Six Imams Kicked off US Air Flight

Sure they do, if they want my business.

 

Agreed. I am on the fence on this one simply because there doesn't seem to be enough information about what happened, and people seem to be taking sides without having full knowledge of what went on. As usual, I rarely if ever believe 'eyewitnesses' because people tend to exaggerate things a bit (or a lot). I understand they can provide some insight, but they're hardly accurate.

At the same time, of course the Imams will deny saying/doing anything that could have triggered the whole incident. It also doesn't help much that US Airways hasn't been forthcoming about the details of what happened and what led to it.

Of course, that won't stop people on both sides from expressing what they think happened.

 

This is a link to a local news story about this:

http://www.wusa9.com/video/player.aspx?aid=37903&bw=

 

The last comment is telling....

"Some of them are angry because they got exposed."

Some of those callers were sick.

 

If that's true, Bush is much more rational than I thought.

(no offense to Novak, but I don't think he is ready).

 

More evidence that the Muslims were conducting a public relations campaign, hoping that the 'holier-than-though' politically correct nazis (liberals) would pick up the story and run with it. The terrorists' hope is to weaken our security through accusations of insensitivity (and subsequent guilt) towards Muslims. Liberals, after being presented with the facts, can you now see how you are being used by the terrorists? Can you not see how they are benefitting by your hypersensitivity to their feelings? The libs will become an accomplice to the next terrorist attack, should this behavior continue... They are facilitating the weakening of security.

http://pajamasmedia.com/2006/12/the_faking_imams_pajamas_media.php

By Richard Miniter, PJM Washington Editor

The case of U.S. Airways flight 300 gets stranger by the minute. When six traveling Muslim clerics were asked to deplane last week, it looked like another civil rights controversy against post-9-11 airport security.

Now new information is emerging that suggests it was all a stunt designed to weaken security….

Yesterday I spoke with a passenger on that flight, who asked that she be only identified as “Pauline.” A copy of airport police report, which I also obtained, supports Pauline’s account - and includes shocking revelations of its own. In addition, U.S. Airways spokeswoman Andrea Rader also confirmed much of what Pauline revealed…..

The passenger, who asked that she only be identified as “Pauline,” said she is afraid to give her full name or hometown. She is spending the night at “another location” because she does not feel safe at home. She credits reports that one imam is apparently linked to Hamas. “It is scary because these men could be dangerous.”

Pauline said she never wanted media attention. She wrote an email to U.S. Airways and cc:ed her daughter, who unexpectedly emailed it to her friends. As the letter took on an internet life of its own, it made its way to the inbox of a retired CNN executive producer. Then, to her dismay, the feeding frenzy began.

Pauline revealed to the Pajamas Media that the six imams were doing things far more suspicious than praying - an Arabic-speaking passenger heard them repeatedly invoke “bin Laden,” and “terrorism,” a gate attendant told the captain that she did not want to fly with them, and that bomb-sniffing dogs were brought aboard. Other Muslim passengers were left undisturbed and later joined in a round of applause for the U.S. Airways crew. “It wasn’t that they were Muslim. It was all of the suspicious things they did,” Pauline said.

Here is her story, along with corroborating quotes from the U.S. Airways spokeswoman Andrea Rader and the official report, another Pajamas Media Exclusive.

Sitting in Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Airport Gate C9, she noticed one of the imams immediately. “He was pacing nervously, talking in Arabic,” she said.

She quickly noticed the others. “They didn’t look like holy men to me. They looked like guys heading out of town for a Vikings game.”

Pauline said she did not see or hear the imams pray at the gate (she was at dinner in a nearby airport eatery), but heard about the pre-flight prayers from other passengers hours later.

As the plane boarded, she said, no one refused to fly. The public prayers and Arabic phone call did not trigger any alarms - so much for the p.c. allegations that people were disturbed by Muslim prayers.

But a note from a passenger about suspicious movements of the imams got the crew’s attention. A copy of the passenger’s note appears in the police report.

To Pauline everything seemed normal. Then the captain - in classic laconic pilot-style - announced there had been a “mix up in our paperwork” and that the flight would be delayed.

In reality, the air crew was waiting for the FBI and local police to arrive.

