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View Full Version : Guy smokes in plane lavatory, makes jokes about bomb...not charged




BlackTerrel
04-08-2010, 02:45 AM
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100408/ap_on_re_us/us_plane_disturbance;_ylt=AtqdRIDvfvrgTvGKeNAuwU2s 0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNrOGlmZzQxBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNDA4 L3VzX3BsYW5lX2Rpc3R1cmJhbmNlBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bG FyBGNwb3MDMQRwb3MDMgRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX3Rv cF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDb2ZmaWNpYWxzamV0


DENVER – A Mideast diplomat who grabbed a surreptitious smoke in a jetliner's bathroom sparked a bomb scare and widespread alert that sent jet fighters scrambling to intercept the Denver-bound flight, officials said.

But no explosives were found and authorities speaking on condition of anonymity said they don't think he was trying to hurt anyone and he will not be criminally charged.

An Arab envoy briefed on the matter identified the diplomat as Mohammed Al-Madadi of Qatar, an oil-rich Middle East nation and close U.S. ally

Wednesday's scare came three months after the attempted terror attack on Christmas Day when a Nigerian man tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner. Since then, law enforcement, flight crews and passengers have been on high alert for suspicious activity on airplanes. The scare exposed major holes in the country's national security and prompted immediate changes in terror-screening policies.

Two law enforcement officials said investigators were told the man was asked about the smell of smoke in the bathroom and he made a joke that he had been trying to light his shoes — an apparent reference to the 2001 so-called "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.

Must be nice. Something tells me if I went to a smoke in a plane bathroom and then made a joke about a bomb you wouldn't be hearing from me for the next 15 years.

Reason
04-08-2010, 02:48 AM
WTB diplomatic immunity PST

Bruno
04-08-2010, 06:48 AM
So, recently we have seen people choose the wrong door in an airport and get charged, walk under a security rope to kiss a girlfriend goodbye and not get charged, and yet this guy doesn't? Smoking on most flights has been illegal for more than a decade, it is clearly marked in the bathroom, mentioned at the beginning of the flight, and there is a light over your head telling you not to do so. Yet this guy is allowed to smoke and not get charged?

I do believe the reaction was overreaction, but still, there should be some sort of consequence. We give foreigners far to much leniency through diplomatic immunity. Though this is probably the tamest of offences foreigners commit and are allowed to use diplomatic immunity to avoid charges for.

UtahApocalypse
04-08-2010, 07:24 AM
This was a test by Qatar. Obama should have demanded that they waive his immunity, or forfeit his status and be deported back. Did he? hell no, he wants us to be attacked.

BlackTerrel
04-08-2010, 06:25 PM
So, recently we have seen people choose the wrong door in an airport and get charged, walk under a security rope to kiss a girlfriend goodbye and not get charged, and yet this guy doesn't? Smoking on most flights has been illegal for more than a decade, it is clearly marked in the bathroom, mentioned at the beginning of the flight, and there is a light over your head telling you not to do so. Yet this guy is allowed to smoke and not get charged?

I do believe the reaction was overreaction, but still, there should be some sort of consequence. We give foreigners far to much leniency through diplomatic immunity. Though this is probably the tamest of offences foreigners commit and are allowed to use diplomatic immunity to avoid charges for.

He not only smoked but then joked about having a bomb in his shoes. Jets were called to "escort" this plane which I'm sure costs tens of thousands of dollars.

May or may not be an overreaction. But rest assured if you or I had smoked and made a bomb joke we would not be seeing the light of day for a decade.

Anti Federalist
04-08-2010, 07:17 PM
But rest assured if you or I had smoked and made a bomb joke we would not be seeing the light of day for a decade.

Bank on it.

