Paul Sperry
Syrians flood flight schools
Tue Oct 16 21:30:06 2001


Syrians flood flight schools
14 enter at Dallas/Fort Worth; INS gives
passport info to FBI


By Paul Sperry - psperry@worldnetdaily.com
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com

WASHINGTON – In just the past two days, 14
Syrian men entered the U.S. through Dallas/Fort
Worth International Airport on student visas to
attend flight schools at Fort Worth Meacham
International Airport, WorldNetDaily has learned
exclusively.

The State Department lists Syria as a state sponsor
of terrorism.

The Syrian men, whose M-1 visas expire April
2002, flew in from London aboard two British
Airways flights, with one group of seven arriving
Sunday and the rest on Monday – the day before
the Federal Aviation Administration lifted its
post-attack ban on novice pilots flying private
planes solo in airspace around major metropolitan
areas.

"Seems that they knew the private plane ban was
going to be lifted today," said an Immigration and
Naturalization Service inspector at DFW.

After the second wave of Syrians deplaned, INS
inspectors called the FBI, which asked inspectors to
photocopy their passports and other papers,
according to the INS source.

The men, all clean-shaven and in their early 30s,
were not detained, however, and the FBI did not
interview them – although agents have recently
questioned Middle Eastern students enrolled at
Meacham field schools.

The Syrians told immigration inspectors they came
here to train to be pilots for their country's national
airline.

Four of the eight schools at Meacham field are run
by Middle Eastern men, airport records reviewed
by WorldNetDaily show.

Delta-Qualiflight Aeronautics, owned by Khaled
Miloud, enrolls the largest share of Middle Eastern
students, according to airport sources, who say
Arabic is the main language spoken at the school.
Miloud did not return phone calls.

The schools, using Meacham field's two runways
and flight simulators, train students to fly primarily
single and twin-engine aircraft.

The FBI would not comment on the Syrian
students. But a spokeswoman for the bureau's
Dallas office said agents have been "working very
closely" with INS inspectors at DFW to monitor
Middle Easterners coming into the U.S. on
flight-school visas.

"We're getting thousands of leads here at the Dallas
division, many of them concerning Middle Eastern
individuals coming in and going to flight schools,"
Dallas FBI spokeswoman Lori Bailey told
WorldNetDaily. "We have several flight schools in
the Dallas-Fort Worth area."

INS inspectors at DFW have detained "numerous"
Middle Easterners who are in violation of
immigration laws, she said. But the FBI has not
arrested any in connection with the PENTTBOM
investigation of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

After the 9-11 hijackings, FBI agents tracked a
suspicious Algerian man to another Meacham field
flight school called American Flyers,
WorldNetDaily has learned.

According to a spokesman for American Flyers,
agents questioned the man at his Fort Worth-area
apartment.

"He was very cooperative," he said, "and they gave
him their blessing" to attend the school.

The American Flyers manager says that despite
"some obvious bad apples," most of the Middle
Eastern students who train at American flight
schools are "all right."

"I get a lot of people asking me lately, 'Hey, how
come you're still letting people from the Middle East
train to fly at your school?'" he said. "But I tell them
that before they ever get here, they're applications
are approved by the State Department."

Indeed, foreigners applying for a student visa have
to fill out a federal application, called an I-20 form,
and submit it to the American embassy in their
country for approval. The form includes the name
and address of the U.S. flight school.

"I don't know why the feds are surprised" by the
number of Middle Easterners enrolled at U.S. flight
schools, he said. "The information is available in
advance. They know these guys' names and where
they're enrolled long before they arrive here."

A State Department spokesman says the Bush
administration has no plans to stop issuing visas to
flight-school applicants from the Middle East.

"The Department of State has changed no laws and
no regulations from what was in effect Sept. 10,"
spokesman Chris Lamora told WorldNetDaily.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department has not told the
INS to turn back or detain Middle Easterners
entering the U.S. with flight-school visas – not even
those from countries that sponsor terrorism, such as
Syria.

Others on State's terror watch list include Iraq,
Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Libya and Sudan.

On Sunday, Osama bin Laden's lieutenant warned
that another "storm of airplanes" will hit America.

"Thousands of young Muslims want to die [as
martyrs], and the storm of airplanes will not stop,"
said al-Qaida spokesman Suleiman Abu Ghaith in a
propaganda video broadcast on Arab television.

"The storm of airplanes will not be calmed," he
said, "if it is God's will."

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24955
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TERROR IN AMERICA Sept. 11, 2001
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/WTC.htm 

Government Had Prior Knowledge - Pending 9-11 Attack
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/knowledge.htm 

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