The Redhunter

The report also says that a background check in the FBI's National Crime Information Center database, which was performed June 18 as part of a visa-extension application, produced "positive hits" for past criminal records or suspicious behavior for eight of the 12 Syrians, who were traveling in the U.S. as a musical group.

In addition, the band's promoter was listed in a separate FBI database on case investigations for acting suspiciously aboard a flight months earlier. He was detained a third time in September on a return trip to the U.S. from Istanbul, the details of which were redacted.
...

Homeland Security officials initially denied the complaints and blamed passengers who reported the incident to the press as behaving hysterically. However, the inspector general report shows that air marshals had the group of men under surveillance before they boarded the plane.

"Prior to boarding, one of the air marshals noticed what he later characterized as 'unusual behavior' by about six Middle Eastern males, who arrived at the gate together, then separated, and acted as if they did not know each other," the report said.

"According to the air marshals, these men were sweaty, appeared nervous and arrived after the boarding announcement. The air marshals made eye contact with one another to ensure they were aware of this behavior," the report said.
...

According to the report, Flight 327 was "delayed for five minutes because one of the 13 suspicious passengers, who appeared not to understand English and walked with a limp, was seated in the emergency exit row. The flight attendant determined he was unable to operate the emergency procedures and delayed the flight while having him exchange seats."

"On the flight, 13 Middle Eastern men behaved in a suspicious manner that aroused the attention and concern of the flight attendants, passengers, air marshals and pilots," the report said. The men "walked in the aisle, appearing to count passengers," and "several men spent excessive time in the lavatories."

"One man rushed to the front of the plane appearing to head for the cockpit. At the last moment, he veered into the first-class lavatory, remaining in it for about 20 minutes," according to the report. One man carried a McDonald's bag into the lavatory, and "another man, upon returning from the lavatory, reeked strongly of what smelled like toilet bowl chemicals."

"Some men hand signaled each other. The passenger who entered the lavatory with the McDonald's bag made a thumbs-up signal to another man upon returning from the lavatory. Another man made a slashing motion across his throat, appearing to say 'No.'"

As the flight descended into Los Angeles, the report said, "four of the suspicious individuals stood up and made their way to the back of the plane," where "the individuals used the rear lavatory, and one of the men was doing stretching exercises/knee bends by the exit door."

Annie Jacobsen saw something suspicious. She said something.

Despite the many attacks leveled against her and the apathy of her own government, she held firm. It turns out that she was right.

Last November we first heard about the 6 "flying Imams", who acted so suspiciously before a US Airways flight at Minneapolis- St. Paul International Airport that they were removed from the airplane before takeoff. US Airways and individual passengers who complained have since been sued by, you guessed it, CAIR.

The individual passengers are named in the lawsuit as "John Doe". They had the courage to speak out but now there is an attempt to intimidate them and anyone else who would speak out into silence.

Michelle Malkin drafted the John Doe Manifesto in response.

Winning the war against the jihadists, will take vigilance by citizens at home as well as action abroad. Don't be intimidated by either radical groups like CAIR, the PC leftists, or the apathy of our own government.

The Inspector General's Report

Download the inspector general's report and judge for yourself. I've read it, and it's pretty damning.

Although those who attacked Jacobsen are surely part of the problem for ignoring what at the time seemed an obvious dry run by terrorists, worse was the performance of our own government. The air marshalls who interviewed the Syrians afterwards failed to notice that they were traveling on expired visas. It was only weeks later, after Jacobsen published her article and the outcry in the press, that the FBI and the Federal Air Marshall Service opened (separate) investigations.

As the report itself says,

The Department's (Homeland Security) internal system for communicating and coordinating information on suspicious passengers, activitied, and incidents in the gate area and aboard aircraft needs improvement. Presently, air marshalls generally lack and effective means to communicate with the flight crew. ...

Further, key Departmental components were either not notified or not notified timely of the suspicious activities that occurred before and during the flight. In addition, botht he FAMS and the FBI have statutory authority to investigate in-flight incidents, thereby causing confusion, duplication, and the potential for compromising investigative causes.

The good news is that the report outlines steps that are or have been taken to address these issues. The bad news is that this flight took place almost three years after 9/11.

Other good news is that the report does make clear that the air marshalls were well aware of what was going on. Flight attendants also alerted the pilots. Had the Syrians actually attempted a hijacking, at the very least they would have had a fight on their hands.

The big question, of course, is why we haven't had another actual attack. As with the story I told last week about Judith Coplon, we likely won't know for many decades.

However, in the meantime,

If You See Something Say Something

Previous

July 20, 2004 Terror in the Skies Part II
July 22, 2004 Terror in the Skies, Again? continued....
July 23, 2004 "Terror in the Skies": Analysis

Update

Don't miss Michelle Malkin's analysis of the report.

Watch this video (h/t HotAir) of Annie Jacobsen and a TSA spokesperson. Amazingly, she claims that the "suspicious behaviour" was not a dry run.

If it wasn't a dry run, then what was it? Obviously it was a probe of some sort. Someone with connections to serious terrorist groups was testing our security. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out.

Audrey Hudson, who wrote the Washington Times story cited above, also weighs in (h/t again to HotAir)

Nevertheless, I'm sure that we'll hear the same sad story from both those on the left who are lost in the fever swamps of political correctness, and Muslim apologist organizations like CAIR. They'll both tell us that we're overreacting and only calling a dry run because they men in question were Middle Eastern. The cry of "Islamophobia!" will go out in an attempt to intimidate us into silence.

But Annie Jacobsen did the right thing by speaking out, just as those who demanded tha tthe 6 "flying Imams" be taken off the plane did the right thing. So remember:

If You See Something Say Something