THE 9/11 REPORT: I read the first chapter of the 9/11 Report this morning and it was chilling. There are transcripts of conversations from passengers calling loved ones on cell phones and the crazy hijackers themselves screaming about their love for Allah. Watching these loonies go through the airport checkpoints on security camera footage is frightening. They look like ordinary travelers. What must have they been thinking, knowing they were about to get on those planes and fly them into buildings? They were calm and cool, even when one was stopped for an extra patdown (which, of course, was useless). That is the sign of true insanity. And I also have to wonder (in hindsight) how five guys with boxcuters could have so easily taken over those planes. It's safe to say the passengers had never been hijacked before and were probably stunned to do anything. It would be different today.
A few months after 9/11 I was on a flight coming back from NYC and you could feel the tension. Everyone on the plane was a suspect. There was a guy pacing back and forth in front of the plane waiting for the toilet, but he was pacing in front of the cockpit door as well. This tiny woman, across the aisle said (in a classic Brooklyn accent), "I swear to God if he puts his hand on that cockpit door I'm gonna run up their and kick him in the nuts." Atta, girl.
I admit freely that when I fly (which I have been doing often over the last few months to promote Better To Travel), I look for those of Arab descent. Is it racial profiling? Yep. But I'm also looking at the black, white, Asian and everyone else. Because insanity knows no racial lines. A white guy could be an Al-Qaeda sympathizer. You have to be vigilant. If terrorists try to take over anymore planes, they better come prepared with better weapons, because a boxcutter and some mace won't stop the uprising of the passengers. They'll be lucky if a kick in the nuts is all they get.
A few months after 9/11 I was on a flight coming back from NYC and you could feel the tension. Everyone on the plane was a suspect. There was a guy pacing back and forth in front of the plane waiting for the toilet, but he was pacing in front of the cockpit door as well. This tiny woman, across the aisle said (in a classic Brooklyn accent), "I swear to God if he puts his hand on that cockpit door I'm gonna run up their and kick him in the nuts." Atta, girl.
I admit freely that when I fly (which I have been doing often over the last few months to promote Better To Travel), I look for those of Arab descent. Is it racial profiling? Yep. But I'm also looking at the black, white, Asian and everyone else. Because insanity knows no racial lines. A white guy could be an Al-Qaeda sympathizer. You have to be vigilant. If terrorists try to take over anymore planes, they better come prepared with better weapons, because a boxcutter and some mace won't stop the uprising of the passengers. They'll be lucky if a kick in the nuts is all they get.
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