Posted on 10/03/2007 7:30:01 AM PDT by SmithL
OAKLAND -- Oakland International Airport officials apologized for prohibiting a planeload of U.S. troops, just back from Iraq, from entering the passenger terminal during a layover Thursday, prompting conservative pundits and bloggers to hold up the incident as an example of the "Left Coast" dishonoring soldiers.
"We apologize, I apologize to any members of the military that were on this flight and may have experienced some discomfort or perception of disrespect," said Omar Benjamin, executive director of the Port of Oakland, which operates the airport.
"There was no disrespect intended" when North American Airlines Flight 1777 was directed to wait two hours at a remote part of the airport, Benjamin said. The plane was on its way from Iraq to Hawaii.
Benjamin's apology came in the face of conflicting reports circulating across the nation painting the airport in the liberal-leaning Bay Area as a poster child for disrespect toward U.S. troops.
Although the airport said its decision was made "together with the TSA," the Transportation Security Administration denied playing a role.
"We didn't play any role in this," said TSA spokesman Nico Melendez, referring reporters to a statement posted Tuesday on the agency's Web site:
The statement said, "At no time were service men and women prohibited from entering the sterile (secure) area of Oakland International Airport by TSA personnel or regulations. Airport officials, the airline and ground handling company coordinated the arrival and all services associated with this flight."
At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, airport officials said they did not realize that the soldiers had been screened during previous stopovers in Kuwait and New York. They also were unaware that some of the troops, reportedly Marines, had meant to see locals during their two-hour layover, said Deborah Ale-Flint, the airport's assistant director of aviation.
Hilltop Aviation, which was contracted to provide ground services for North American Airlines Flight 1777, had said there were weapons aboard the flight, the passengers had not been screened, and did not tell the airport "that some of the service men and women onboard anticipated meeting family and friends," Ale-Flint said.
"If this information had been shared in advance," she said, "there would have been a different outcome."
As evidence of that, Ale-Flint noted that Hilltop had made such arrangements for an earlier North American flight that same day, and those troops were permitted inside the airport.
Authorities familiar with those events confirmed that the other flight's passengers were screened and allowed into the airport's secure boarding area. They also said that TSA members advised airport officials on procedures for screening the second flight, if needed.
A woman answering the phone at Hilltop in Oakland said the manager of the office was the only person who could respond to questions about the issue, and he was out Tuesday and could not be reached.
The debate sparked by the incident has put Oakland's airport in the same political arena as Democrat and Republican jockeying to show who best supports and honors troops while debating pulling them out of Iraq.
Last week, Democrats, including Rep. Jerry McNerney of Pleasanton, blasted conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh for labeling Iraq war veterans who protest the war as "phony vets."
Now, conservative bloggers and pundits are pointing to Oakland, "not far from San Francisco," notes Fox News pundit John Gibson, as a place where "the welcome mat was not out" for Iraq veterans. Gibson, citing an e-mail from a chaplain who had been on the flight sent to neoconservative National Review writer Michael Ledeen, said that the exclusion was "not a security measure."
"This smacks of the bad old days in the Bay Area when returning Vietnam vets were spat upon," Gibson writes on the Fox News Web site.
Airport officials repeatedly said they had the utmost respect for the nation's military. They said many port and city officials had served in the armed forces, including the president of the port's board and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums.
A former Marine, Dellums issued a statement that U.S. troops "deserve only the utmost respect for their service to our country" and that he had asked the port "to look into these matters and work closely with airport personnel to ensure that this type of situation never happens again."
Maybe I missed it...why exactly were they held up?
Just over the bridge from San Francisco....hater of anything military.
The administrators of the Oakland Airport are a not patriots nor are they Americans. They’re scum-bucket, low-life amoeba that walk around posing as humans.
I accept their apology.
I believe the folks in Oakland are more patriotic than the homo’s across the bay.
But then my cat is more patriotic than the homo’s in San Fransisssyco. LOL
This is an obvious CYA moment for the airport ... they have done stuff like this before. An apology is NO WHERE near enough
And on snopes board and kos they are claiming it is a hoax.
If you read the TSA statement in the context of just their website, it reads like it never happened as well.
THE PASSENGERS HAD NOT BEEN SCREENED!?!? What the? Cute: Flight 1777...our Founding Fathers would be writhing in their graves.
and may have experienced some discomfort or perception of disrespect," said Omar Benjamin, executive director of the Port of Oakland, which operates the airport. "There was no disrespect intended"
Sounds like same ol’, same ol’...with apologies.
Why is it people can show their true colors, apologize, and think that everything will be passed over.
What morons. No guts. No truth.
THIS WAS NOT AN OVERSIGHT, AND NO AMERICAN WHO HAS AN OUNCE OF COMMON SENSE CAN SEE IT AS ANYTHING BUT A LEFTIST ASSAULT (AS USUAL) ON OUR MILITARY.
I like how the Oakland Airport tried to pin it on the TSA.
Just over the bridge from San Francisco
More importantly, one city south of Beserkeley, where I need to bring a passport whenever I visit, so I can re-enter the US when I leave!
Given who the passengers were that would have been the safest flight ever.
I wonder what Hilltop has to say about all this. I wonder if the airport tried to pin it on TSA, and upon seeing that fail, are gunning for Hilltop.
Posting it larger and in bold doesn’t make it true.
I’ve seen military-chartered flights and even USAF flights that were handled much worse. Any soldier who’s sat with his gear for six hours on the tarmac, in the sun, with no local facilities, will tell you that. Was the US Army and USAF conducting a “leftist assault on our military”?
Anybody who flies regularly knows that airports, airlines and the TSA are screwed up. I hate it, but I don’t take it personally.
We need to target our real enemies, not make up new ones.
Liars. Caught again. Excuses made. Excuses accepted by the MSM whine bag socialists. But the fact remains, liars. Phony American Troop supporters.
Bull Sh!t
This is the 2nd time it's happened there.
They reported this on FOX last night... but there was no apology from Oakland. The story simply ended with Brit saying that the charter didn’t go through the ‘correct proceedures’.
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