Mlive.com (which seems to be a website for Michigan news) reported a story yesterday by a passenger on the plane with terrorist Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab on Christmas Day. The passenger and his wife (Kurt and Lori Haskell) are attorneys who happened to be on that plane. Mr. Haskell reports that he saw Mutallab, who was poorly dressed, approach the boarding gate with a man who was expensively dressed.
The article reports:
"...He says the suited man asked ticket agents whether Mutallab could board without a passport. "The guy said, 'He's from Sudan and we do this all the time.'"
"Mutallab is Nigerian. Haskell believes the man may have been trying to garner sympathy for Mutallab's lack of documents by portraying him as a Sudanese refugee."..."
Evidently, the two men were referred to a manager down the hall who allowed Mutallab to board the plane. This is where the failure to deal with terrorism occurred. Even without the watchlist, a man boarding a plane without a passport should be pulled aside for closer scrutiny. This was an international flight--Amsterdam was its last stop before reaching America. If our allies are not more vigilant in protecting flights into America, no one will be safe taking those flights.
The airline that has the best record in avoiding terrorists and hijackings is El Al. I think it is time that the international community got serious about terrorism and began to ask the Israelis for help in averting airplane terrorism. Israel seem to be the only country that has gotten this aspect of the war on terror right!.
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