This story just hit the local news here in Denver. Details are very very sketchy at the moment but there was a disturbance on a United flight from D.C. to Denver. Information is still hard to come by at the moment but it would appear to be non-terrorist related.
The man at the center of the story is Mohammed al-Modadi who is the 3rd secretary and vice-counsul at the Qatar embassy in Washington. The best explanation of what happened that I've found is at Hot Air:
On MSNBC, Pete Williams says they haven't found any explosives in his shoes yet and thinks it might be a huge misunderstanding. Supposedly al-Modadi got up to use the bathroom around 30 minutes before the flight landed; he was in there for awhile and when he came out an air marshal smelled smoke. When the marshal asked him what he was doing in the bathroom, al-Modadi supposedly said, "I was trying to light my shoes on fire." In fact, he might have simply been having a cigarette and responding sarcastically, which I guess the marshal didn't pick up on. Again, this is all from Williams.If this recounting of the story it true then al-Modadi is not a terrorist. He is however an idiot. Who would try to smoke on board an airplane and then when caught in the act make a joke about terrorism and shoe bombings?
More details, though they don't have much, at FoxNews and ABCNews.
Update: Mohammed Yacoub Y.M. Al Madadi is the one on the right in this picture, which matches the State Dept listing. Interestingly though he's listed as "Third Secretary," his Linked In profile lists him as a recent GWU graduate who is a database adminstrator for the consulate.
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Comments (18)
Who would do something like... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Arizona CJ | April 7, 2010 11:39 PM | Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
Who would do something like what's described? (Smoke on a plane and then joke about bombs)?
Easy: an asshole with diplomatic immunity. He would assume, perhaps correctly, they they wouldn't touch him.
1. Posted by Arizona CJ | April 7, 2010 11:39 PM |
Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
Posted on April 7, 2010 23:39
2. Posted by 914 | April 7, 2010 11:47 PM | Score: 8 (8 votes cast)
"Idiot Discovered on flight out of D.C.??"
It ain't even November and there already cuttin and runnin..
2. Posted by 914 | April 7, 2010 11:47 PM |
Score: 8 (8 votes cast)
Posted on April 7, 2010 23:47
3. Posted by Rodney Graves | April 8, 2010 12:05 AM | Score: 7 (7 votes cast)
Hold him at the airport, have his PNG letter delivered to him, place him on next flight home.
3. Posted by Rodney Graves | April 8, 2010 12:05 AM |
Score: 7 (7 votes cast)
Posted on April 8, 2010 00:05
4. Posted by GarandFan | April 8, 2010 1:06 AM | Score: 8 (8 votes cast)
There are times and places where you can probably get by with flippant remarks and a shitty attitude. Aboard a plane in flight IS NOT one of them.
4. Posted by GarandFan | April 8, 2010 1:06 AM |
Score: 8 (8 votes cast)
Posted on April 8, 2010 01:06
5. Posted by Jim Addison | April 8, 2010 2:11 AM | Score: 4 (6 votes cast)
Heck, you couldn't get away with making bomb jokes on planes or at airports even before 9/11.
My understanding is that the only action we could take beside PNG-ing his butt straight home (and put him on a no-entry list for the future), short of severing diplomatic relations or actions nearly that drastic, would be to adjust the staff allowance so he could not be replaced. That usually results in a reciprocal cut, so it doesn't mean much.
Qatar has been very helpful and cooperative with us, though, and it is probably just a young jerk's flip mouth. Arabs have no corner on smartasp idiots.
5. Posted by Jim Addison | April 8, 2010 2:11 AM |
Score: 4 (6 votes cast)
Posted on April 8, 2010 02:11
6. Posted by Ron | April 8, 2010 2:24 AM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Holy somkes he's bats man.
6. Posted by Ron | April 8, 2010 2:24 AM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on April 8, 2010 02:24
7. Posted by poptoy | April 8, 2010 5:19 AM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
RADICAL ISLAM AT IT'S BEST.
7. Posted by poptoy | April 8, 2010 5:19 AM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on April 8, 2010 05:19
8. Posted by jim m | April 8, 2010 6:45 AM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Should have had him step outside for his smoke right then and there.
8. Posted by jim m | April 8, 2010 6:45 AM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on April 8, 2010 06:45
9. Posted by JPO | April 8, 2010 7:04 AM | Score: 7 (9 votes cast)
"Idiot Discovered on a Flight from DC"
Thought this would be a story about Air Force One.
