U.S. probe turns up no known terrorists on Paris-L.A. flight

[Newsjock]

From Friday's Los Angeles Times; no link yet.

U.S. Probe Turns Up No Known Terrorists on Paris-L.A. Flight
By Greg Krikorian
(c) 2004, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES -- After an exhaustive investigation, federal law enforcement authorities have concluded that there were no known terrorists among the passengers ticketed on an Air France flight bound for Los Angeles that was canceled Christmas Eve because of fears that it might be commandeered for an attack, a senior U.S. government official said Thursday.

... The disclosure came a day after French investigators said they were searching for a passenger who did not show up for Air France Flight 68 and had the same name as a Taliban fighter who escaped from U.S. custody in Afghanistan.

The ticketed passenger was subsequently located by French investigators and ``turned out to be a regular guy,'' the U.S. official said.

... The senior U.S. official confirmed Thursday that the FBI and other investigating agencies were operating with few details when they sought to head off a feared attack that seemed possible based on intelligence derived from several undisclosed sources. Apart from a specific warning about Air France Flight 68, the official said, ``All we had were names'' of passengers that matched those of extremists.

[burrowowl]

1. Oh! my, my!

Imagine! I also read that one of the passengers on the list was an 8-year old or maybe he was a midget.

[54anickel]

5. Just read yesterday that the one they were hunting down was being

search for only because of his last name. Hai or something like that. The article I read said France wasn't going to persue it any longer since US only gave them the last name, and it's a fairly common last name. Don't know if this is the same one though.
They cancelled so many flights and looked for quite a few "no shows".

[cthrumatrix]

18. when are lawsuits going to start flying --- zero accountability

for mis-leading "information".

If you have data...then act on it and arrest real people..adn don't broadcast on TV

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Gee yuo mean they were WRONG? AGAIN?

Damn they have quite a record, don't they?

[xxqqqzme]

3. wasn't this the reason 4 the

'orange' alert?

Can U say Wolf? OK, now shout it several times.

[joeunderdog]

21. Yeah, but that elderly chinese woman on board looked NASTY.

So now they dropped the threat to yellow. Does that mean they overheard the terrorists cancel their plans?

"That's it. No more terror. The Americans are in Code Orange. Let's forget this terrorism thing..."

Why is is safer? No arrests. No peace accords. No nothin.

[ngGale]

4. Can you feel the burn?

France, can you feel the burn? Do you think France may just cut us out of their lives. You know, like a pet that gets thrown outside in the cold for peeing on the rug.

[xxqqqzme]

7. ok, peeing on the

rug is funny. Thanx 4 the laugh - welcome 2 DU.

[truthisfreedom]

6. hmm. i hate being from the country who cried wolf... that was one.

what happens when we get to three?

[MI Cherie]

8. Another diversion ....

... and another reason to blame something else for the economic bad news hidden in the back pages of newspapers.

:grr:

[demdave]

9. Good, that, at least, is the level I want them to operate at.

If some fool wants to blow up a plane and is foolish enough to register under his own name, I should hope that raises a red flag. If my name was Carlos the Jackel, I would hope I got stopped. :)

[The_Casual_Observer]

10. When is somebody going to be held accountable

for all these blunders?

Or has it become ok to simply dream up a fantasy terrorist plot and then act as though it's a real threat.

[JasonDeter]

11. And this is late breaking news? Not only are the media traitors

their dense.

[pippin]

12. another angle to this

cancelling these European flights is costing them. . . good way to run the European airlines out of business. Someone on DU pointed out that some of the European airlines are powerful and could be a threat to the American companies which we all know are not the healthiest businesses around.

Manufacturing terror is probably good for a lot of things--generating nusiness, turning the US into a police state, etc., etc.,

[Voice_of_Europe]

13. Specially Trans-Atlantic

Trans-Atlantic.
It's the most competed zone for any airline...

And for the last 2 years US people have been subconciously sworn in on "buy-US-only" because it's "safer"...

Stay with your own people to be protected...
Trust nothing foreign...
etc...

[JNelson6563]

15. that has been my suspicion too

What a clever plan to punish Old Europe. ;-)

Julie

[scarletlib]

22. I also have thought the same thing

in addition one wonders if some of this isn't a form of retaliation against the French for the fact that an indictment of Cheney may be forthcoming from an investigation of Halliburton activities conducted by a French judge.

My own thoughts are that these actions will eventually take a major toll on the U.S. travel and tourism industry. After all why would anyone want to come here and be fingerprinted etc. and pay big bucks for a flight that might be cancelled thus ruining your travel plans. I think people will start to choose not to visit the good ol' US of A.

This administration is just so good for business (ha Ha)

[Robb]

14. They did spot

the Unknown Terrorist:

;)

[DoYouEverWonder]

16. Shouldn't Congress launch an investigation of the Dept of HS

and find out where Pretty Boy Tom gets his bogus intelligence. Especially, those 'private' sources that he prefers to listen to rather than the CIA or FBI?

[rustydog]

17. So far, Bush Co. is batting 0 in identifying terraists on planes

how can they screw this up so regularly? one can understand how a boy can be confused for a terraist, if the name is the same,right?

So now you are guilty if your name sounds the same. or maybe you had the good luck to be born in Jordan, or Syria or Allah-forbid, Iraq.
Guilty by association.

I think the Nazis had lists of people to pick up too didn't they?
And these people were innocent except for the charge of being a Jew, A Gypsy or a Homosexual...all deserving of Gitmo-type concentration camps. A place to disappear without a trace.

[yellowcanine]

19. Is this a surprise? Orange Terra Level, you know

Have to justify that orange terra level. Also, makes it look as if Homeland Security is on top of the job. Of course there is that old story about the boy who cried wolf....

[Walt Starr]

20. BUAHAHAHAHAHA

Oh I knew it was just a bullshit move.

These fucks have absolutely no fucking clue what they are doing. They've screwed the pooch!

[abelenkpe]

23. surprise!