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I found this disturbing article on World Net Daily's webpage. I thought I would share it with you and ask what action, if any, we should take, if any one of us were on this flight...
WND Exclusive TRAIL OF TERROR
Are officials hiding details in hijacking 'dry run'?
Airline silent on witness' testimony of mock shootings aboard plane
Posted: December 06, 2009
2:20 am Eastern
Michael Carl
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
Dr. Keith Robinson
Testimony of a passenger in the gate of Nov. 17 AirTran Flight 297 suggests the airline may be deliberately leaving out key details of an onboard incident that affirm widespread speculation the flight was the subject of a "dry run" by Muslim terrorists.
Dr. Keith Robinson, a Houston, Texas, chaplain who occasionally works through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, told WND he is standing by his written account of the incident, which includes testimony that a passenger told him Arabic men sang, danced and pretended to shoot the other passengers before the plane was returned to the gate.
None of these details have been addressed in AirTran's account of what happened aboard Flight 297.
As WND reported, an e-mailed account of an incident aboard the flight bound from Atlanta to Houston told of a dozen Arabic men causing a disturbance aboard the jet as it taxied to the runway, ultimately prompting pilots to return to the gate.
The author of the e-mail, Tedd Petruna of Houston, created a media and Internet firestorm with his account of what happened on the plane:
"If this wasn't a dry run, I don't know what one is. The terrorists wanted to see how TSA would handle it, how the crew would handle it, and how the passengers would handle it," he wrote. "I'm telling this to you because I want you to know. … The threat is real. I saw it with my own eyes."
Get "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America," autographed, from WND's Superstore
Since then, AirTran has released a line-by-line rebuttal of Petruna's email, in which it further asserts that according to flight manifests, Petruna wasn't even aboard the flight he claimed to witness.
The official version of the Transportation Security Administration says that the plane returned to the gate because an unruly passenger refused to end a cell phone conversation.
Robinson's testimony, however, suggests there is more to the story.
(Story continues below)
Robinson, who was in the gate watching his plane presumably leave without him, says the jet then returned after a 30-minute wait, and a number of passengers and airline employees were visibly upset.
"Over the next 30 minutes officials from AirTran started arriving at the gate, flashing their badges and going down to the plane," Robinson said. "After 6-7 officials exited the door, suddenly it flew open and 12-15 people from the flight hurried off the plane. Anger and fear was etched on their faces as they jerked their carry-ons and tore into their computer bags to schedule another flight out of Atlanta."
Robinson spoke with a passenger who had gotten off AirTran Flight 297, and the passenger said a number of Middle Eastern men had made a scene on the plane.
"One gentleman confronted the gate agent demanding his luggage be removed from the flight. As I spoke to him, he related that when Flight 297 left the concourse the first time, it began taxiing to take off. Then approximately 12 men of Middle Eastern appearance stood up and began dancing and singing in an Arabic dialect," the chaplain relates.
"They refused to be seated when directed to do so by the flight attendants. Then, the singing stopped and some of the men took out their cell phones and began taking pictures of the other individual passengers. Again, the men were ordered to be seated by the flight crew and refused while continuing to take their pictures. Next, the de‐boarded passenger related that a few of the men gestured with imaginary guns as their fingers, indicating with their triggering action that they would shoot the people on the plane," Robinson explains.
Robinson continues, "The flight crew declared an emergency, and the plane returned to the concourse. The 12 men were taken to another area of the airport and questioned. It is my understanding that their luggage was removed and checked. Then, 10 of the men were allowed to get back on the plane. That's when the 12-15 passengers decided that they wanted to get off that plane and take other flights. This ordeal had gone on approximately 2 hours to this point."
Robinson boarded the plane and continues his story first-hand:
"When I boarded the plane, the air was tense and filled with emotion. Many of the passengers were obviously upset," Robinson relates.
