Last Updated: 12:21 PM, December 26, 2009

from the New York Post

Terror hero: I didn't hesitate

By TOM LIDDY


A Dutch airline passenger told The Post how he leapt into action when an alleged Muslim terrorist tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner packed with 300 people just moments before landing.

Chaos erupted as alleged terrorist Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, 23, tried to set off a sophisticated explosive device strapped to his body.

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"Suddenly, we hear a bang. It sounded like a firecracker went off," said Jasper Schuringa, a film director who was traveling to the US to visit friends.

"When [it] went off, everybody panicked ... Then someone screamed, ‘Fire! Fire!’"

Schuringa, sitting in seat 20J, in the right-most section of the Airbus 330, looked to his left. "I saw smoke rising from a seat ... I didn’t hesitate. I just jumped," he said.

Schuringa dove over four passengers to reach Abdul Mutallab’s seat. The suspect had a blanket on his lap. "It was smoking and there were flames coming from beneath his legs."

"I searched on his body parts and he had his pants open. He had something strapped to his legs."

The unassuming hero ripped the flaming, molten object — which resembled a small, white shampoo bottle — off Abdul Mutallab’s left leg, near his crotch. He said he put out the fire with his bare hands.

Schuringa yelled for water, and members of the flight crew soon appeared with fire extinguishers. Then, he said, he hauled the suspect out of the seat.

"I took him in a choke to the first class and all the people were like, ‘What’s going on?!"

"I don’t feel like a hero," Schuringa told the Post as he recuperated with pals. "It was something that came completely natural ... It was something where I had to do something or it was too late."

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The story is all over the internet this morning, and probably all over the state-controlled media too. If you haven't heard about it yet, you need to sober up and turn off the cartoon channel. I chose this version of the story because it focuses on Mr. Schuringa, who disrupted the attempt and probably saved the plane and passengers. Other stories centered on the Nigerian bozo, the chronology of the reporting or the heroics of baraq obuma in response to the incident.

I have a couple of predictions for you:

We're going to see more incidents like this, soon. (Do you suppose it was a coincidence that the TSA posted their security procedures manual online for the whole world to read?).

You may recall that we have all been taking off our freaking shoes and shuffling barefoot through TSA checkpoints ever since Richard Reid attempted to blow up an airplane with his sneaker. - Well this Nigerian aborigine had his incendiary device taped near his crotch. Look for a new TSA rule soon calling for us all to drop trousers at the checkpoint line. Don't you dare gripe about it either or they'll put on the rubber gloves and make sure you don't have a bomb up your butt like the Saudi who tried to assassinate the prince recently.

My advice is to avoid flying altogether. Take the money saved and invest it in precious metals.
There is no top in sight for the rise in copper, brass and lead.