Those who care must be kept from knowing… at all costs.The Washington Times today updated its investigative report about Flight 327 (H/T HotAir), where a group of Syrian “musicians” may have conducted a dry-run for a terror act in 2004. According to the  article, the Department of Homeland Security failed to properly investigate when air marshals aboard the flight observed the incident, detained suspects, and filed their report. The initial investigation into DHS’ handling of the situation led to an investigation and a 51 page report, in which all but two sentences were redacted forcing an FOIA request.

An air marshal who told The Washington Times that he has been involved personally in terror probes that were ignored by federal security managers, called such behavior typical.
    ”Agency management was not only covering up numerous probes and dry-run encounters from Congress and other federal law-enforcement agencies, it was also hiding these incidents from their own flying air marshals,” said P. Jeffrey Black, an air marshal stationed in Las Vegas.
    Homeland Security officials initially denied that the complaints and blamed passengers who reported the incident to the press as behaving hysterically. However, the inspector general report shows that air marshals had the group of men under surveillance before they boarded the plane.
    ”Prior to boarding, one of the air marshals noticed what he later characterized as ‘unusual behavior’ by about six Middle Eastern males, who arrived at the gate together, then separated, and acted as if they did not know each other,” the report said.

Sound familiar?

It’s hard to have high hopes about efforts to educate passengers on what signs to look for in the case of a terror attempt when the government’s own trained agents are ignored, and those with the good sense to speak up are hounded into silence.

The Washington Times does have a tiny glimmer of hope however, as police unions across the country come out in support of the transit shield law. Police say they know the importance of citizens willing to speak out when they are suspicious.  I can see where an overabundance of false positives from concerned passengers may be a concern for federal authorities, which is why the CVF has called for a training course for interested citizens, so that they can learn what signs to look for, the same signs which led these Air Marshals back in 2004 for indicate concern. 

But then, it isn’t just the concerned citizen, or the astute Air Marshal which the jihad by lawsuit crowd is looking to dissuade. In the latest CAIR email newsletter, CAIR crows about this Washington Post piece:

 “The Informer: Behind the Scenes, or Setting the Stage”, is the story of a man recruited to report on jihadi activities at NYC mosques. Reports which led to the arrest of a 21 year old Muslim man seeking explosives to destroy a subway tunnel. But its clear from the reporting style what the Washington Post thinks of the man’s undercover service:

He doesn’t get many visitors these days. He is in hiding for his own safety. He has received no direct threats, he says, but has heard through friends of friends that there are those who want to kill him. Nobody likes a snitch.

…he has retreated into a kind of suburban depression. He wears the same black shirt two days in a row, with dark marks of perspiration under the arms. He can’t stop smoking and says he has gained weight. At night, while his wife, Fotna, and daughter Marwa sleep in the master bedroom, he stays up late using the Internet in the second bedroom, trawling for real estate deals or writing to defend himself on a Muslim-themed Web site that calls him an agent provocateur.

He hasn’t been to any mosques since he moved, he says, and prays only a few times a month.

Fotna (his wife), 52, who had a career as a dentist before her marriage, has dark eyes, a lively, humorous way and a take-charge attitude. She tells how last summer the lease on the family’s Pennsylvania apartment was about to run out, and they feared becoming homeless…She moved with Marwa (the daughter) back to Staten Island and left Eldawoody (informer)to his own devices. “He can be homeless — he is a man alone.”

Now, at the checkout line, she talks openly about divorce, but dismisses it.

All italics are mine.  While sting operations have always been the ugly red-head stepchild of law enforcement, with officers, citizens, and civil libertarians all holding certain concerns about them, they remain an important and often effective tool. In fact they remain perhaps one of the few effective tools to combat homegrown jihadis, who without warning or training from overseas groups seek to commit violence against the west. The message being sent by this article is clear. Muslims who want to help their nation by rooting out extremists face death threats, the possible loss of their family, and being ostracised by the rest of the muslim community. In short, they are telling potential cooperators, “Helping your country? Why risk it?” Between John Doe Lawsuits, suppressed DHS reports, and hit pieces like this one, CAIR and their allies are working to finish off any chance of preventing another attack. Their message?

Patriotic Muslims?  See no Evil.

Federal Bureacrats? Hear No Evil.

Concerned Citizens? Speak no Evil.

Ima€ge Credit: River Vices