"Although my seat was 22D, I moved to the back of the plane to gain a better view of any actions that might take place in front of me. Some of the Middle Eastern men were in the business class area, and the remainder was seated in the back of the plane. They spoke only Arabic, and I did not understand what they were saying, although a strange burst of laughter would erupt as they spoke," Robinson observes.
"I struggled to see if these men were merely tragically toying with the emotions of the other American passengers or if they intended to do more," Robinson concludes.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that AirTran and TSA officials determined the problem was a language barrier and "allowed the man and 12 others traveling with him to re-board."
The Journal-Constitution verifies that there were at least 12 people involved in the incident. The Journal-Constitution story also collaborates that the 12 men were taking photographs.
TSA spokesman John Allen says the airline did an investigation and gave this statement about the issue: "The TSA sent two inspectors to the gate area after the plane returned, talked with the passengers involved and determined that the issue was a customer service matter between the passengers and the airline."
When asked about the reports of Muslim men shouting in Arabic, Allen repeated the TSA statement.
Mark Taylor is a private investigator and a terrorism writer for Family Security Matters, and his investigation suggests that Muslim terrorists were checking out the system.
"There are three independent versions of the story that collaborate the possibility that 11 or 12 Middle Eastern men appeared to be testing AirTran's security," Taylor says.
"The evidence tends to show that someone was doing what is referred to as a dry run, or what one television commentator calls a 'shark bump,' just to see if we're paying attention," Taylor explains.
The airline's explanation, however, was that the incident was no more than a minor disturbance.
"During taxi a passenger was non-compliant with crew members, using a cell phone and taking pictures. The flight taxied back to the gate and the passenger, who did not speak English, and his companion acting as his interpreter were asked to de-plane. They were met by customer service personnel and TSA," the airline said.
"We bring this to your attention in order to dispel myths that are beginning to make the rounds in chat rooms, blogs and conspiracy theorists' Web sites," AirTran said.
But there was no explanation for why the original crew refused, after a passenger was noncompliant regarding the use of a cell phone, to continue the flight. Nor why a dozen other passengers were so distraught they left the airplane and were rebooked on later flights. Nor has there been any mention of the dancing, singing or pointing of finger "guns."
AirTran officials did not respond to WND calls requesting additional explanation.
The disputed accounts of the incident are similar to the case of the "flying imams" in 2006.
The six Muslim clerics were booted from a US Airways Minneapolis-to-Phoenix flight after alarming both passengers and crew with their behavior. Many on board feared the imams – who prayed loudly in Arabic, refused to sit in their assigned seats, fanned out in the cabin in pairs to occupy the front, middle and rear exit rows, ordered seat-belt extenders they didn't need, criticized the Iraq war and President Bush, talked about al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden and other disconcerting behaviors – were testing security procedures in a dry run for a future hijacking.
The imams, who insisted they were acting innocently, were detained for several hours and questioned by airport police, the FBI and Secret Service, and prevented from booking a later flight on US Airways.
They sued the airline, and the case was settled.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called the settlement "a clear victory for justice and civil rights over fear and the phenomenon of 'flying while Muslim' in the post-9/11 era."
According to the judge, the imams had been subjected to "extreme fear and humiliation of being falsely identified as dangerous terrorists."
But as reported in "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America," by former federal agent P. David Gaubatz and investigative journalist Paul Sperry, there's another, far more ominous and threatening side to the flying imam story – and CAIR's involvement with it – that had not been told.
"CAIR brags this is a 'victory for civil rights.' It's not a victory for civil rights," Sperry said after the settlement was announced. "It's a victory for future hijackers. This settlement will have a chilling effect on law enforcement and security at our nation's airports. Even pilots will now think twice about bouncing from flights any Arabs or Muslims acting suspiciously and threateningly."
"The victims in the case are not the imams," Sperry emphasized. "The victims are passengers who are now more vulnerable to terrorist attack – thanks to CAIR which according to documents revealed in 'Muslim Mafia' manipulated this whole case from the start," he said.
