The middle eastern men were identified by federal agents as a group of touring musicians travelling to a concert date at a casino, said Air Marshals spokesman Dave Adams.

Jacobsen wrote she became alarmed when the men made frequent trips to the lavatory, repeatedly opened and closed the overhead luggage compartments, and appeared to be signaling each other.

"Initially it was brought to [the air marshals] attention by a passenger,” Adams said, adding the agents had been watching the men and chose to stay undercover.

Jacobsen and her husband had a number of conversations with the flight attendants and gestured towards the men several times, the source said.

"In concert with the flight crew, the decision was made to keep [the men] under surveillance since no terrorist or criminal acts were being perpetrated aboard the aircraft; they didn’t interfere with the flight crew,” Adams said.

The air marshals did, however, check the bathrooms after the middle-eastern men had spent time inside, Adams said.

FBI agents met the plane when it landed in Los Angeles and the men were questioned, and Los Angeles field office spokeswoman Cathy Viray said it’s significant the alarm on the flight came from a passenger.

"We have to take all calls seriously, but the passenger was worried, not the flight crew or the federal air marshals,” she said. "The complaint did not stem from the flight crew.”

Several people were questioned, she said, but no one was detained.

Jacobsen’s husband Kevin told KFI NEWS he approached a man he thought was an air marshal after the flight had landed.

"You made me nervous,” Kevin said the air marshal told him.

"I was freaking out,” Kevin replied.

"We don’t freak out in situations like this,” the air marshal responded.

Federal agents later verified the musicians’ story.

"We followed up with the casino,” Adams said. A supervisor verified they were playing a concert. A second federal law enforcement source said the concert itself was monitored by an agent.

"We also went to the hotel, determined they had checked into the hotel,” Adams said. Each of the men were checked through a series of databases and watch-lists with negative results, he said.

The source said the air marshals on the flight were partially concerned Jacobsen’s actions could have been an effort by terrorists or attackers to create a disturbance on the plane to force the agents to identify themselves.

Air marshals’ only tactical advantage on a flight is their anonymity, the source said, and Jacobsen could have put the entire flight in danger.

"They have to be very cognizant of their surroundings,” spokesman Adams confirmed, "to make sure it isn’t a ruse to try and pull them out of their cover.”

KFI reporter Jessica Rosenthal contributed to this report.

Copyright 2004 KFI NEWS. All rights reserved.

I have sent the copyright owner a request for a working link to this article and will dismantle this post with a corrected URL as soon I receive it.

In light of the recent arrest of terror suspects of "Middle-Eastern Origin" [appeaser speak for Islamic Fascists] perhaps this woman didn't over-react at all.

Update: Seems Annie Jacobson's fears were justified, read the full update at:

Something...and Half of Something,
There is no terrorist threat

They let them go to maintain some ridiculous PC standard forced upon us by the lunatic left fringe. It took them three years to admit it.

Unless and until we recognize the enemy for who it is, what it is and where it is, we are sheep being led to the slaughter.