The Minneapolis Incident on 11/20/2006
Note: The newest material in this subsection is at the top.
Updated 4/10/2008:
US Airways to Imams:
Tell it to the Jury. Audrey Hudson reports in today's Washington Times [1/4/2008] that US Airways and
Minneapolis airport officials want a jury trial in the civil rights lawsuit filed against them by six Muslim clerics
removed from a flight for acting suspiciously. This is a good move for aviation security.
Updated 11/23/2007:
Clinton Judge Keeps Flying Imams
Aloft. A federal judge had a chance to add a layer of protection for the American people.
But she missed it, and in the process might have become the useful idiot of a terrorist setup.
Judge rejects defense arguments to
dismiss imams' lawsuit. A federal judge on Tuesday rejected most defense arguments to dismiss a
lawsuit filed by six Muslim imams who were arrested last November on a U.S. Airways jet in Minneapolis after
passengers reported they were acting suspiciously.
Keeping
The Flying Imams Airborne. Despite overwhelming support in and out of Congress, legal protection for airline
passengers who report suspicious behavior is being blocked by Democratic leaders. Wasn't one 9/11 enough for them?
John Doe vs. flying
imams: Imagine you're waiting to board a plane and you see fellow travelers acting strangely and
muttering words that you don't understand. Maybe they're Muslim, maybe they're not. You're afraid
that they are up to no good. What do you do? Nothing. If you report the behavior, you might
get sued.
Passengers Sued Over
Imams' Removal. Six Muslim men removed from a plane last fall after being accused of suspicious
behavior are suing not only the airline but the passengers who complained -- a move some fear could
discourage travelers from speaking up when they see something unusual. The civil rights lawsuit, filed
earlier this month, has so alarmed some lawyers that they are offering to defend the unnamed "John Doe"
passengers free of charge.
Imams narrow target of
'Does'. A group of imams suing US Airways for discrimination amended their lawsuit this week
to target only the "John Doe" passengers who they say are racist and falsely accused them of behaving
suspiciously.
Imams sue over removal from plane.
Six Muslim imams ordered off a US Airways flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last
November have filed a discrimination lawsuit against the airline and the Metropolitan Airports
Commission, claiming they were removed from the plane because of their race and religion.
Imams' suit might put a 'chill'
on security. Six imams who are suing an airline and an airport for removing them from a flight
also have aimed the lawsuit at passengers who the imams believe reported some of their activities. The
suit filed this week in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis names as defendants "John Does" who "contacted
US Airways to report the alleged suspicious behavior" of the imams before the Nov. 20 flight —
an inclusion some lawyers, who are not connected to the litigation, say will have a "chilling effect" on
airline security.
US Airways Passengers Who Reported 'Suspicious'
Imam Activity May Be Sued. Six Muslim imams who were forcibily removed from a US Airways flight
last year and are now suing the airline for discrimination may also be suing some passengers who were aboard
the flight. In the lawsuit filed last week, the imams say that unnamed "John Doe" passengers at the
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport reported that they engaged in "suspicious" behavior — praying
in the terminal — before they boarded the plane on Nov. 20.
[Praying in the terminal is one thing. Making a big show of it is something else.]
Shariah in Minnesota? By piggy-backing
on our civil rights laws, Islamist activists aim to equate airport security with racial bigotry and to move
slowly toward a two-tier legal system. Intimidation is a crucial tool. The "flying imams" lawsuit
ups the ante by indicating that passengers who alerted airport authorities will be included as defendants.
Activists are also perfecting their skills at manipulating the media.
Flying
Imams Revisited: Part of Greater Islamic Strategy? Were the antics of the six Flying Imams
merely additional tactics in the Islamic overall strategy of installing Shari'a law in the USA? It would
appear so, according to some self-avowed moderate Muslims and the results of other recently exhibited actions
by US Islamists and their followers.
The Flying Imams'
Cheap Suit. Word is the Imams will sue the passengers in their own cute way of squelching future
free speech, by warning future passengers snitching will get you in trouble. I've written about major
corporations adhering to the "separation of church and state" mantra where Americans are concerned, yet
seemingly bend over and give Muslims everything they wan't including time to pray during the workday.
