Free Republic

got an instant chill when I looked at him. I got this grip in my stomach and then, of course, I gave myself a political correct slap…I thought, “My God, Michael, these are just a couple of Arab businessmen.” That was ticket agent Michael Tuohey’s recollection of his encounter with Mohammed Atta at the check-in desk of U.S. Airways in Portland on the morning of September 11, 2001. For Tuohey, the fear of being politically incorrect was greater than his instinctive fear. Better to take the remote risk of a terrorist act than the more immediate risk of being thought...

SCARBOROUGH, Maine - The alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was angered when he learned he had to undergo security screening between flights on the morning of the suicide attacks, a former U.S. Airways ticket agent says. Michael Tuohey of Scarborough said he was suspicious of Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari when they rushed through the Portland International Jetport to make their flight to Boston that day. Atta’s demeanor and the pair’s first-class, one-way tickets to Los Angeles made Tuohey think twice about them. “I said to myself, ’If this guy doesn’t look like an Arab terrorist, then...

Michael Tuohey sobbed with grief after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He also felt guilt. A U.S. Airways ticket agent at the time, Tuohey had handed boarding passes to Mohamed Atta and Abdul Aziz Alomari that morning as they rushed to make their flight at Portland International Jetport. In the days after Atta and his fellow suicide hijackers killed close to 3,000 people at the World Trade Center, Tuohey held himself at least partly responsible. He was suspicious of them, he said, but did nothing. Later, as he watched news reports of the towers crumbling, of people jumping from...

An airline ticket agent who checked in hijacker Mohamed Atta the morning of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks says he had a feeling he was looking at an Arab terrorist but gave in to political correctness and let him through. Michael Tuohey, who works for U.S. Airways in Portland, Maine, told his story recently to Michael Smerconish, Philadelphia Daily News columnist and author of "Flying Blind: How Political Correctness Continues to Compromise Airline Safety Post-9/11." Touhey now kicks himself for not acting, but Smerconish says if he had, the federal government probably would have punished him, noting three major airlines...

An airline ticket agent who checked in hijacker Mohamed Atta the morning of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks says he had a feeling he was looking at an Arab terrorist but gave in to political correctness and let him through. Michael Tuohey, who works for U.S. Airways in Portland, Maine, told his story recently to Michael Smerconish, Philadelphia Daily News columnist and author of "Flying Blind: How Political Correctness Continues to Compromise Airline Safety Post-9/11." Touhey now kicks himself for not acting, but Smerconish says if he had, the federal government probably would have punished him, noting three major airlines...

MICHAEL Tuohey "stared the devil in the eyes and didn't recognize him." Now he kicks himself for not having acted, although if he had, our government probably would've punished him for trying to take the devil down. Until recently, Tuohey worked the ticket counter at the airport in Portland, Maine, first for Allegheny Airlines, and then its successor, US Airways. He'll never forget one particular day of his 34 years of employment. It began like any other. This married Army vet had a routine. He'd wake up at 3:30 a.m. and walk to the kitchen to grab a cup of...