9. Posted by JPO | April 8, 2010 7:04 AM |
Score: 7 (9 votes cast)
Posted on April 8, 2010 07:04
10. Posted by mag | April 8, 2010 7:07 AM | Score: 3 (5 votes cast)
#9...best comment yet!
Personally, I don't trust any of them....and screw anyone who thinks I am a racist...
10. Posted by mag | April 8, 2010 7:07 AM |
Score: 3 (5 votes cast)
Posted on April 8, 2010 07:07
11. Posted by kos kid commenting on the wrong blog | April 8, 2010 8:53 AM | Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
President Obama should apologize to the diplomat, apologize to the government of Qatar, make reparations to ... What? Qatar is a U.S. ally? Fuch 'em then.
AND DON'T CALL IT A REGIME!!!
(bursts into tears and runs away sobbing)
11. Posted by kos kid commenting on the wrong blog | April 8, 2010 8:53 AM |
Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
Posted on April 8, 2010 08:53
12. Posted by Roy | April 8, 2010 9:31 AM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
The air marshal saved his life. Imagine if a regular American citizen had gotten ahold of the moron.
12. Posted by Roy | April 8, 2010 9:31 AM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on April 8, 2010 09:31
13. Posted by Cheney W. Halliburton | April 8, 2010 10:25 AM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
(plots elimination of rival)
13. Posted by Cheney W. Halliburton | April 8, 2010 10:25 AM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on April 8, 2010 10:25
14. Posted by 914 | April 8, 2010 11:31 AM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
"The air marshal saved his life. Imagine if a regular American citizen had gotten ahold of the moron"
Good luck with that one! He has way too many secret service personnel for that!
14. Posted by 914 | April 8, 2010 11:31 AM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on April 8, 2010 11:31
15. Posted by TexBob | April 8, 2010 12:18 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Tiny Muslim with a Diplomatic Passport = Narcissistic Big Pain in the Ass.
Kinda reminds me of Hussein Obama.
15. Posted by TexBob | April 8, 2010 12:18 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on April 8, 2010 12:18
16. Posted by Tsar Nicholas II | April 8, 2010 12:40 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
The reference to "recent GWU graduate" tells you all you need to know.
16. Posted by Tsar Nicholas II | April 8, 2010 12:40 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on April 8, 2010 12:40
17. Posted by Marc | April 8, 2010 4:18 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
"Released without charge."
Now THAT's bullshit! The nitwit's Diplo passport should have been pulled, promptly deported and banned from U.S. entry for 10, or more, years.
17. Posted by Marc | April 8, 2010 4:18 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on April 8, 2010 16:18
18. Posted by wtfo | April 8, 2010 5:15 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
"I was trying to light my shoes on fire." In fact, he might have simply been having a cigarette and responding sarcastically, which I guess the marshal didn't pick up on. Again, this is all from Williams."
I'm really getting tired of writers - even those I generally like - screwing this up. They're making the officer out to be some kind of idiot, here.
In security work, you have a concept known as "honoring the threat". If someone walks up and says something - no matter how idiotic it seems - that is, by the meaning of the actual words leaving their actual mouth, a threat or indication that they are doing, or may do something violent - then you have to take them at their (admittedly idiotic) word.
There is a reason for this, which I can explain easily, having worked these sort of jobs. I am responsible for a lot of "people getting not killed". Whenever some idiot civilian cracks a bomb joke, we have to take it seriously, even when it is OBVIOUSLY a joke. Why?
Because "people not getting killed" - and the related (and very important, to myself) task of "my ass not getting handed to me - as a result of failing the task of 'people not getting killed' " is more important than "not looking like an idiot", which invevitably results from having to be a dick to that idiot comedian.
Naturally this infuriates a lot of self-centered people who like to think that their rights are being trampled when they can't wear an "I'm a terrorist!" t-shirt into secure areas.
Guys like this officer have jobs. These jobs are serious. At the very least people could help by pulling their heads out of their asses, realizing the world does not revolve around them, and stop doing stupid shit that they've been warned not to do a thousand times before, and the media could help by understanding the problem in the first place.
18. Posted by wtfo | April 8, 2010 5:15 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on April 8, 2010 17:15