Those Syrian Musicians

[rowyn]

I know koogrr was interested in the group of musicians suspected of one reporter of being terrorists.

They appear to have been the backup band for "Nour Mehana" (a.k.a. Noor Mehanna, Nour Mhanna, or Noor Mhanan, or probably some other spellings, take your pick).

Thanks to Scott Kellogg and Snopes.com for the link.

Comments

[kelloggs2066.livejournal.com]

Credit for pointing out the debunking of the article goes to tdj and unciaa.

Shame goes to me for participating in spreading paranoia. :(

Still, I'm just glad that it WAS a bunch of hooey.

[rowyn]

Eh, don't be so hard on yourself. It was a credible article and saw a lot of investigation from other sources, not just you. For that matter, just because we know who the band members are and who they were backing doesn't necessarily mean that they weren't on a terrorist dry run. It seems much less likely -- but mainly because the FBI investigation didn't turn up any reason to hold them.

A couple of other recent articles on the subject:

One pro-Jacobsen: http://www.heatherwilhelm.com/Heather_Wilhelm_dot_com--Nour_Mehana.html

Another that more favors 'cultural misunderstanding':
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/27/business/27road.html

[level-head.livejournal.com]

While the reporter may have jumped the gun on this, it also seems that Snopes might have. The issue is still raising questions -- and you might re-read other posts here.

There is no shame to be had.

===|==============/ Level Head

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

Ah, so what's the wrong article, then? Is the article you just posted a link to supposed to be a fake article, or what? Just confused by the comment and ... well ... having no background context for this whole thing. (I've never heard of this before your post.)

[rowyn]

The original article is here. The one I linked to in my original post is a follow-up article.

While the broad details of her story (eg, the flight she took did exist and did have 14 Middle Eastern men on it) are confirmed, the other details -- ie, how suspicious was their behavior? Were they loitering by the bathroom door? etc. have not been independently verified, and air marshalls say that they checked the lavatory after the men used it, which the reporter specifically said didn't happen. It's possible that she was hysterically overreacting (that's certainly the official version of events) and invented details that didn't actually happen.

But if exactly what she described did happen, I wouldn't blame her for being paranoid.

Snopes debunks the story here.

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info!

[level-head.livejournal.com]

More curiosity -- it now seems that the places that the Syrian Ambassador insisted that they had played at, they hadn't. And that almost all of them were traveling on expired visas.

And that others on the same flight had the same impression.

While it is unlikely to be a "dry run" as it was characterized, it's a long way from "settled". But it does point out a serious gap in security procedures.

===|==============/ Level Head

[koogrr.livejournal.com]

Ah, very cool!

I was pretty sure there couldn't be that many bands with 14 members (it's like a small orchestra), from Syria, scheduled to play in a Casino around that time, and that they ought to be possible to be found.

Now the harder problem of finding someplace to get a CD of an artist with 5 different spellings of his name... Maybe Amazon will be nice.

[rowyn]

I found this CD by him for sale.

However, before you decide to support him, one columnist got a disturbing translation of one of his songs, "Um El Shaheed":

"Mother of a Martyr" glorifies the death of a young Palestinian. Mehana sings to a grieving mother that she should not be sad, because her son, who died as a martyr, is a hero. She should be happy that her son is gone, Mehana croons, because freeing Palestine and the Golan Heights are heroic goals. The song, which starts slow and solemn, ends with a triumphant chorus, celebrating the martyr's glorious death: "Allahu Akbar...Allahu Akbar...Allahu Akbar!"

I haven't confirmed the accuracy of this assessment. But I'll admit that, if it's true (even of only one song), I wouldn't be keen on giving him my money.

Off topic

[iculver.livejournal.com]

Hi! When I read your posts to prester_scott I said to myself "Sister gets it!"

:)

Keep on him. Pray for him.

Your fan,

Ian