UPDATE: 14 Syrians on the plane were musicians

A few days back I heard about and blogged the story of the Jacobsen's and their observing 14 Syrians on their flight.

The mystery has been mostly resolved.

Excerpts:

The Syrian "musicians" really were musicians, and though their behavior was odd, reporter Clint Taylor, who got to the bottom of a story that baffled the New York Times, observes:

Nour Mehana's band might have acted like jerks on the plane, but it appears safe to say they were not casing Northwest Airlines for a suicidal assault, and we can quit worrying about this being a "dry run" or an aborted attack. And if Jacobsen was wondering why one man in a dark suit and sunglasses sat in first class while everyone else flew coach, well, it seems pretty clear that this was the Big Mehana himself.
......
Evidently no one even engaged these guys in a conversation, and no one, not the flight crew, and not the air marshals, challenged their egregious violations of protocols about congregating near restrooms or standing up in unison as the plane started its descent. Nothing was done to alleviate the terror Jacobsen, and probably a lot of the other passengers, felt.

Not surprisingly, the just released 9/11 report is become a political football. It was inevitable that that would be the case given the timing of the work just prior to the election. Hopefully, the useful parts will get implemented and the political thunder and lightening will be over soon.