cargo hopeful

American turned Muslim pilot on terror watch list :

Yahoo!

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⌐ AV8OR WANNABE

There's no doubt TSA will adopt a knee-jerk approach every now and then when dealing with potential risks and I think those individuals who're affected should have a chance to clear their names whether in courts or through other means. I truly feel sorry for this gentleman and his family.

Having said that I strongly support profiling and believe we should learn from the Israelis when it comes to airline safety. I know I’ll get some nasty posts for saying this but we need to acknowledge that the vast majority of today’s terrorists come from certain, primarily Muslim countries. I believe common sense should prevail and we should spend extra time researching people that might be a higher risk to our safety.

If I came from a country or a region that was infamous for being a major 'exporter' of terrorism I'd be very understanding if I found myself being screened more often than others. Many recent bombings in Spain and the UK have shown that some of the Western converts can be just as aggressive and vicious if not more so than the terrorist who actually came from the Muslim countries. Therefore I think it’s understandable why the TSA gets so nervous about some of those converts working in highly sensitive areas, such as airplane cockpits.

It’s very unfair toward the innocent individuals and I hope they, and this gentleman in particular will have a chance to clear their names – however we should remember that it is the Muslim terrorists and not the TSA who should be blamed for his fate.

I sincerely hope he’ll be able to resume his aviation career soon…

Just my worthless 1/2¢ on that subject.

MrBigAir

Good understandable points, but this is America, where I am allowed (nay, I have the RIGHT) to believe in whatever I darn well please AND be innocent before being PROVED guilty without incrimination.

It is the TSA's fault and more to the point our fault, because we've allowed them to pull this secret mumbo-jumbo stuff over us, without an adequate system in place that allows for appeals and transparency. This is an American citizen who served his country in its military and he can't get a straight answer as to why he's on some secret list at the risk of losing his livelihood. Today it's him, tomorrow it will be you, and at some point it will be all of us for whatever whims our overlords decide upon.

The point should not be "who comes from where with what kind of history" which might make sense today, but rather "where and what will these procedures lead to next?" Tyrannies are created in the name of safety.

rickair7777

Both sides of this one have valid arguments...

The guy looks squeeky clean on paper, but none of us know WHY he was put on the watch list. Presumably due to his wife's associations, and we have no way of knowing whether or not there might be some shady links. It's entirely likely, even probable, that one who is active in the muslim-immigrant community could rub elbows with bona fide AQ types...possibly without knowing who they are. If we had ALL the info, we might be more supportive of the goverment's decision.

But we do need some sort of oversight on these sorts of programs...the government makes mistakes, and is often staffed by narrow-minded people who, if left unchecked, might not always do the right thing.

There is a very legit requirement to maintain the integrity of our national intelligence capabilities...disclosure of some info compromises system capabilities or, in the case of HUMINT, blows the source out of the water.

I think there should be a national board, consisting of congresspeople (or their delegates), intel community officers, and a federal judge or two which would review and arbitrate such complaints in a classified forum. This would not provide the individual with all the details of the intel involved, but would hopefully provide a balanced judgement taing into account the strength of the suspicions and the needs of the person involved.

Ultimately the reason the government can do this sort of thing is becaues they are not infringing on "rights", but rather privileges...nobody has a constitutional right to air travel or 121 employment. If they told you that you could not leave your home state or city, that would be a different story. But in this case there's still greyhound, amtrack, and avis

Mason32

Interesting story. We know the 9-11 history that they bad guys will work for decades to plan, stage, and execute their plans.

If this is a case, like many others, of his name and info matching another person who does belong on the watch list, then it should be resolved soon without too much more trouble.

The problem comes in to play if he IS the person they meant to put on a watch list. They very well may have information that can not be released to the public that would effect an on-going investigation. This could easily be an effort to test the system as well... nice squeaky clean guy, former US military, recent islamic convert.... this is a tough one to call. I am SURE they had a valid reason for putting him on the watch list... weather or not they can make the reason public is another matter.

I expect, that if it is an on-going investigation, the court hearing will go closed session, with records sealed... and based on the goverment's case the judge will either uphold the position on the watch list - and issue an injunction prohibiting public release of the information; or he/she will order him removed from the watch list.

as devil's advocate, the days of them being able to buy a ticket and take a chance at getting into the flight deck are much much harder than ever before in our history. If they truly wanted to repeat their past success, I can think of no better way than to get their people into jobs as pilots....

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grdownflaps22

I hate to be the one to say this, but in our initial ground school systems class at Colgan, he raised his hand and asked what a "static wick" was.

Needless to say, we were all stunned.

DAL4EVER

I think a static wick is what he needs to shave with.

KDUA

interesting story,,, I don't know the story 100%. I can tell you that there are shiiiiiiit load of muslim pilots flying for us airlines, or regional airlines (I'm one of them). How come we never get in to any trouble!!!!!!

good luck guys!!!

MD10PLT

The guy at the end of the tape gets it right. Did this guy have due process before his liberty was taken away. I think this is what makes people so mad about these cases. I have no problem with what happens to these people as long as the government allows for due process.

There have been quite a few high profile people convicted of espionage over the years, so you never know. This guy could be one of them, but at least let him have his day court.

KC10 FATboy

I watched the video, very scary body language coming from her when she is asked the pointed questions. Her eyes wonder left and they start unusual blinking. She isn't observed doing this during the other parts of the video. There's a lot of research which suggests that she's lying.

The reality is, we have no idea why they could be on the watch list. But the bull**** part is that they aren't being told why.

KDUA said it best, there are a lot of muslims flying as paxs or as airline professionals who aren't on the list.

This is either a case of the government once again fcked up or theres some damning information on them.