The Usual Suspects

I travel a lot, mostly by air. More than I would like, actually. But less than I should.

I spent a number of years in the UK, during "the Troubles" - one day in London, three buildings I had been in earlier in the day were blown up. Strangely enough my wife had the same experience, possibly the same day - we were children then, but both visiting London, separately and of course unbeknownst to each other.
Airport security was high, especially when Icelandair had check-in counters next to El-Al (Iceland, Israel - it all made sense). One day at Amsterdam airport, just after Heathrow was attacked, a man with a trolley stacked with boxes and badly packed suitcases burst through a line, went right past us in line at a United counter, went through one of these courtesy "ropes" demarking the secure area and then ran off leaving the trolley - right next to El Al again. He promptly rematerialised at 90 degree angle to his previous position with a very excited mix of heavily armed dutch security (who of course favour German made automatics) and irate Israeli guards - turned out he was late for a flight to the US and thought the line was too long, he figured we'd understand him crashing the line and leaving his luggage at the head of the line while he went back for his carry-on and wife/girlfriend left out at the curb.
You never, ever, left your luggage, carry-on or any container or bag anywhere in an airport; one time at Heathrow I had my carry-on one seat over while I waited for a connection - a security guard was there within a minute to verify it was mine and asked me to keep it close so it visibly "belonged".
It is the simplest security measure and one ignored at most US airports, though it doesn't work so well against suicide bombers of course.

A friend of mine failed an exam because of the Brighton Grand Hotel bombing (he got stuck in traffic) - another was arrested for celebrating (his exams) drunk on the beach oblivious to the fresh wreckage of the hotel.
On several occasions I got to wait at Kings Cross or Brighton train station while bomb squads checked out packages (including the Infamous Incident of the British Rail Ham And Cheese Sandwhich - someone threw away an almost untouched sandwich...?!). I also spent several anxious evenings in the nineties waiting for my wife to get back as trains were rerouted, delayed or canceled over bombings and bomb threats.

So, I have some level of "look out for suspicious characters at travel destinations" ingrained in me.
But, things are going too far, and I am being swept up with them.

A few months ago I had a several hour layover at a large DC airport.
I found a quiet alcove, out of the main terminal traffic, with a few rows of seats and curled up with a big stack of preprints and my iPod, kinda tucked down below the seat level.

As I sat there, a group of four men came in. They were middle eastern, one older, the other three in their twenties. Neatly dressed. With black leather maximal-size carry-ons.
They looked around "furtively" and then "huddled" talking quietly among themselves, arguing. In arabic. They hadn't seen me.
After a couple of minutes the older man made a decision, ended the argument and pointed them into the alcove. They then took bundles, couple of feet long out of their bags and started setting up.
I quietly dug out me cellphone and checked where the emergency exit was - it was close and away from the guys, alarmed of course.

Then I sighed, put it away, cursed myself for a paranoid fool, and quietly watched with interest as they rolled out their prayer mats, having found east. They said their prayers, talked for a few minutes as they packed and then went back out catch their flight, having done their cultural duty without attracting attention or getting into trouble. They just wanted somewhere quiet where they could go through their ritual in peace.
Just like me.