Flying Imams Revisited: Part of
Greater Islamic Strategy?. Increasingly throughout America, Muslims are demanding special
accommodations for their claims that all tenets of Islamic practice are non-negotiable, therefore above
our national legal system.
Twin visions. Last fall Muslim cab drivers at
the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport refused service to alcohol-toting passengers. A national
debate ensued: Should civil-rights laws protect such religious convictions? Or was this merely a
political stunt to test the elasticity of American pluralism?
CAIR representing Flying Imams against airline and
passengers. The suit stems from an incident that occurred on a US Airways' flight in November 2006,
from Minneapolis to Arizona, on which six Islamic Imams were reported to have stood up on the plane and prayed
loudly, took seats that were not assigned to them (reminiscent of the 9/11 hijackers' locations) and requested
seatbelt extensions (which can be used as weapons) when they were neither required nor justified.
The right to report suspicious activity needs
safeguarding. Last week, we learned that federal authorities have foiled a plot to kill American
soldiers at Fort Dix, N.J. The FBI uncovered the plan after an alert Circuit City clerk passed on suspicious
video footage that the alleged conspirators had asked him to transfer onto a DVD. The clerk's action was
just the kind of citizen vigilance that a new bill before Congress is designed to encourage, and to shield such
citizens against intimidation. The bill was inspired by a lawsuit filed in federal District Court in
Minneapolis in March by the now famous "Flying Imams."
Editor's note:
In case you have just heard about this case for the first time, here is the background information:
Six Imams Removed From Flight
for Behavior Deemed Suspicious. Six Muslim religious leaders were taken off a US Airways flight
in Minneapolis on Monday evening [11/20/2006] and detained for several hours after some passengers and crew
members complained of behavior they deemed suspicious, including prayers at the gate.
Muslim Imams: The New Rosa
Parks? What were they doing to get removed from the flight? Some reports suggested that they
were merely praying. However, there were indications that this was not a straightforward case of
prejudice and profiling. Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport official Patrick Hogan said that "there were
a number of things that gave the flight crew pause" about the imams.
Flying while Muslim:
Taken individually, the things the six men did — praying, talking about Iraq, asking for seat-belt
extensions — may have passed without notice. But their behavior Monday night at Gate C9 at
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was enough to trigger one airline passenger to
jot a two-sentence note that would get the men kicked off one flight and eventually
barred from another.
Six imams removed from Twin Cities
flight. Is it fair for people of Middle Eastern descent to expect others to ignore the fact that
it is Middle Eastern men who have declared jihad on America? I suspect terrorists actually exploit America's
hyper-multiculturalism. What enemy wouldn't exploit the security policies of a country that is so worried
about offending people that it body-searches little old ladies while allowing young Arabs bearing backpacks to
board planes unchecked. (I'm not making this up; it happened on a flight of mine.)
Some Muslims call airport detention bias.
The police report listed the incident as "Security-Other," but some saw the detention of six imams at the
airport here as a case of "Flying while Muslim" — the idea that Muslims come in for extra
scrutiny when they fly.
The Editor says...
Muslims are the very people who should be the objects of great scrutiny, especially at airports. If
there has been extra scrutiny on September 11, 2001, the country would have been much better off.
Pretty obviously, these six men were trying to get tossed off the plane in an effort to
portray themselves as victims of profiling and discrimination. This in turn will make it
more difficult to take similar action the next time. Eventually, with everyone properly
conditioned, Muslims will be able to walk onto any airplane without being challenged, and we'll be
right back where we were on September 10, 2001.
This case reminds me of the incident on Northwest Flight 327,
which was apparently a dry run for a terrorist attack.
Note to Muslims: Please consider leaving the United States. We'll all be happier in the
long run; and besides, why would you want to stay in a country against which you have long ago declared a holy
war? If you must stay in the U.S., please don't even go near the airport. And if you insist on
traveling by air, please find a way to act like normal people for the duration of the flight.
