Is political correctness setting us up for another 9/11?

Michael A. Smerconish thinks so. Smerconish is a journalist who has done a great deal of research into airport screening, and what he has found should make you angry and very concerned. In testimony before the U.S. Senate Committe on Appropriations, Smerconish details the facts behind the DOT's PC policy that is making us considerbly less safe. (Tip of the hat to Michelle Malkin for alerting me to this.)

Smerconish testified that American, United and Continental have all been fined for "discrimination" toward Arabs just months after 9/11. Then, he reveals something that I think very few are aware of. One of the 9/11 hijackers may never have made it to his assignment because of an alert Customs official, Jose Melendez Perez, denied access to a Saudi national who arrived in country at the same time as Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of 9/11.

I point to an American hero named Jose Melendez Perez for support of my view. This man engaged in what some would deride as "profiling", and probably saved either the White House or U.S. Capitol Building in the process. Let me explain.

Three of the four aircraft involved in the hijackings on 9/11 had five hijackers aboard. But United Airlines Flight #93, a Boeing 757 that departed from Newark bound for San Francisco at 8:42 a.m., and crashed in a field in Stony Creek Township, Pennsylvania, at 10:03 a.m., had only four. Surely that was not its intended target. Presumably, it was headed for Washington, D.C. Perhaps being one man shy of the other planes hijacker population is the reason why this airplane crashed. And for that, we can probably thank Jose E. Melendez-Perez.

On August 4, 2001, Melendez-Perez was a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Inspector at Orlando International Airport, Orlando, Florida. Reflecting before the 9/11 Commission on his role that day, he said:

"....I note that another inspector on duty that day made a comment that I was going to get into trouble for refusing a Saudi national. I replied that I have to do my job, and I cannot do my work with dignity if I base my recommendations on refusals/admissions on someone’s nationality.”

At approximately 1735 hours, he was assigned the case of a Saudi national who had arrived on Virgin Atlantic #15 from London, Gatwick Airport. As Saudis coming through Orlando to travel to Disney World are common, he had plenty of line experience with Saudis. In this particular case, the subject was referred to secondary inspection because the primary inspector could not communicate with him and his arrival/departure form (I-94) and Customs Declaration (C-6059B) were not properly completed.

Melendez-Perez sized up the situation by noting the individual’s nationality (Saudi), his grooming, dress, height, and shape. He figured the man to be military. And, he thought he was cocky. Dare I say it, he was profiling. And thank goodness he did. Keep in mind this was pre-9/11. If such an assessment occurred post-9/11, you would say, "well, of course" this is how it should be handled. But this was before those horrific events. Melendez Perez told the 9/11 Commission that the man “gave him the creeps”. The man was put on a flight out of the United States.

So who was the man and what was he doing? This became clear when Melendez-Perez was questioned by Richard Ben-Veniste. It turns out that while Melendez-Perez was performing his duties at Orlando Airport on August 4, 2001, and screening a man named Mohammed Kahtani, there was someone else present at that very airport: Mohamed Atta, the presumed ringleader of the operation. Coincidence? Hardly. According to Ben-Veniste, while Melendez-Perez was questioning Mohammed Kahtani, and while Kahtani was claiming that someone was upstairs to meet him, Mohamed Atta made a telephone call from that location to a telephone number associated with the 9/11 plot. In other words, the good work of Melendez-Perez kept out of the United States the presumed 20th hijacker.

In light of this, Annie Jacobsen's story of extremely suspicious behavior on her flight to LA from Detroit (Terror in the Skies) is even more concerning.

One has to wonder who the government is really trying to protect. Are we really willing to sacrifice American lives on the altar of political correctness? Oh wait, we're already doing that in Iraq, where we've handcuffed our troops with onerous rules of engagement to prevent us from offending anyone. link links

I would remiss if I did not point out that this is the second time that an alert Customs agent has prevented or obstructed a terrorist act. At least the folks at Customs aren't asleep at the switch, even if everyone else seems to be.