MSNBC is reporting that a Qatari passenger attempted to bring down a Denver-bound plane this evening:
A passenger attempted to light an explosive device aboard an airliner flying from Washington to Denver but was subdued by a federal air marshal, sources close to the House Homeland Security Committee told NBC News.
More at that link. Neither CNN nor Fox seems to have anything on this story yet. Rachel Maddow just reported it minutes ago.
Interesting that this would happen the same day that there's a lot of discussion about the hit that the President has essentially put out for al-Awlaki.
UPDATE: More information from MSNBC:
- Flight was United 663 from DCA (Washington National) to DEN
- Suspect is in his mid-to-late twenties
- Suspect is a diplomat from Qatar
- It's possible that this entire event could have been the result of a smart-ass remark to an on-edge air marshal. Evidently the suspect spent a long time in the restroom and the marshal got nervous. The marshal thought he smelled smoke and asked the suspect what he was doing in the john. The suspect replied something like, "I was setting my shoes on fire." So maybe it's nothing.
- It has not been confirmed yet that any actual explosives were on board.
UPDATE #2: It's looking more like a pissed-off smoker said the wrong thing to an air marshal. So, maybe there's nothing to this.
from Pete Williams: "The growing consensus here in Washington is that there was no explosive on this plane."
Move along, nothing to see here.