Since 9/11/2001 a lot of expectations have changed at the airport. Suspicious people deserve to be
thrown out of the airport. Muslims are the primary cause of airline inconvenience, not the
victims of it.
Profiling —
yes! The removal of six Muslim Imams from a US Airways flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport
is an example of profiling at its best. … There are some who say that US Airways should apologize.
Apologize? [Emphatically] No! Instead, they should award the captain of the plane a medal for
due diligence.
Would
you let your child take this flight? You are sitting in the concourse of an airport, preparing
for your flight, when out of the corner of your eye, you spot six Arab men praying loudly in Arabic.
"Okay," you say to yourself, "that's a bit disquieting. But praying isn't terrorism." You glance
at your watch. It's time to board the plane. Sure enough, there's the boarding announcement.
Suddenly, you hear the six Arab men chanting loudly. "Allah! Allah! Allah!" "Okay," you say to
yourself, "maybe they're still praying."
On a Wing and a
Prayer: Grievance theater at Minneapolis International Airport. Allahu Akbar! Allahu
Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Those are the words that started it all. Six bearded
imams are said to have shouted them out while offering evening prayers as they and 141 other passengers waited
at the gate for their flight out of Minneapolis International Airport. It was three days before
Thanksgiving. Allahu Akbar: God is great.
Are the planes
safe? The hubbub raised over six Islamic imams being removed from a US Airways flight in
Minneapolis for suspicious behavior is the latest in a string of incidents underlining one consistent
thread in the war on terror: Muslim terrorists have never given up on the tried-and-true idea of
hijacking airplanes and blowing them up to kill and demoralize the infidels.
I knew it! This whole thing was just a shakedown.
Ousted imams want airline
settlement. Five of six Muslim imams who were taken off a US Airways flight in Minneapolis last
month want an out-of-court settlement from the airline for the ordeal. After the Nov. 28 incident,
the airline offered to meet with the group of clerics Dec. 4, but the men declined and instead sought
legal help from the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington.
The real purpose behind the imam publicity
blitz: On Dec. 1, a curious report on the grounded-imams incident at the
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport appeared on the website of the Iranian Quran News
Agency. … The report echoed statements made by the imams themselves. Omar Shahin, their spokesman,
has portrayed the incident in a way that's consistent with a lawsuit and a public relations offensive.
CAIR: The Other Fifth Column.
CAIR is encouraging Muslims to file civil rights complaints and lawsuits if they "feel" they are being
discriminated against by US airlines. Citing what it called the "airport profiling" of six imams removed
from a recent US Airways flight, CAIR said Muslims traveling this month to the holy site in Saudi Arabia
need to be aware of their rights.
Imams should have been
arrested. "Those six people should have been arrested and prosecuted for pretending to be
terrorists," Gingrich said. "And the crew of the U.S. airplane should have been invited to the White
House and congratulated for being correct in the protection of citizens."
The Imam Scam and the
Democrats' House of Games. Since [9/11/2001], it's doubtful that even the most ardently PC liberal
has boarded any airplane without carefully evaluating all fellow passengers — and not to evade
inebriated conventioneers. It is that same indelible angst of their brothers' making which a group of
Muslims exploited last month to perpetrate a hideous apparent hoax. And the soon-to-be empowered Democrats
and their gullible accomplices in the media proved the perfect patsies for this odious plan to make the
skies ever more dangerous for Americans.
Now The Flying Imams Want
Money. What A Surprise. Do you remember the six flying Imams at the Minneapolis Airport
a few weeks ago? These clowns made a big deal of praying at the gate before boarding. They were
heard making anti-American comments by Arabic speaking passengers. They adopted the same seating
pattern on the airliner that the 9/11 hijackers used. They asked for seat belt extensions they
neither needed nor used.
Flying, Fibbing Imams Exposed By 'Investor's
Business Daily'. One of the Imams, Omar Shahin, has ties to Islamic terrorism. He served as
an agent and fundraiser for a Hamas front group. He ran a mosque in Tucson, Ariz., which was attended by
several al-Qaeda operatives -- including the hijacker who flew an airliner into the Pentagon on 9/11.
