Mid-air scare a 'hoax'
Perceived bomb threat on Sydney-L.A. flight days after terror group's threat to turn Australia into 'pools of blood'.
Days after the Al Qaeda-linked Tawhid Islamic Group warned it would turn Australia into "pools of blood" if the government did not withdraw its troops from Iraq, a
written bomb threat forced a United Airlines jet to return to Sydney International Airport after it took off Tuesday for Los Angeles.
Police declared the threat a hoax, however, after interviewing all 246 passengers, reports
The Associated Press.
Ninety minutes out of Sydney,
a note written on an air sickness bag warning of a bomb on board was discovered, reports
The Sydney Morning Herald. The American pilot thought the note was serious enough to turn the plane around. "It had nothing to do with the Australian authorities," he told reporters at the airport. "It was my decision alone to turn the plane around."
Australian Transport Minister John Anderson told the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation the pilot "took what he believed to be
the right course of action, and we entirely respect that, and our security arrangements at Sydney Airport, and really right throughout the nation swung into action."
The
Herald Sun of Melbourne cites airline sources as saying that the
acronym B.O.B., suggesting bomb on board, was written on the bag, which was originally found near one of the toilets.
After landing, the plane was checked by bomb sniffing dogs and passengers were screened for hours before being allowed to leave the airport, according to the
Sydney Morning Herald.
The Sunday Times of Australia reports that Botany local police superintendent Peter O'Brien said passengers and crew aboard the flight were
cleared of writing the note. "Every crew member and every passenger had to undergo our specific screening process, and all those persons have been processed without incident," Mr. O'Brien said. However, notes the
Times, he said that screening process did not include a handwriting analysis.
This mid-air scare comes on the heels of the Tawhid Islamic Group's "
pools of blood" threat over the weekend. The warning from the group, which claims to be Al Qaeda's European branch, demanded Australia withdraw all forces from Iraq, and said Spain and the Philippines had followed the correct course. This led Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to say Sunday that the withdrawal of Spanish and Philippine troops from Iraq had encouraged terrorists to issue threats.
Mr. Downer's comments have been roundly condemned by Spain and the Philippines. The
Philippines will make an official complaint about his words, and Spain has already done so, reports
ABC News Online. But Downer
remains unapologetic.
I am afraid we just have to face up to the truth. There is no point in trying to scurry away from the truth. ...
When I am trying to defend and protect Australians internationally, and I read on an Internet site 'Australians threatened' and we are told that the models for what our foreign and security policy should be are Spain and the Philippines, we all know what the context is.
I regret very much what has happened. But the terrorist will use those two examples. Of course it is what we have argued all along.
The Australian, a national daily, defended Downer's statements in an editorial.
Spain is angry with Alexander Downer for telling the truth. So is The Philippines, but the governments of both countries should
get a grip. ...
We need to ensure that our enemies, who wish another Bali massacre on us, understand that democracies such as Australia will not give way in the face of terrorist blackmail – which is precisely what Madrid and Manila have done. To know that there will be no deals done with terrorists is the single sure way of reducing the hostage-taking in Iraq and the ever-present risk of bombings around the world. But the actions of both Spain and The Philippines have sent exactly the reverse message – that democracies prefer to surrender than to stand up for what is right.
The Philippines' national security adviser, Norberto Gonzalez, lashed back at Downer for linking the new threat and kidnappings to the Philippine troop withdrawal, reports
The Daily Star of Lebanon.
"It's very narrow minded," Mr. Gonzalez said. Instead of looking for scapegoats, Australia and other countries in the coalition that invaded Iraq should
re-examine why the insurgency has intensified in recent months despite efforts to quell it militarily and politically, the
Star cited Gonzalez as saying.
Also...
•
The terror web (
The New Yorker)
•
Kurds wonder where they fit in the new Iraq (
The Los Angeles Times)
•
Guantanamo inmates back in France (
BBC)
•
9/11 report says plotter saw self as superterrorist (
The Washington Post)
•
Kerry at the Wheel (
The New York Times)
• Feedback appreciated. E-mail
Matthew Clark.
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