The Flying Imams: This Ought To Be A Circus Act

A lot of people may not have heard about this, but I am sure you have read about it. If you read any of the elite blogs, this story heated up last week. On the 2oth, six imams were removed from a US Airways flight. (Thomas addresses this in our upcoming column.) At first, they cried racism, and proclaimed their innocence. They blamed the airline and the passengers of overreacting because they were Muslim. But Allah @ Hot Air smacks that aside, and you may, too. Especially if you read this story from the Washington Times. The key paragraphs, as follows:

Passengers and flight attendants told law-enforcement officials the imams switched from their assigned seats to a pattern associated with the September 11 terrorist attacks and also found in probes of U.S. security since the attacks — two in the front row first-class, two in the middle of the plane on the exit aisle and two in the rear of the cabin.

“That would alarm me,” said a federal air marshal who asked to remain anonymous. “They now control all of the entry and exit routes to the plane.”

A pilot from another airline said: “That behavior has been identified as a terrorist probe in the airline industry.”…

Three of the men asked for seat-belt extenders, although two flight attendants told police the men were not oversized. One flight attendant told police she “found this unsettling, as crew knew about the six [passengers] on board and where they were sitting.” Rather than attach the extensions, the men placed the straps and buckles on the cabin floor, the flight attendant said.

The imams said they were not discussing politics and only spoke in English, but witnesses told law enforcement that the men spoke in Arabic and English, criticizing the war in Iraq and President Bush, and talking about al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden…

A flight attendant said one of the men made two trips to the rear of the plane to talk to the imam during boarding, and again when the flight was delayed because of their behavior. Aviation officials, including air marshals and pilots, said these actions alone would not warrant a second look, but the combination is suspicious.

Now, put yourself in the shoes of the passengers, the air marshals, and the flight crew, and ask yourself if you would get the same conclusion. Allah asks if this was deliberate; an attempt to get thrown off so they could cry wolf. That is feasible, and Thomas agrees. We are watching incremental introduction of shari'a law here in the States. Just look at what cab drivers around the country are doing. Most of the spectacles that surround these cab drivers result from their offense at passengers that do not share their religious ideology identity.

In Canada, a taxi driver refused to allow a passenger in his cab because the man had a seeing-eye dog, and the Muslim cab driver stated his religious beliefs for the refusal.

In Minneapolis, cab drivers refused to take passengers that visibly possessed alcohol, again citing their religion.

What is next? If I choose not to wear a burkha, will I be refused? This is asinine, and so is this caterwauling from these imams. The behavior was more than suspicious, and we agree that the airline and flight crew acted correctly. In this dayt and age it is better to be safe than sorry, and with the behavior these six men engaged in, i5t could have very well been a sorry day indeed.

Marcie