illegal egyptian 'student' caught with pilot materials
Thank God most terrorists are stupid.
Take, for instance, "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, who in full view of flight attendants and fellow passengers attempted to light a fuse sticking out of his shoe. Stupid. There's nothing like a terrorist you can foil by turning on the "No Smoking" sign. Anyone with half a brain would have gone to the bathroom to light-up. His lack of I.Q. and covert smoking skills saved nearly 200 people.
Like I said, thank God most terrorists are stupid.
Our latest example is Mahmoud Maawad, an Egyptian national recently arrested in Tennessee. Mr. Maawad is in the country illegally while studying at the University of Memphis. He was arrested after a search of his apartment turned up a pilot's uniform, a chart of Memphis International Airport, and the DVD "How an Airline Captain Should Look and Act."
"My school is everything," Maawad pled to a judge. "I stay in this country for seven years; I stay for the school."
Why did Mr. Maawad show up on FBI radar? Was it because he was seen lurking around the airport women's room in his pilot outfit? Did he use the white courtesy phone to order falafel? Nope, the company from which he ordered $3,000 in aviation related materials turned him in after he stiffed them on the bill.
Idiot. Shineola for brains. He'd be a free man today and have a clean credit record if he'd just opened the red envelope marked "Last Chance!" (And isn't it comforting to know the company would have given a pass to terrorists who aren't deadbeats?)
Maybe we should give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he's just really into stewardesses. Who amongst us hasn't dressed up like a pilot and cruised airport's and nearby hotel's bars picking up stewardesses for cheap, meaningless encounters?
He might have gotten a lot further with the judge if he had just admitted, "My stewardesses is everything. I stay in this country for seven years; I stay for the stewardesses."