...and he is still alive because...???
Posted on 07/04/2002 11:52:56 PM PDT by varina davis
Edited on 04/29/2004 2:00:48 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
I bet he would. This is ugly.
The FBI is somewhat short-handed at the moment. Most of their administrative personnel are in front of microphones explaining to anybody who'll listen that an Egyptian-born man who leaves a note on his door to "Read the Koran", and that sprays gunfire on strangers at an Israeli airline is merely a troubled individual having an "isolated" moment.
As for the FBI agents, most of them are in class learning to tell the difference between a Pontiac and an Accord, followed by target practice shooting Boy Scout profiles at a range of 3 feet.
I'm sure that wasn't difficult.
Jetliners could still be a threat, through potential terrorists who are already behind the stick in the cockpits. It seems like all the Middle Eastern, (and I'm sure some American and Eurpopean) airliners would have some potential kamikazes in their ranks.
...and he is still alive because...???
It's possible that he's more a victim of Saddam Hussein's taste in women than of his mother's taste in men.
It does seem like they might ask him a few questions before they buy him a ticket home -- like what was he doing in the U.S. four days before 9/11.
Yes! And his interest in aviation shows an ambition to follow in his father's footsteps, professionally. I'd guess that Saddam makes him wanna puke over what Hussein did to his father, and his actions support that conclusion. Actually, he might be USEFUL in U.S. plans for a massive, forceful ouster of Saddam!
This seems very unlikely to me. Why did he enter the U.S. on a tourist visa to go to the same flight school used by one of the 9/11 hijackers, for recertification of his license to fly a 747? If it were all on the up and up, he would have gotten the proper visa.
I agree it is of concern WHY he fibbed about his purpose for visiting the U.S. Of course, he would have known that, had he volunteered the 'whole truth', he likely would not have been granted the tourist visa. While his actions are somewhat suspicious, my only point is that we not turn a blind eye to the possibility that he might truly hate Saddam for the blatant wife-stealing of his mother from his father (whom he possibly admires and loves deeply) by that true-blue, faithful Islamic servant of Allah: Sad-Dam Hussein!
I hope this is a smoke screen. He should be questioned for a long, long time and made miserable enough to give some answers.
Of course that's true -- enrolling in a flight school is not what a tourist visa is for. He should have applied for a student visa. If he really were an Iraqi dissident, perhaps he could have made arrangements to do this.
But your point is well-taken. We don't know the true story here; there appear to be a lot of twists and turns.
I can't help thinking that this apprehension was publicized so as to be a feather in the cap of the INS/FBI/CIA. It's starting to backfire, as people start asking
a) Why did Saffi think no one would notice his entry/exit into the U.S.?
b) Why wasn't he stopped at the New Zealand end?
c) Why didn't the flight school check to see if he had a student visa?
d) Why was it so easy for a prominently linked Iraqi to exit/enter the US before 9/11?
According to Orlando Salinas of Fox News, they are hurrying up the deportation -- can't wait to get rid of what should have been good PR, gone sour. (BTW, he is being held in the same detention center as Hassoun, the Fort Lauderdale IBF founder, linked to Padilla, probably a much bigger fish in the big picture, though everyone seems to have forgotten about his existence.)
I bet he would. This is ugly.
Hmmm... makes one wonder a little more about the recent 'isolated incident' over Germany...
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