I did find it interesting that the witness for the Secret Service Agent apparently had no financial or employee connection with American Airlines. He also apparently had no other connection with either the Agent or the Service other than ending up in the next seat.

Just a random PAX like any of the rest of us.

If this is the case, then he's the most disinterested (read objective) viewpoint of the whole fiasco for everything he witnessed. At least the part on the aircraft. That his reported description of events differs in tone and viewpoint from the crew is.. well.. surprising. I thought the crew were supposed to be acting professional.

It also speaks very poorly of the AA personnel if they failed to mention that the *reason* he left the aircraft was at *their* request. If that is the case and they played those kind of word games in their report, it makes the other parts of their statement less reliable.

I'd be very interested in hearing more from that passenger or others nearby, as well as the police officer in the airport. To me, they seem the least self-interested and the most likely to give us a clearer picture of what actually was happening, since their careers aren't directly affected by this.

As always, YMMV.

Regards,
-Bouncer-