Very possibly would have been shot.

ionlyknowy
04-08-2010, 09:12 PM
as has already been said, this man was a diplomat from another country. In the US as well as many other countries there is a doctrine called diplomatic immunity. The purpose of diplomatic immunity is the thought that if you charge them with a crime while they are in your country their country will view this as possibly an act of war or aggression etc. The doctrine is meant to keep us out of foreign entanglements. Even though his country is smaller than ours and we could kick its arse we still dont want any more bad blood over there.

BlackTerrel
04-12-2010, 12:29 AM
He's being released without charge as expected.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/08/us.airliner.disturbance/?hpt=T1


A Qatari diplomat who was questioned by federal investigators after a disturbance on a flight to Colorado has been released without charges, officials said Thursday.

Mohammed al-Madadi was en route to Colorado for a series of consular visits, including a visit with a convicted terrorist being held in a federal facility in Florence, Colorado, a spokeswoman for the Qatari Embassy told CNN. His flight was escorted into Denver, Colorado, by two F-16 fighter jets after initial reports that he may have attempted to set a shoe on fire -- a report that may have stemmed from what one U.S. official called an "unfortunate comment" by the diplomat.

The U.S. official told CNN the passenger was in a lavatory for a long time and may have been smoking. He was questioned by air marshals aboard the United Airlines jet and again by the FBI after the plane landed.

The "unfortunate comment" was him joking about having a bomb in his shoes. After he was smoking in the lavatory. Gotta love your diplomatic immunity - if some worthless peasant had done this they'd be locked away for a long while.

foofighter20x
04-12-2010, 12:31 AM
This was a test by Qatar. Obama should have demanded that they waive his immunity, or forfeit his status and be deported back. Did he? hell no, he wants us to be attacked.

Obama doesn't have to demand anything.

All Obama has to do is declare the guy persona non grata and deport him.

BlackTerrel
04-12-2010, 01:21 PM
Obama doesn't have to demand anything.

All Obama has to do is declare the guy persona non grata and deport him.

Exactly. If an American diplomat smoked in a bathroom and then made a joke about being a terrorist in another country - you think it would all be hushed up so quickly and quietly?

angelatc
04-12-2010, 01:23 PM
Exactly. If an American diplomat smoked in a bathroom and then made a joke about being a terrorist in another country - you think it would all be hushed up so quickly and quietly?

Actually, I do.

Brian4Liberty
04-12-2010, 01:29 PM
All Obama has to do is declare the guy persona non grata and deport him.

Deported, and declared a non-diplomat. Next time he comes to the US, no immunity.

This was a major news story.

BlackTerrel
04-12-2010, 01:35 PM
Deported, and declared a non-diplomat. Next time he comes to the US, no immunity.

This was a major news story.

It was a major news story before the facts were out. Once it came out he was a diplomat and was "just telling a joke" it went away very fast.

tmosley
04-12-2010, 01:38 PM
I'm strangely reminded of this:

YouTube - Harold & Kumar 2: Full Airplane Scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv3kztUR2BU&NR=1)

BlackTerrel
04-12-2010, 01:46 PM
Hahaha... love that movie. And like the peasants they are were shipped to Guantanamo for cock meat sandwiches.

That's what happens when you don't have diplomatic immunity.

tmosley
04-12-2010, 02:02 PM
Pretty much.

I'm glad the guy who plays Kumar is leaving the Obama administration to play in the third movie. Two birds with one stone!

speciallyblend
04-12-2010, 04:05 PM
they do not have time for that. they need to arrest and ticket folks for 100 buck fines and arrests for having an herb;)

speciallyblend
04-12-2010, 04:08 PM
It was a major news story before the facts were out. Once it came out he was a diplomat and was "just telling a joke" it went away very fast.

we payed for f-16s to fly over a freaking cigarette. the marshall should be held liable for the whole bill. not to mention the whole colorado police force was there!!

they need to remove marshalls. they haven't done a dam thing that a citizen couldn't do on their own!! the citizens have acted better then these useless marshalls! waste of tax payer money fire all the marshalls then take that money and apply to better things!!