According to the hot-selling book, the ringleader of the flying imams, Omar Shahin, was involved in a similar disturbance aboard another airline several years earlier, as was CAIR.
"Rewind to 1999," says "Muslim Mafia." "That year, two Muslim college students were removed from an America West flight to Washington from Phoenix after twice attempting to open the cockpit. The FBI later suspected it was a 'dry run' for the 9/11 hijackings, according the 9/11 Commission Report."
"At the time, however, authorities didn't have enough suspicion to hold the students. And as soon as Hamdan al-Shalawi and Muhammed al-Qudhaieen were released, they filed racial profiling suits against America West, now part of US Airways."
Representing the two Muslim students was none other than CAIR, which held a news conference condemning "this ugly case of racial profiling" and urging Muslims to boycott America West.
"Muhammed and Hamdan had done absolutely nothing wrong," CAIR's Awad insisted. "Their crime was being Arab, speaking Arabic."
In a bizarre prequel to the flying imam event, the two Muslims aboard the America West flight spoke loudly in Arabic despite being fluent in English, also switched their seats and roamed the plane from the tail section to the cockpit as did the six imams, all the while asking suspicious questions about the plane and its routes.
"'Flying Imams' ringleader Omar Shahin is familiar with such shenanigans," reports "Muslim Mafia." "Witnesses say he prayed loudly in Arabic before boarding his US Airways flight – which also originated from Phoenix. And once on board, he asked for a seatbelt extender even though he didn't need one and never used the one provided him. (He and another imam left the extenders on the floor of the plane.) And he roamed the cabin and tried to switch seats with another imam."
Shahin also knew both of the students who were kicked off the America West flight, as documented in "Muslim Mafia," which reports that Shahin ministered to them at his former mosque in Tucson, Arizona, where they had attended college on visas from Saudi Arabia. When they were arrested, Shahin rushed to their defense – along with CAIR.
Incredibly, reveals "Muslim Mafia," "Shahin has admitted to being a former supporter of Osama bin Laden while running the Saudi-backed Islamic Center of Tucson, which functioned as one of al-Qaida’s main hubs in North America."
WND Exclusive TRAIL OF TERROR
Are officials hiding details in hijacking 'dry run'?
Airline silent on witness' testimony of mock shootings aboard plane
Posted: December 06, 2009
2:20 am Eastern
Michael Carl
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
Dr. Keith Robinson
Testimony of a passenger in the gate of Nov. 17 AirTran Flight 297 suggests the airline may be deliberately leaving out key details of an onboard incident that affirm widespread speculation the flight was the subject of a "dry run" by Muslim terrorists.
Dr. Keith Robinson, a Houston, Texas, chaplain who occasionally works through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, told WND he is standing by his written account of the incident, which includes testimony that a passenger told him Arabic men sang, danced and pretended to shoot the other passengers before the plane was returned to the gate.
None of these details have been addressed in AirTran's account of what happened aboard Flight 297.
As WND reported, an e-mailed account of an incident aboard the flight bound from Atlanta to Houston told of a dozen Arabic men causing a disturbance aboard the jet as it taxied to the runway, ultimately prompting pilots to return to the gate.
The author of the e-mail, Tedd Petruna of Houston, created a media and Internet firestorm with his account of what happened on the plane:
"If this wasn't a dry run, I don't know what one is. The terrorists wanted to see how TSA would handle it, how the crew would handle it, and how the passengers would handle it," he wrote. "I'm telling this to you because I want you to know. … The threat is real. I saw it with my own eyes."
Get "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America," autographed, from WND's Superstore
Since then, AirTran has released a line-by-line rebuttal of Petruna's email, in which it further asserts that according to flight manifests, Petruna wasn't even aboard the flight he claimed to witness.
The official version of the Transportation Security Administration says that the plane returned to the gate because an unruly passenger refused to end a cell phone conversation.
Robinson's testimony, however, suggests there is more to the story.
(Story continues below)
Robinson, who was in the gate watching his plane presumably leave without him, says the jet then returned after a 30-minute wait, and a number of passengers and airline employees were visibly upset.