Shahin also teaches at an Egyptian accredited Islamic school that is tied to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Deeper Terrorism Ties Found In Flying Imam
Flap. Katherine Kersten, a reporter for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, has published an in-depth
exposé of the suspicious terrorism ties of a key imam who was pulled from a US Airways flight for
questionable behavior last month. The imam, Omar Shahin is the spokesman for the six Muslim clerics
removed from the plane and is president of the North American Imams Federation.
Political Correctness Gone Mad:
Chalk up another victory for the terrorists' Fifth Column — the Council on American-Islamic
Relations. After much prodding and capitalizing on phony incidents of racial profiling, CAIR
has achieved something few Americans have achieved — they got airport security officials
to back off.
See
suspicious acts? Feel free to report them. I flew to California and back last weekend.
Sitting at LAX waiting to board my return flight, I heard the usual announcement, advising me to be attentive to
my luggage and to report any suspicious behavior. Suspicious was never defined. Nor do I think
it needs to be. To me, suspicious would include anything reminiscent of 9/11, the day that
19 young Muslim men cut throats and crashed airplanes.
Not the Flying
Imams. Minneapolis attorney Gerry Nolting offered to represent any John Does for free. As
he told me, the FAA relies on passengers to report suspicious activity to protect the flying public. Suing
the John Doe passengers, he noted, would have "a chilling effect" by signaling to passengers that if they report
suspicious behavior, "you'll be the next defendant." Meanwhile, the whole episode had some observers
wondering about this post-9/11 controversy.
CAIR's 'Flying
Imams' Suit Harms Security, Public Vigilance, Experts Say. Litigation threats against
vigilant citizens who report suspicious activity could impede intelligence-gathering efforts and
empower terrorists, counter-terrorism experts and security officials warn.
US Airways seeks imam-suit
dismissal. US Airways is asking a court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a group of Muslim imams,
saying the airline followed government guidelines when it removed the men from a flight because of suspicious
behavior.
If you see something suspicious, 'Shut up'.
To this day, there are competing theories as to what the "flying imams" were really up to when they boarded US
Airways Flight 300, bound from Minneapolis to Phoenix last November. The Muslim clerics — including
a Jordanian-born activist from Tucson, Ariz., named Omar Shahin — performed their religious observances quite
loudly and publicly before boarding the plane. All quite legal and constitutionally protected, of
course — but also well-designed to draw attention to themselves.
Update:
Imams Drop Fellow Passenger From Discrimination
Lawsuit. Six imams who were removed from an airplane after drawing the suspicion of a fellow
passenger have dropped the passenger from a discrimination lawsuit they filed in federal court over the
incident. The imams' inclusion of the passenger in the suit had prompted Congress to pass a law
protecting passengers who report to authorities what they regard as suspicious behavior from being sued.
Imams drop passengers from
lawsuit. A federal court today accepted a request by a group of imams to drop all claims in a
federal lawsuit against "John Doe" passengers for reporting the Muslim men's suspicious behavior, which led to
their removal from a US Airways flight last year. The lawsuit, filed in a federal court Minnesota,
still targets US Airways and Minneapolis airport workers.
Similar (if not related) incidents:
The
Need To Control Air Passengers Who Are Threatening To Others. Perhaps you have heard of the "Flying
Imams" lawsuit, brought on by an incident on U.S. Airways in November 2006. … Now comes news of two
similar suspicious incidents.
Muslims may call for
airline boycott. A group of Muslims is threatening to lead a boycott of Northwest Airlines over
what they say is a pattern of profiling against Muslim passengers. About 40 pilgrims were prevented from
boarding a connecting flight in Germany to Detroit on Jan. 7 while returning from a trip to holy cities
in Saudi Arabia. The Muslim group … called for Northwest to apologize, compensate them, and
discipline the employees they said profiled them, otherwise they may call on all Muslim organizations
to boycott the airline.
