Senator Biden says

September 14, 2001 6:40 AM

Senator Biden says that yesterday's arrests at NY airports were NOT connected to Tuesday's attacks, and those arrested were not carrying knives.
posted by ericost (14 comments total)

John Miller on ABC is now reporting that all but one of the arrestees has been released. Says it was a confusing series of events that led to their detainment, including one person using a relatives ID to board the flight while carrying his (valid) pilot license under his own name.
posted by ericost at 6:47 AM on September 14, 2001

yeah, apparently it was all a misunderstanding....
posted by netsirk at 6:51 AM on September 14, 2001

That's not quite what Biden said to ABC's Peter Jennings on TV last night. He was asked if he knew about these arrests and if he'd heard about them before the media reported them - he said yes, but got really evasive afterwards saying "I may have said too much already." Notice he's now recanting after talking to the FBI and CIA? Sounds like they're hiding something.
posted by dnash at 6:55 AM on September 14, 2001

dnash: I saw Biden last night and I heard him say he DID not hear about the arrests before he heard it on the news.
posted by ericost at 7:09 AM on September 14, 2001

One more reason why we should not trust early judgments and premature conclusions. Everything we read are things from basically unnamed sources without a shred of evidence. Yet, that doesn't seem to stop people from demonising countries or persons. God (or whatever) save dark-skinned people.
posted by acrobat at 7:13 AM on September 14, 2001

When was the last time Sen. Biden was this visible -- the Clarence Thomas hearings? It's either a perk of leading the Senate Foreign Relations Committee or the start of a presidential campaign.
posted by rcade at 7:21 AM on September 14, 2001

Has anyone seen "any" interviews with these 10 people that have been "released"?
posted by slowlightning at 7:24 AM on September 14, 2001

slowlightning - I think I agree with what you are getting at. I too would think that at least one of the 10 detained people who'd been implicated in this mess in the media would come running for an interview - yet we see nothing like this.

It would not suprise me at all if Senator Biden and others are lying to us about some of these developments in an effort to prevent wide-spread panic.
posted by schlyer at 7:32 AM on September 14, 2001

Anyone see Giuliani on the news getting pissed off at people jumping to conclusions? Also a bogus telemarketing firm is apparently calling up senior citizens to get their money by telling them to donate to a 'fund for the survivors'. May they be found and made an example of.
posted by Mossy at 7:33 AM on September 14, 2001

I saw Biden last night and I heard him say he DID not hear about the arrests before he heard it on the news.

I admit I wasn't paying close attention when I watched - But if Biden said he hadn't heard of it before, then Jennings summed it up incorrectly later, cuz I'm pretty sure Jennings said "Senator Biden said that he HAD heard of these arrests before we reported them."

It would not suprise me at all if Senator Biden and others are lying to us about some of these developments in an effort to prevent wide-spread panic.

That's pretty much what I think. Which doesn't really bother me, if in fact it's just about keeping people calm. Though it strikes me as dumb for anyone to attempt the same sort of attack right now, given that security is so tight - wouldn't they know they couldn't pull it off again so soon?
posted by dnash at 7:56 AM on September 14, 2001

Though it strikes me as dumb for anyone to attempt the same sort of attack right now, given that security is so tight - wouldn't they know they couldn't pull it off again so soon?

Ahh, the illusion of safety. It may be more difficult currently, but determined wacko's are an ingenious bunch.
posted by schlyer at 8:24 AM on September 14, 2001

What Security? In Skyharbor (Phoenix airport) three Northwest employees walked right through without ID and carrying a corkscrew. Security on the first day of flights after such a horrendous event should not have one breach, let alone three. The airlines run their own crew security and guess who they get to save money. Obviously the system does not work.
posted by slowlightning at 9:57 AM on September 14, 2001

As far as Biden, when asked by Jennings he did say at first that hi had heard before news reports, then said he may have said too much, then later said "No" when asked the same question.
The real problem is that today's news agencies rival intelligence organizations in information gathering.
Every station is tripping over itself saying that they made a mistake and that through confusion they made mistakes yesterday about the 10 arrested individuals. There were no knives, two had used false Id and oh, by the way, the fact that one of them used the address of one of the hijackers............well that is just an incredible coincidence. Yeah, I'll say. The News agencies are getting to be so good that they have stepped right into the middle of an ongoing operation and started reporting on it. Not cool. It was painful listening to this back peddling, how obvious that they have been told to cool it, big time.
posted by slowlightning at 10:14 AM on September 14, 2001

Gah! Last night I heard the reports. “Ten people found with fake IDs, knives, impersonating flight crew.” and knew those reports had to be fake, hyped up or wrong.

The attacks are over, no more are planned.


slowlight, gut reaction to your interview question: If I was any of these people, whom are all of Arab descent and were recently detained by the FBI, I would keep as low a profile as humanly possible. The US is not the most hospitible place for them right now. Our Law Enforcement drove that point very clear to them.
posted by raaka at 1:08 PM on September 14, 2001