Ninety minutes after the flight’s scheduled 5:15 p.m. departure, the captain announced yet another delay. Still, Pauline said, there was no sense of alarm.

Still, it seemed like just another annoying development, typical when flying the friendly skies.

The situation in cockpit was far more intense, according to a U.S. Airways spokeswoman and police reports.

Contrary to press accounts that a single note from a passenger triggered the imams’ removal, Captain John Howard Wood was weighing multiple factors - factors that have largely been ignored by the press.

Another passenger, not the note writer, was an Arabic speaker sitting near two of the imams in the plane’s tail. That passenger pulled a flight attendant aside, and in a whisper, translated what the men were saying. They were invoking “bin Laden” and condemning America for “killing Saddam,” according to police reports.

Meanwhile an imam seated in first class asked for a seat-belt extension, even though according to both an on-duty flight attendant and another deadheading flight attendant, he looked too thin to need one. Hours later, when the passengers were being evacuated, the seat-belt extension was found on the floor near the imam’s seat, police reports confirm. The U.S. Airways spokeswoman Andrea Rader said she did not dispute the report, but said the airline’s internal investigation cannot yet account for the seat-belt extension request or its subsequent use.

A seat-belt extension can easily be used as a weapon, by wrapping the open-end of the belt around your fist and swinging the heavy metal buckle.

Still, it seemed like just another annoying development, typical when flying the friendly skies. Days after the incident, the imam would claim that the steward helped him attach the device. Pauline said he is lying. Hours later, when the police was being evacuated, the steward asked Pauline to hand him the seat-belt extension, which the imam did not attach, but placed on the floor. “I know he is lying,” Pauline said, “I had it [seat belt extension] in my hand.”

A passenger in the third row of first class, Pauline said, told a member of the crew: “I don’t have a good feeling about this guy,” about the imam who wanted the seat-belt extension.

A married couple one row behind first-class, tried to strike up a conversation with the imam seated near them. He refused to talk or even look at the woman in the eye, according to Pauline. Instead, he stood up and moved to join the other imams in the back of the plane. Why would he leave the luxury end of the aircraft? Pauline wondered. The account of the married couple does not appear in the police report.

Finally, a gate attendant told the captain she thought the imams were acting suspiciously, according to police reports.

So the captain apparently made his decision to delay the flight based on many complaints, not one. And he consulted a federal air marshal, a U.S. Airways ground security coordinator and the airline’s security office in Phoenix. All thought the imams were acting suspiciously, Rader told me.

Other factors were also considered: All six imams had boarded together, with the first-class passengers - even though only one of them had a first-class ticket. Three had one-way tickets. Between the six men, only one had checked a bag.

And, Pauline said, they spread out just like the 9-11 hijackers. Two sat in first, two in the middle, and two back in the economy section. Pauline’s account is confirmed by the police report. The airline spokeswoman added that some seemed to be sitting in seats not assigned to them.

One thing that no one seemed to consider at the time, perhaps due to lack of familiarity with Islamic practice, is that the men prayed both at the gate and on the plane. Observant Muslims pray only once at sundown, not twice.

“It was almost as if they were intentionally trying to get kicked off the flight,” Pauline said.

A lone plain clothes FBI agent boarded the plane and briefly spoke to the imams. Later, uniformed police escorted them off.

Some press reports said the men were led off in handcuffs, which Pauline disputes. “I saw them. They were not handcuffed.”

Later, each imam was individually brought back on the aircraft to reclaim his belongings. They were still not handcuffed. They may have been handcuffed later.

At this point, the passengers became alarmed. “How do we know they got all their stuff off?” Pauline heard one man ask.

While the imams were soon released, Pauline is fuming: “We are the victims of these people. They need to be more sensitive to us. They were totally insensitive to us and then accused us of being insensitive to them. I mean, we were a lot more inconvenienced than them.”

The plane was delayed for some three and one-half hours.

Bomb-sniffing dogs were used to sweep the plane and every passenger was re-screened, the airline spokeswoman confirmed. Another detail omitted from press reports.

The reaction of the remaining passengers has also gone unreported. “We applauded and cheered for the crew,” she said.

“I think it was either a foiled attempt to take over the plane or it was a publicity stunt to accuse us of being insensitive,” Pauline said. “It had to be to intimidate U.S. Airways to ease up on security.”

