Here's a lovely little story from Afghanistan:
[size=4]Angry Mob Kills Afghan Official[/size=4]
By Amir Shah, Associated Press Writer
Friday, February 15, 2002; 2:14 AM
KABUL, Afghanistan –– Afghanistan's civil aviation and tourism minister was attacked and killed at the Kabul airport by a mob of Muslim pilgrims enraged over flight delays to the Islamic holy city of Mecca, the interim government confirmed Friday.
The violent death of the minister, Abdul Rahman, raises serious questions about whether the interim government of Hamid Karzai is capable of establishing security in chaotic post-Taliban Afghanistan – and about the effectiveness of the international security force that has been deployed in the capital since the start of the year.
Afghanistan's Cabinet met in an emergency session for several hours late Thursday following the killing, and Foreign Ministry spokesman Omar Samad said an investigation had been opened into the incident.
The fatal confrontation was sparked when Rahman went to the Kabul airport Thursday afternoon for a flight to New Delhi, according to accounts by government and Afghan airline officials. Hundreds of pilgrims, who had been stranded at the airport awaiting Saudi visas and transport to Mecca – some of them having waited for days – blocked Rahman's plane, beginning a standoff that went on for about five hours, airline and government officials said.
When the minister left the aircraft at about 8 p.m. to try to calm the crowd, pilgrims set upon him and he was fatally injured. Several pilgrims were also hurt during a clash with Rahman's bodyguards.
The death was confirmed by an Interior Ministry spokesman, Faraidoon, who uses only one name.
The hajj pilgrimage to Mecca – home of Islam's holiest shrine – is one of the pillars of Islam. Muslims who are able-bodied and can afford the journey are obliged to do it at least once in their lifetime. Saudi authorities are expecting up to 2.5 million people to perform the hajj this year, beginning Feb. 20.
The hajj had continued even during Taliban times, with pilgrimage flights being granted an exemption from international sanctions then in place against Afghanistan.
Since the fall of the Taliban, factional fighting has persisted in pockets of Afghanistan's countryside, but this is the most serious violence yet in the capital since Karzai's government took over Dec. 22.
Kabul is patrolled by an international peacekeeping force that numbers about 3,200 troops thus far. Karzai has repeatedly appealed for an enlarging of the force and an expansion of its deployment outside of Kabul.
See article at:[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13669-2002Feb15.html[/url]
Wonder if an irate group of 'soiled' passengers from a commercial airliner arriving in Salt Lake City might do the same thing to the FAA Administrator?
Eric The(Hmmmmm?)Hun[>]:)]