By way of the resurrected 'Blogs of War', Snopes dispels the 'Dry Run' story from Annie Jacobsen:
As things turned out, although the events Ms. Jacobsen claims to have witnessed on her flight did occur (more or less), her interpretation of them (that they involved a group of terrorists making a dry run for building a bomb in-flight) was erroneous. The men she observed on her flight were exactly what authorities told her they were: a group of Syrian musicians who had been hired to play at the Sycuan Casino & Resort near San Diego. Like any other group of passengers, the men in the musical ensemble talked to each other, moved around, ate food, and used the restrooms while the flight was in progress.
The one aspect of this story that gives me pause is that just like joking about having a bomb on a plane, this type of activity isn't what I'd call 'smart', especially after 9/11. These Syrians might just as well have been simple musicians, but even these gentlemen would have a clue about being watched constantly while traveling in the United States.
Additionally, even if this story was complete BS, what about the numerous corroborating accounts from pilots, flight attendants, etc. that all but confirm these dry runs?
This is one of those 'things that make you go hmmmm' that will be revealed should another 9/11 attack happen seeing as how hindsight is always 20/20. The 9/11 Commission showed that there were 'tell-tale' signs that pointed to an imminent attack before 9/11 yet no one connected the dots. How big of a dot will this story become in the aftermath of another attack?
Only time will tell, but I'm hoping to be just a bit paranoid instead of pointing this out and saying 'I told you so'....
UPDATE: Thanks for the spellcheck of 'corroborating' Nathalie....
Posted by Mad Mikey at July 30, 2004 09:04 AM | TrackBackkinda makes you wonder what would have happened if James Woods' flight was as investigated as this one. what excuse would they have used? would it have been debunked? would they have had a 'story'? like you say, 20/20 hindsight. that ain't gonna save lives, though.
btw- "corroborating" (couldn't help myself!!! love ya, mikey!)
:-)
I don't know, urban legend or not, I'll prepare myself as I described before whenever I fly. What pisses me off is that my daughter, who is a blue-eyed blond, was put on a No Fly list because she was a member of Greenpeace, while we can only interrogate 2 people of Middle eastern origin because otherwise we're "profiling"! Ofcourse we're profiling! How many hijackers on 911 were blue-eyed blondes?
d.
Posted by: deuddersun at July 30, 2004 08:51 PMI am STILL getting email about this. The singer this band was backing is called the Wayne Newton of the Mid East (yech). Anyway, it turns out he's written and sings a song glorifying suicide bombing, too. I really don't know, at this point, what to think about this whole thing. I think it's possible terrorists are making "dry runs" on airlines. But I have always thought it was unlikely that terrorists would use the same MO they used for 9/11. Too much security, too many wary passengers. This whole thing may be to get us to concentrate security in one place and loosen security where the terrorists actually want to attack. These "dry runs" may well be diversions. There are a lot of easy targets in this country.
Posted by: Cait at July 31, 2004 06:25 AM