So far, U.S. Airways refuses to be intimidated, even though the feds have launched an investigation. “We are absolutely backing this crew,” Rader said.

Tucked away in the police report is this little gem: one of the imams had complained to a passenger that some nations did not follow shariah law and his job in Bakersfield, Calif. was a cover for “representing Muslims here in the U.S.”

So what are the imams really up to? Something more than praying it seems.

 

Oh man, I love this b****. I really do. She gets down on her knees faster than any b**** on main street. This no good sellout w**** doesn't give a damn that she's being used. Like a fly around ****, she'll be there. And THEY know it too.

 

Interesting development - if true, this does provide evidence now that in fact, these guys were up to some sort of ulterior agenda.

 

And this is new?

Liberals have a fascination with political correctness that I find astounding. The issue for them is freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from discrimination above all else, including reality. That's very noble, but very stupid.

I got into an argument with a staunch liberal the other day. I mentioned that since 9/11, there have been no terrorrist attacks on US soil. The liberal responded "That's because the terrorrists don't want to attack us." Indeed. Maybe the liberals just don't want to face the fact that racial profiling and the Patriot Act are good things.

 

There are a lot of 'Christians can be terrorists too' responses. It seems that Christian terrorists rarely blow themselves up though. I wonder if that might play into people's concern over Muslim instead of right wing Christian terrorism?

If the factors are close then I think its reasonable to act. If they only prayed in the terminal and did nothing else suspicious then probably not, but otherwise they just need to get over it. I think there does need to be some consideration from the Imam's for the other people. Having the right to practice your religion doesn't mean you need to shove it other people's faces because you can.

USAir has a right to refuse service it would seem from the fact that the Imams were not cooperative when the security issue was brought up (ie refused to leave the plane). Their business would probably be helped if Muslims boycotted.

It may be true that terrorists like AQ are trained to blend in, rather than stick out. OTOH when you walk around chanting 'Allah' dressed up in your desert nomad costume someone might have the thought you aren't exactly hip on the whole westernized thing. As such it shouldn't really be a suprise that someone is afraid of you being a radical.

Is it racist or irrational? We've been through this in many threads before and I don't think anyone is changing their mind. I think it is interesting that the Japanese internment is always brought up. I don't think that was legitimate and most people seem to agree. However, would it have been legitimate to vastly increase the scrutiny of Japanese-Americans? I think so without a doubt but some seemingly think that's just racist. I think its common sense.

 

This rock keeps tigers away

 

Or looking at it another way...the problem never was that big in the first place, killing a few hundred people is not that hard and using planes is not a necessity, especially when inflicting death is your primary goal. There are many different perspectives you can look at this, so to say that racial profiling is working is kinda naive.

 

How long have people been saying this? 5 years now?

no cred...

 

Awesome.

How many years have you supported every single one of Bush's failed Iraq policies? Even Rumsfeld admitted things weren't working and even pretty much suggested Murtha's plan might be the way to go. The Pentagon even says this thing can't be won militarily. There is not one serious person in the world that believes this thing will come to a good end. Bush is basically down to Laura, Barney and wienies like you and basso in believing a single thing is working there. And you talk about "cred."

Awesome.

 

Quick question. What should the crew do when one or more passengers comes to them and says they have concerns about another passenger(s) being a threat to the security of the plane?

 

Oh that's a nice way of stating that you believe that our military has failed. So there's no hope according to you, huh Bats? Should we just give up, pull out, and hand the keys to the terrorists? Great move. Yawn. Let's just let the anti-war hippies and terrorists create our military strategy. That's the only way you'd be happy. At least you have some natural allies (al-Qaeda, Iran, North Korea, Saddam).

How many years have you been hoping our military fails? How many years have you been declaring that all is lost and demoralizing our troops? How many years have you been serving as the public relations arm of al-Qaeda, furthering their goals by trying to divide America with negativity and lies?

Anyway, this thread should not be derailed by Batman's troop-hating. This thread is about the imams' ploy to weaken security, and the subsequent liberals' support of it.

 

Does anyone know the break-down of terrorists/hijackings of airliners have been over the past 30 years by religious affliliations? I would be surprised if anything under 50% wasn't Muslim