Expect to see more of this

Presumably this is the sort of “driving forceful energy or initiative” that British people are seeking:

British holidaymakers staged an unprecedented mutiny – refusing to allow their flight to take off until two men they feared were terrorists were forcibly removed.

The extraordinary scenes happened after some of the 150 passengers on a Malaga-Manchester flight overheard two men of Asian appearance apparently talking Arabic.

Passengers told cabin crew they feared for their safety and demanded police action. Some stormed off the Monarch Airlines Airbus A320 minutes before it was due to leave the Costa del Sol at 3am. Others waiting for Flight ZB 613 in the departure lounge refused to board it.

The incident fuels the row over airport security following the arrest of more than 20 people allegedly planning the suicide-bombing of transatlantic jets from the UK to America. It comes amid growing demands for passenger-profiling and selective security checks.

Absent some miraculous solution to the problems presented by terrorism as the level of discomfort and distrust rises I expect we’ll be seeing a lot more of this.

UPDATE:  I was genuinely surprised by the various observations from the blogosphere although I suppose I shouldn’t have been.

Glenn Greenwald blames the Bush Administration.

Middle Earth Journal condemns right-leaning bloggers.

The prevailing reaction from right-leaning bloggers is that, when governments fail to take appropriate security measures, people will take matters into their own hands.  I didn’t much in the way of clear proposals for what would constitute appropriate security measures.

The sole bit of real insight was from Gaius of Blue Crab Boulevard who notes that the passengers who complained weren’t just complaining about the skin color (or language) of those they were complaining about:

The men may or may not have been unfortunate, but the passengers appear to have keyed off their behavior.  They were dressed in what sounds like a completely inappropriate manner – and that is something police officers are trained to look for specifically. (A long overcoat on a hot day is out of place – and a good place to hide a shotgun, for example). So, if there is fault to be found here, who should it be pointed at? The passengers who were worried or the men who were acting in a manner sure to raise suspicions?

2 comments… add one
  • When I first heard the report, I was shaking my head at how silly and panicky people could be. Until I got to the part about the men’s strange dress, and their constant checking of their watches. At that point, it started sounding considerably more reasonable. And then it raises the inevitable question: Why was it the passengers who noticed and not airline personnel? Isn’t there some mechanism in place by which boarding personnel can discreetly contact security agents? If not, there should be.

  • IF they were so strange and dangerous, whey did they, after getting thoroughly checked out, fly on another plane?

    Many things seem dangerous when you have been forcefed fear for years. And the number only grows the longer you look for scary things. Have no doubt, racism and fear are being stoked quite methodically.

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