April 7, 2009, - 10:31 am
Guess the Religion: Turkish Muslim Steals Cessna, Flies it to U.S.; Testing the System
By Debbie Schlussel
You’ve probably heard about the case of Yavuz Berke a/k/a Adam Leon, a Turkish-born Muslim who stole a Cessna from a Canadian flight school yesterday and flew it here to America, where he was arrested.
This isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last, post-9/11, that a Muslim or Arab with bad intentions, stole a light aircraft in North America and flew it in the U.S.
As you’ll recall, not long after 9/11, Tampa, Florida teen Charles Bishop (real surname: Bishara) stole a light plane from flight school and deliberately crashed it into a Tampa office building. He was headed in the direction of CENTCOM, which is not far from the area. He left a note, which authorities held until after the Superbowl. In the note he said that Osama Bin Laden was going to target the Superbowl. Bishop-Bishara was half Syrian, living with his mother, and it was believed he was trying to reconnect with his Arabic roots.
But despite all that, Bishop-Bishara’s family blamed the incident on the acne drug Accutane and his alleged psychological state. Leaving strange notes and blaming it on the psyche–that’s the usual dismissive tone we see with regard to Muslims and Mid-Easterners who seek to do us harm. Gee, they have such a high incidence of “mental problems,” just as they’re trying to kill us.
Fortunately, Berke landed and was finally arrested before he did any real harm, but he certainly had the opportunity to do so.
A pilot who allegedly stole a Cessna plane from a Canadian flight school and was pursued for hours across the Midwest by fighter jets, was taken into custody after he landed on a Missouri highway late today and took off running, an FBI spokesman said.
The pilot landed the single engine Cessna 172 on U.S. Highway 60 in Ellsinore, Mo., at approximately 9:50 p.m. ET, and was caught by Missouri State Highway Patrol officers, FBI spokesman Rich Kolko said.
The pilot was identified as Yavuz Berke, formerly known as Adam Leon, a 31-year-old naturalized Canadian citizen who was born in Turkey, Kolko said.
The plane had been escorted by two F-16 fighter jets since shortly after it crossed into U.S. airspace from Canada, and the pilot did not respond to multiple requests that he establish communications with ground controllers.
Burke was apparently treated for depression last Friday and left his girlfriend a good-bye note, Canadian officials told the U.S. government. Berke’s vehicle was left at the airport in Canada with the keys still in it.
A Customs and Border Protection aircraft also closely monitoring the Cessna. . . .
“Apparently, somebody jumped over the fence and just jumped into an aircraft,” Judi Maundrell, the college’s vice president of academics and student services, told the Thunder Bay News Source. “It was sitting as usual parked on the ramp. They keys are in all the aircrafts because students are using them.”
Wow, great security there.
NORAD spokesman Michael Kucharek said the F-16 pilots had made visual contact with the pilot and knew that the person flying the Cessna was aware that the F-16s were there. He was “unresponsive to their non-verbal directions and … not in contact with the FAA controllers,” Kucharek said.
Authorities are claiming there was no bad intent here because Berke passed over highly populated areas and did nothing to them. Well, so what? He’s just testing the system for the real thing.
It’s ironic, isn’t it, that while Barack Hussein Obama was busy pandering to Muslims over in Turkey, one of their countrymen and co-religionists is testing our security in the skies over here.
This isn’t just an incident of an insane individual. It’s far more.
I doubt that his religion or country of origin had anything to do with what happened. You should have also bolded the sentence that said:
“Burke was apparently treated for depression last Friday and left his girlfriend a good-bye note”
He was suffering from mental illness, something that affects all human beings, even Americans. And all human beings are capable of anything, it does not depend on their country of origin or religion.
Brian.
joshaidan on April 7, 2009 at 11:26 am