Why Do Air Marshals Think Flight 327 Was a Probe or Dry Run?

Patterico has blogged extensively on the likelihood that Middle Eastern men made either a “dry run” or “probe” in preparation for more attacks on the US.

Here he brings in opinion of three air marshals who believe that Flight 327 from Detroit to Los Angeles was deliberately targeted by a “band” from Syria. The issue was raised by an article written by Audrey Hudson in the Washington Times who complained that the Department of Homeland Security botched the investigation.

God must be watching over the United States because the ineptness of those whose jobs it is to protect us from terror attacks appear to be only slightly less stupid than those who are planning such attacks. Thank God for stupid enemies.

From one of the air marshals:

In my 10 years of experience as a law enforcement officer — five of those as an air marshal — I trained for thousands of hours using many operational plans that were obtained from terror camps and anti-terrorism intelligence, read dozens of these terrorism intelligence reports, and I flew hundreds of mission. I also have an extensive, discipline-free history as an outspoken representative of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) and national security whistleblower who exposes the truth without fear of vindictive senior federal executives. The actions of the Syrians were like young children testing the limits of their parents’ patience. In this case, they went as far as they could to test the temperament of the flight attendants and air marshals without giving anyone enough probable cause to make an arrest. It was an easy task for them to expose the air marshals and the flight deck, only to then act polite and ignorantly dumbfounded when met by authorities at the gate. The fact that the band leader was involved in a prior aviation security incident and the majority of the rest of the band had positive hits during records checks should be enough for anyone to be convinced these individuals were not just having fun and games in a thin tube at 35,000 feet going 500 miles per hour.

And if you read the comments, you will find Phil who believes that drunk drivers are a greater threat than terrorists. After all, they kill more people ... at least so far. (In Baghdad, the situation appears a little different, but that’s another topic.) But that's a situation that terrorists plan to correct. Then, who knows, perhaps the drunks will organize to regain their coveted number one spot. And Phil will regain his talking point.