"Over the next 30 minutes officials from AirTran started arriving at the gate, flashing their badges and going down to the plane," Robinson said. "After 6-7 officials exited the door, suddenly it flew open and 12-15 people from the flight hurried off the plane. Anger and fear was etched on their faces as they jerked their carry-ons and tore into their computer bags to schedule another flight out of Atlanta."
Robinson spoke with a passenger who had gotten off AirTran Flight 297, and the passenger said a number of Middle Eastern men had made a scene on the plane.
"One gentleman confronted the gate agent demanding his luggage be removed from the flight. As I spoke to him, he related that when Flight 297 left the concourse the first time, it began taxiing to take off. Then approximately 12 men of Middle Eastern appearance stood up and began dancing and singing in an Arabic dialect," the chaplain relates.
"They refused to be seated when directed to do so by the flight attendants. Then, the singing stopped and some of the men took out their cell phones and began taking pictures of the other individual passengers. Again, the men were ordered to be seated by the flight crew and refused while continuing to take their pictures. Next, the de‐boarded passenger related that a few of the men gestured with imaginary guns as their fingers, indicating with their triggering action that they would shoot the people on the plane," Robinson explains.
Robinson continues, "The flight crew declared an emergency, and the plane returned to the concourse. The 12 men were taken to another area of the airport and questioned. It is my understanding that their luggage was removed and checked. Then, 10 of the men were allowed to get back on the plane. That's when the 12-15 passengers decided that they wanted to get off that plane and take other flights. This ordeal had gone on approximately 2 hours to this point."
Robinson boarded the plane and continues his story first-hand:
"When I boarded the plane, the air was tense and filled with emotion. Many of the passengers were obviously upset," Robinson relates.
"Although my seat was 22D, I moved to the back of the plane to gain a better view of any actions that might take place in front of me. Some of the Middle Eastern men were in the business class area, and the remainder was seated in the back of the plane. They spoke only Arabic, and I did not understand what they were saying, although a strange burst of laughter would erupt as they spoke," Robinson observes.
"I struggled to see if these men were merely tragically toying with the emotions of the other American passengers or if they intended to do more," Robinson concludes.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that AirTran and TSA officials determined the problem was a language barrier and "allowed the man and 12 others traveling with him to re-board."
The Journal-Constitution verifies that there were at least 12 people involved in the incident. The Journal-Constitution story also collaborates that the 12 men were taking photographs.
TSA spokesman John Allen says the airline did an investigation and gave this statement about the issue: "The TSA sent two inspectors to the gate area after the plane returned, talked with the passengers involved and determined that the issue was a customer service matter between the passengers and the airline."
When asked about the reports of Muslim men shouting in Arabic, Allen repeated the TSA statement.
Mark Taylor is a private investigator and a terrorism writer for Family Security Matters, and his investigation suggests that Muslim terrorists were checking out the system.
"There are three independent versions of the story that collaborate the possibility that 11 or 12 Middle Eastern men appeared to be testing AirTran's security," Taylor says.
"The evidence tends to show that someone was doing what is referred to as a dry run, or what one television commentator calls a 'shark bump,' just to see if we're paying attention," Taylor explains.
The airline's explanation, however, was that the incident was no more than a minor disturbance.
"During taxi a passenger was non-compliant with crew members, using a cell phone and taking pictures. The flight taxied back to the gate and the passenger, who did not speak English, and his companion acting as his interpreter were asked to de-plane. They were met by customer service personnel and TSA," the airline said.
"We bring this to your attention in order to dispel myths that are beginning to make the rounds in chat rooms, blogs and conspiracy theorists' Web sites," AirTran said.
But there was no explanation for why the original crew refused, after a passenger was noncompliant regarding the use of a cell phone, to continue the flight. Nor why a dozen other passengers were so distraught they left the airplane and were rebooked on later flights. Nor has there been any mention of the dancing, singing or pointing of finger "guns."
