Department of Overreaction

caught at the ChiTrib:

A 60-year-old Japanese passenger on a flight leaving O'Hare International Airport caused a bomb scare late Sunday afternoon when a passenger saw him write the words "suicide bomb" on a piece of paper and alerted authorities, police said.

United Airlines Flight 1184, scheduled to leave for Columbus, Ohio, was on the runway around 5:30 p.m. when the pilot learned of the note, turned the plane around and taxied to a nearby gate.

All 120 passengers were taken off the plane.

But authorities soon learned that the Japanese national, who was on the plane on business, was only writing words he didn't understand so he could look them up later with a dictionary, said O'Hare police Sgt. Philip Deerig.

The man was released, police said, and allowed to re-board the flight, which left three hours late.

can this hysterical overreaction to words written on a page get any worse?