the flying geeks

I read this article. It was about some really bad guys (maybe even terrorists) getting caught with some stuff they weren’t supposed to have. Like 11 cell phones, some airline flight passenger lists, some airport secirity information, and a bunch of cash. That’s not so good.

So, I suppose I’d be more concerned if I weren’t reading about them being caught. During a traffic stop. Wonder if they were Muslim and named Ali Al-something, or Muhammad Al-something. Yes: Osama Sabhi Abulhassan, 20, and Ali Houssaiky, 20, both of the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. Um, to be perfectly honest, my first thought (and yes, I am a spawn of satan, who is, surprise, surprise, also an un-American terrorist-lover) is, did the officer who stopped these guys actually have any cause to search their car? I wonder if the officer saw they were a couple of Muslim/Arab looking guys, pulled them over, and decided they must be terrorists.

Well, I looked further into it and, as it turns out, this thing in Dearborn was, in a way predicted by a blogger paying attention to that area, which “has the highest concentration of Americans with roots in southern Lebanon - about a third of its 100,000″. Hmmmm.

It’s really just the same question we have to face over and over, forever and ever. Is it ok to take away the rights of people we suspect are bad guys? These two might have been up to serious no-good. If you read the article linked in that post, it talks about possible links to actual terrorism. But it also says the reason the cops were following these guys is because RadioShack employees where they bought the phones called the police. Said they were “acting suspicious.” Then the two guys were pulled over “after a minor traffic violation.” More hmmmm.

Oh the joy of tough questions I don’t have to answer.

Oh, and if you’re wondering if those flight documents were concerning a future airline flight (I was), too bad. The investigators aren’t sharing that detail. They’re also not saying which airlines were involved or whether this is connected with the foiled UK plot.