AirTran officials did not respond to WND calls requesting additional explanation.
The disputed accounts of the incident are similar to the case of the "flying imams" in 2006.
The six Muslim clerics were booted from a US Airways Minneapolis-to-Phoenix flight after alarming both passengers and crew with their behavior. Many on board feared the imams – who prayed loudly in Arabic, refused to sit in their assigned seats, fanned out in the cabin in pairs to occupy the front, middle and rear exit rows, ordered seat-belt extenders they didn't need, criticized the Iraq war and President Bush, talked about al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden and other disconcerting behaviors – were testing security procedures in a dry run for a future hijacking.
The imams, who insisted they were acting innocently, were detained for several hours and questioned by airport police, the FBI and Secret Service, and prevented from booking a later flight on US Airways.
They sued the airline, and the case was settled.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called the settlement "a clear victory for justice and civil rights over fear and the phenomenon of 'flying while Muslim' in the post-9/11 era."
According to the judge, the imams had been subjected to "extreme fear and humiliation of being falsely identified as dangerous terrorists."
But as reported in "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America," by former federal agent P. David Gaubatz and investigative journalist Paul Sperry, there's another, far more ominous and threatening side to the flying imam story – and CAIR's involvement with it – that had not been told.
"CAIR brags this is a 'victory for civil rights.' It's not a victory for civil rights," Sperry said after the settlement was announced. "It's a victory for future hijackers. This settlement will have a chilling effect on law enforcement and security at our nation's airports. Even pilots will now think twice about bouncing from flights any Arabs or Muslims acting suspiciously and threateningly."
"The victims in the case are not the imams," Sperry emphasized. "The victims are passengers who are now more vulnerable to terrorist attack – thanks to CAIR which according to documents revealed in 'Muslim Mafia' manipulated this whole case from the start," he said.
According to the hot-selling book, the ringleader of the flying imams, Omar Shahin, was involved in a similar disturbance aboard another airline several years earlier, as was CAIR.
"Rewind to 1999," says "Muslim Mafia." "That year, two Muslim college students were removed from an America West flight to Washington from Phoenix after twice attempting to open the cockpit. The FBI later suspected it was a 'dry run' for the 9/11 hijackings, according the 9/11 Commission Report."
"At the time, however, authorities didn't have enough suspicion to hold the students. And as soon as Hamdan al-Shalawi and Muhammed al-Qudhaieen were released, they filed racial profiling suits against America West, now part of US Airways."
Representing the two Muslim students was none other than CAIR, which held a news conference condemning "this ugly case of racial profiling" and urging Muslims to boycott America West.
"Muhammed and Hamdan had done absolutely nothing wrong," CAIR's Awad insisted. "Their crime was being Arab, speaking Arabic."
In a bizarre prequel to the flying imam event, the two Muslims aboard the America West flight spoke loudly in Arabic despite being fluent in English, also switched their seats and roamed the plane from the tail section to the cockpit as did the six imams, all the while asking suspicious questions about the plane and its routes.
"'Flying Imams' ringleader Omar Shahin is familiar with such shenanigans," reports "Muslim Mafia." "Witnesses say he prayed loudly in Arabic before boarding his US Airways flight – which also originated from Phoenix. And once on board, he asked for a seatbelt extender even though he didn't need one and never used the one provided him. (He and another imam left the extenders on the floor of the plane.) And he roamed the cabin and tried to switch seats with another imam."
Shahin also knew both of the students who were kicked off the America West flight, as documented in "Muslim Mafia," which reports that Shahin ministered to them at his former mosque in Tucson, Arizona, where they had attended college on visas from Saudi Arabia. When they were arrested, Shahin rushed to their defense – along with CAIR.
Incredibly, reveals "Muslim Mafia," "Shahin has admitted to being a former supporter of Osama bin Laden while running the Saudi-backed Islamic Center of Tucson, which functioned as one of al-Qaida’s main hubs in North America."
