Speaker 1: Pasha, this is the seventy seven WABC Mini cast. Let's
Speaker 1: go back to Alice in Ohio. Alice, thank you for
Speaker 1: your patients, and you're right. This woman is troubling. And
Speaker 1: what scares me, Alice, is how many more are like
Speaker 1: this woman? She went from, she said, super patriotic, a
Speaker 1: woman growing up in a patriotic household, to somehow becoming
Speaker 1: radicalized and willing to carry out a very serious plot
Speaker 1: that she was damned and determined to try to do.
Speaker 1: That's scary, It is scary.
Speaker 2: You read my mind. Where are the people on the right,
Speaker 2: Independence and Republicans? Why can't we talk back to people
Speaker 2: like this man? The words that he used made my
Speaker 2: blood run cold, the hate he has for this country
Speaker 2: and all of us. Why can't people see through it?
Speaker 2: Why are we not talking back to be like that?
Speaker 2: That woman deserves the firing squad. This is treason. In
Speaker 2: twenty years, that's that's too little time. If they put
Speaker 2: her in jail, then they need to put her in solitary.
Speaker 2: Social code nuts even nuttier than she is now.
Speaker 1: You know the problem is, and you know the problem is,
Speaker 1: it's attempted planning. Because obviously, thank goodness, we didn't want
Speaker 1: her to carry out the act, so obviously you want
Speaker 1: to stop her obviously prior to, but also have enough
Speaker 1: to make the case against her. It's that balance, which
Speaker 1: clearly it sounds. You know, obviously everybody's innocent until proven guilty.
Speaker 1: But it sure seems like they've got a lot of
Speaker 1: information on her, and they have a lot of her
Speaker 1: tapes and a lot of her comments. But I agree
Speaker 1: with you, you know, the other thing that needs to
Speaker 1: be found, Alice, is who was inspiring her, Who was
Speaker 1: planning this, who was plotting this, Who's radicalizing her? Who's
Speaker 1: how is she finding these sites online to get radicalized?
Speaker 1: Was there a hand that was bringing her there? Was
Speaker 1: there something? I just think there's a lot more to
Speaker 1: the story that we need to know. Is there some
Speaker 1: sort of chain or group of people that are getting
Speaker 1: radicalized or that are coming through some particular means. Was
Speaker 1: she just kind of looking Was she like a lonely,
Speaker 1: you know, person sitting in her basement and then suddenly
Speaker 1: somewhat upon an isis website. I don't know. I think
Speaker 1: there's more to the story. What do you think, Alice?
Speaker 2: I think you're right because I was thinking of the
Speaker 2: same thing with someone romancing her. Have you heard the
Speaker 2: way some of these uh, these people from the Middle
Speaker 2: East speak, is this very flowery language. Yes, with they
Speaker 2: romancing her and then they and then they drew her in.
Speaker 2: This is something. Something smells, Yeah, something.
Speaker 1: Smells like like how did she first have the encounter?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Was that, like you said,
Speaker 1: was it? You know, I thought about that too. Was
Speaker 1: it a guy a love interest or was it or
Speaker 1: was it somebody at some group who said, hey, you
Speaker 1: know you take a look at this a colleague gora.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's a lot of weird things going on
Speaker 1: here that you don't just suddenly say, hey, can you
Speaker 1: took a look at this isis website? And then you're
Speaker 1: ready to blow up a building.
Speaker 2: She was an easy target, I think, and this might
Speaker 2: have hit at just the right point in her life
Speaker 2: when she was lonely. Someone knew how to approach her,
Speaker 2: and they just worked and worked and worked until they
Speaker 2: finally got her. And you know, I hope she gets
Speaker 2: everything she deserves, you know, Rita, I've been in parts
Speaker 2: of this world that are creepy, and you just feel
Speaker 2: scared just to be where.
Speaker 1: You are now. Alice, you were a flight attendant, right,
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you I've been in some crazy places
Speaker 1: as a journalist. But I want to hear about your experiences.
Speaker 1: Where did you Where did you go? What part of
Speaker 1: the world did you go where you felt uncomfortable? What
Speaker 1: was some of the scared I.
Speaker 2: Think one of the creepiest places I've ever been in Morocco.
Speaker 2: There's just something there, you know. And this was many
Speaker 2: years ago, Alice.
Speaker 1: I've been.
Speaker 2: I've been.
Speaker 1: I've been to Syria. I've been. I've been in some.
Speaker 2: Crazy I haven't been there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Morocco looked. Morocco actually to me, look like Disney
Speaker 1: World compared to Syria.
Speaker 2: Well, I haven't been to Syria.
Speaker 1: Another place, I'm in Afghanistan, Alice, that was not a
Speaker 1: I have been. I've been in the remote regions of Afghanistan.
Speaker 1: If you if you think you know, if you think
Speaker 1: there's a god looking over you, that's the time you
Speaker 1: call his name.
