Flight 253 passenger: Sharp-dressed man aided terror suspect onto plane without passport

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/12/flight_253_passenger_says_at_l.html
A Michigan man who was aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 says he witnessed Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab trying to board the plane in Amsterdam without a passport.

While Mutallab was poorly dressed, his friend was dressed in an expensive suit, Haskell said. He says the suited man asked ticket agents whether Mutallab could board without a passport. “The guy said, 'He's from Sudan and we do this all the time.'”

So Wait. A sharp dressed man escorted Mutallab pass TSA security without a passport. And then he was video taped the whole time on the plane. What's going on here?