend answering the phone when we called. I then suggested get the local police to verify the I.D. since, being located at BWI, they would have exposure to Secret Service I.D.s and contact phone numbers. The next phone call I received was from the AA ticket agent at BWI. He said that the Secret Service agent had verbally abused the Captain and that the Captain was denying him boarding. I asked to speak to the police officer that was witness to this, who then verified what the ticket agent had stated. Based on this, I then decided to end boarding to this passenger on future AA flights. Later, I received a call from the AA ticket agent at BWI and was asked to talk to this Secret Service Agent. I then heard the Secret Service Agents side of the story. He admitted to not properly filling out the paperwork for carrying a weapon; not once, but twice. He also admitted to losing his temper with the Captain because he was asked for his ID five separate times. When he asked why he was denied future boarding, I explained that I could not expose AA crews or passengers to abuse. He said he was being discriminated against, wanted my bosses [sic] name, and threatened that he would have my job. He was going to take this to the highest authority. I asked for his superiors name and contacted him. I explained the situation to the superior. He confirmed that this man did work for the Secret Service, and would contact him. A short time later the agents superior called back and said that he was sorry for losing his temper and would like to travel out of DCA the next day. He then stated that the agent was of Middle Eastern descent. I explained to the superior that I did not know this and that there was no discrimination in the denied boarding process with SOC. I was 1,000 miles away from the situation and handled it as we would for any unruly passenger. We agreed the agent could travel the next day. SOC Center Manager American Airlines
The agent was a jerk. The fact that Bush won't say it publically means little. The lives of the passengers are vastly more important than the personal inconvenience of one of Bush's incompetent guards.
And, yes it did turn out that the jerk was a SS agent. Hindsight is marvelous. Few of us have the same quality of foresight. If we did, we could put the Las Vegas gaming establishment out of business overnight.
Apparently you and the jerks' defenders have a prophet's all-discerning foresight and perfect judgment of character. You are the solution to the problem. All of you must hire yourselves out to the airlines (top dollar, of course, in a bow to your impressive skills). They can rip out the metal detectors and do away with the pat downs and searches, for you will stand on a platform and gaze Sphinx-like over the mass of humanity as it passes below you.
As you spot each real terrorist, you can snap your fingers and alert a security agent standing by to violently tackle and arrest the terrorist. There will be no need to be gentle about it, for your judgment is perfect and will always be correct.
It's a perfect solution. Bush's pistol carrying jackass agents get on without a hassle, no law-abiding passenger is harmed, all terrorists are removed, and the airlines need no longer worry about their planes crashing into buildings and lawsuits that might bankrupt them.
What are you waiting for? Call American Airlines now! Save us all from inconvenience and make a pile of money while you're at it!
Ya think? You really think that Bush wasn't a target? Would you mind explaining what terrorist whispered in your ear that Bush was never intended as a target. Thanks.
I'm too busy beating my wife to answer silly questions like that, okay?
These security hassles are going to have to apply to everyone or no one. I hope the agent who started all this mess finds himself standing in the unemployment line before the week is out.
Her's the math Byron:
Belligerence + gun + improper paperwork = get your butt off the plane
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