Speaker 2: Well, you've been in war zones. I haven't been in
Speaker 2: war zones. But these are places that I would go
Speaker 2: on my free time. I could hardly wait to get
Speaker 2: out of there. There's some places just to go if
Speaker 2: you're just traveling the bizarre in Cairo. It's been in
Speaker 2: the same place for thousands of Khali Bazaar I.
Speaker 1: Know it well. The Khali Bazars are great bazaarre.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's creepy. I was symbol where you have all
Speaker 2: that's it's called Upper Egypt. Okay, that's a creepy place.
Speaker 2: I think it's probably improved, but you have to remember,
Speaker 2: I'm eighty four years old. I was doing this maybe
Speaker 2: you know, thirty years and forty years ago, and there
Speaker 2: wasn't a lot of improvements in these places. But there's
Speaker 2: some places that's just creepy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and many of the places very you know, third world.
Speaker 1: And I by the way, Alice, you you were certainly
Speaker 1: there ahead of me. And I will say, how courageous
Speaker 1: of you as as a woman going to those spots
Speaker 1: you were. I remember you telling me that you worked
Speaker 1: with the airlines and did the airlines do any extra
Speaker 1: security for you when you were in these places or
Speaker 1: how did you How did you feel, you know, thirty
Speaker 1: forty years ago going to some of these spots.
Speaker 2: Well, you know at that time, you know, I started
Speaker 2: out when I was in my early well I was,
Speaker 2: I was twenty four years old and at that time,
Speaker 2: you have no fear of anything. I would walk into
Speaker 2: a bus saw I still will, but a little flower
Speaker 2: than I would then. And you don't know. You don't
Speaker 2: know until you're right in the middle of it. But
Speaker 2: at the same time, we were trained to have eyes
Speaker 2: all around our head, be careful of where you are,
Speaker 2: be aware of your surroundings, don't take chances. I remember
Speaker 2: just going to my dream. And this was when Generalissimo
Speaker 2: Franco was the was in charge. Women could not go
Speaker 2: out alone. Women would not go out alone after dark.
Speaker 2: You would not do that. If you did, you have
Speaker 2: someone approached you to say ah, And that's not a
Speaker 2: good word from what I understand, But you weren't afraid.
Speaker 2: You were safe. But a lot of times people get
Speaker 2: in trouble because they do not they do not educate
Speaker 2: themselves on the customs of a country.
Speaker 1: Now, and that's an important thing. And you know what,
Speaker 1: let's go back with that, because Alice, that's if you
Speaker 1: come to this country on the flip side, you should assimilate,
Speaker 1: you should appreciate this country. And when I see these people,
Speaker 1: that's what's so troubling in this particular case, to you know,
Speaker 1: you come to this country you have to love this country.
Speaker 1: And this person was born in this country. She's an
Speaker 1: American and it sounds like, you know, as far as
Speaker 1: we know, came from a decent family. I mean to
Speaker 1: go through all of that, and then you hear, now
Speaker 1: what is going on, and you hear that she got radicalized,
Speaker 1: and you hear that she was, you know, just saying
Speaker 1: despicable things about nine to eleven, cheering on what happened
Speaker 1: nine to eleven. Is we're heading to the twenty fifth anniversary.
Speaker 1: It breaks my heart because you have to love this country.
Speaker 1: You have to love what we represent to the world.
Speaker 1: And I think you know, after what you just talked about, Alice,
Speaker 1: these are incredible places you've been to and what you've
Speaker 1: seen in experience. You know when you when you go
Speaker 1: away and every place is different, by the way, you know,
Speaker 1: every country is different and people are different, and I
Speaker 1: love learning from different people and places. But every time
Speaker 1: I come back, I said, thank God, I'm back in America.
Speaker 1: It's the greatest place in the world.
Speaker 2: Yes you know, oh, yes, you know what, Rita. There
Speaker 2: was a time when our reunion had we had to
Speaker 2: be carried right back to our base. I was based
Speaker 2: at JFK. We landed at Newark and the old New
Speaker 2: York Airways helicopter had to take us from Newark to JFK.
Speaker 2: That route, this is something I'll never forget. That route
Speaker 2: from Newark to JFK. What I got on, he said, Alice,
Speaker 2: sit over there, I knew, I knew the pilots yep,
Speaker 2: and we went. We went eye to eye with a
Speaker 2: statue of liberty. I will never forget that.
Speaker 1: Wow, Wow, Alice, what what a beautiful, beautiful message. You're
Speaker 1: right when you look at that beautiful statue and what
Speaker 1: it represents. And you know, my parents talked about what
Speaker 1: it meant coming into the harbor and seeing the Statue
Speaker 1: of Liberty, and they cried because they knew it meant freedom.
Speaker 1: And for you to see it ony eye, what a great,
Speaker 1: great thing. Alice. You're terrific and I love you hearing
Speaker 1: your stories and sharing your stories and your love of
Speaker 1: our great country too. Especially Alice. Thank you.