Wow, great article. here's an interesting bit:

This quote from the article:

"Hooper says that his attitude about whoever is behind the attacks is "go get 'em," but his job is to preserve the rights of Muslims in this country and be vigilant in that task.

He criticizes the investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks, saying that when law enforcement refers to "associates" of the terrorists, they're stretching the term. Law enforcement is using the term "associates" too loosely, he says, in a way to target Muslims.

"It's like the 'Six degrees of Kevin Bacon' game," he says. "No Muslim is more than six degrees away from Osama bin Laden." "

All I can tell you is I simply had no idea that quote (or article) existed when I made a similar comparison to the game other posters were playing. Kinda freaky to see that.

BTW, the Salon website has WAY too many pop-up ads.

Still, all that aside, the article fails to show *ANY* direct ties whatsoever between the groups and Hamas or any other organization. Not one substantive tie shown.

The claim is that these groups don't criticize various groups enough. That's about it. Oh, they do find the odd juicy bit, of course they have to go back TEN YEARS of comments and press releases, back to the old cold war days to do so...

Funny though, where are the articles criticizing Jerry Fallwell and Pat Roberts and so many other Christian groups for not condeming the Christian terror groups that stalk and murder doctors? Should we criticize the Pope for not criticizing these groups enough?

Should I be criticized for not criticizing those who don't criticize enough? What about you? Have you criticized terrorists enough today? And if not, does that make you a terrorist?

Well? Does it?

Regards,
-Bouncer-

Tom -
I'll defer to your professional qualifications on this, but for some reason I thought the organization that protect(s) foreign dignataries is called the Diplomatic Security Service?

That's a unit of the State Department (they have Diplomatic Security Special Agents). My understanding is that they guard the heads of state coming in (and the Secretary of State no matter where he is), while the Uniformed Division of the Secret Service guards the embassies in Washington (and have patrol cars). I imagine they might request assistance from the Secret Service if the head of state coming in is high profile and they need more personnel than State might be able to put together.

I was actually fortunate to tour the Secret Service Academy in Maryland shortly after it was built. They have one impressive range, where they get training with a vast array of weaponry (a lot more than local police would get).

Got it. Those were the ones guarding the King of Tonga on an SFO-HNL flight I was on a couple of years ago. I first thought they were Secret Service, but someone later corrected me that they were instead the Dept. of State unit.

The more I read about this is that I realize that the agent was a JERK and wanted to make a statement. He needs to be dismissed.

It's quite possible this mess is an issue of one of them intentionally getting a rise out of the other. I can't tell which one it would be though, it could have been either, or even both? Wouldn't it be sad if this whole thing were one of them having a chip on their shoulder, and the other wanting to prove who is boss. People are assuming prejudice or stupidity, but who knows what inflections went between them. I think something is missing...

A number of years ago, when the Pope came to Colorado, I spoke briefly with one of the uniformed Secret Service officers who was guarding the perimeter/area the pope would be coming through.

And? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

As I clearly see things in the opposite light. What do you base the recent reads you have had on... Any quotes? Any links? Or just your racist mentality getting in the way?

I for one really admire activale's debate technique of accusing the person he disagrees with of racism. I think this forum would work a whole lot better if we all did this at the end of our messages.

Before this topic degenerates, let's go back to the critical issue, that no one bothered to call the secret service to verify this agent's credentials. If there was any doubt in the pilot's mind about the agent, then the right thing was not only to deny him the flight but to also check into the background of this person who might have been impersonating a federal agent. Well, that wasn't done. As was reported, the agent flew on next morning's flight.

So which is it? Either he's a real agent and be allowed on flight, or he's an impersonator and be sent to jail. What happened was not handled properly. I think AA owes this agent an apology, and there should be an investigation to improve the security system. I don't think the captain exercised his best judgement and authority, but I'm willing to let the system deal with improved rules and guidelines for everyone involved.

It seems to me that the burden of proof lies with the agent. If the paperwork was not in order, then the pilot did the right thing.

Nice.

If you wish to play the red tape game which is what the pilot did in this case, you become involve anyone in a "no win" scenerio. The agent's id was good enough for everyone at that airport except the AA pilot. His psperwork, which was on a form that I am sure he has filled out many times was good enough for the first flight. His ID was good enough for everyone at that airport, as he was permitted to carry his gun throughout the terminal and on to the plane. The AA pilot refused to budge from his position either because he was embarrassed at the fuss he had made or because he was a bigot.

What I don't understand is how anyone on this thread can ignore the fact that one of the policemen at the airport verified his identity.

Again, I suggest that we all wait for further news to see what really happened. All of these posts accomplish absolutely nothing except possibly causing a flame war.

[This message has been edited by Rssrsvp (edited 12-30-2001).]

You said it more eloquently than I did earlier... sounds like two alpha dogs got in a p***ing match.