Northwest
Airlines apologizes to Hajj pilgrims. Northwest Airlines apologized on Wednesday to 40 American
Muslims who were barred from a recent flight to Detroit, but denied it discriminated against the group, which
was returning from a Hajj pilgrimage. Northwest said the pilgrims failed to check in one hour before
their transatlantic flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Detroit was scheduled to depart, as is required.
The passengers arrived in Frankfurt via a charter flight from Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and mistakenly believed
they were cleared to board the Northwest flight, but were not.
Aviation security
insecurity. The effectiveness of the Israeli system is perhaps best evidenced by the story
about shoe-bomber Richard Reid. Six months before his arrest for attempting to set off a shoe-bomb
onboard a U.S. aircraft in December 2001, Reid boarded an El Al flight to Israel to test its
system. … After Reid's arrest for the U.S. attack, a notebook in which he wrote extensively was found
to contain reference to his testing the El Al system and finding it too good to penetrate.
Air Security's Latest "F".
[The December 2005] 9/11 Commission report giving airline passenger-screening an "F" is a kick to
the gut. Why do our airports remain vulnerable? It's not lack of resources: The
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) earned that "F" despite spending nearly its entire
$5.5 billion budget last year on passenger and baggage screening.
Playing Catch-up on Aviation Security.
We're already spending $6.2 billion on the TSA this year, and look what that's getting us. In December
2005, the 9/11 commission gave the United States a grade of "F" in our efforts to improve airport security
passenger screening and a "D" in cargo and baggage screening. We clearly haven't implemented the changes
needed since 9/11, and if we think more screeners and money will solve the problems, we sadly aren't learning
anything from the recently thwarted [liquid explosives] scheme.
Better Safe than Sorry. When eggs of
silly putty are being confiscated from seven- year-old kids prior to boarding an aircraft, because the material
could potentially or theoretically be used in a bomb, it is reassuring that Muslims engaging in overt behavior
are being subjected to scrutiny as well.
Red-headed, freckle-faced women
beware! Racial, ethnic, gender and behavioral profiling are all tools that can and should be used
to combat suicidal fanatics who have no regard for human life. Our country has not explored the benefits
of behavioral profiling as much as the Israelis have, but we need to do so.
Profiles in
Correctness: There is no harm in acknowledging that the sort of person who is likely to be a
terrorist is not just any citizen who happens to walk into an airport, but someone with specific, comprehensible
characteristics of age, national origin, sex, religion, and behavior. So far as we are aware, no jihadist
plots have been perpetrated against Americans by little old ladies from Dubuque, but several terrorist
attacks — in particular, 9/11 — have been carried out by young Muslim men of Middle
Eastern origin. No, not all young men, not all Muslims, not all people from the Middle East, are jihadists
or potential terrorists. Of course not. But common sense, and the overwhelming preponderance of
evidence, should make it obvious to airport security personnel where to concentrate their energies.
Profiling petulance:
It is clear, whether we like it or not, or want to say it or not, that there is a strong correlation between
committing terrorist acts and being a Muslim, and being black and high rates of crime. That means if
one is trying to deter terrorism and in some cases capture a criminal, he would expend greater investigatory
resources on Muslims and blacks.
Why Britain Stopped the Terror
Plot: The Homeland Security Department has neither the legal nor technical tools to match the
British capture of terrorist operatives before they were about to blow up passenger airliners. Officials
said U.S. law would not have allowed the FBI to conduct the type of surveillance that led Britain to uncover
the al Qaeda cell and capture what could be the network's chief. They said the department also does
not have the funding to detect new types of bombs used by al Qaeda.
Improving our
odds against terror: The American response to tightening up after London has been
reflexive and idiotic: random bag checks in the New York subways. Random meaning that
the people stopped are to be chosen numerically. One in every 5 or 10 or 20. This is an
obvious absurdity and everyone knows it. It recapitulates the appalling waste of effort and
resources we see at airports every day when, for reasons of political correctness, 83-year-old
grandmothers from Poughkeepsie are required to remove their shoes in the search for jihadists
hungering for paradise.
Risk Analysis and the War on
Terrorism. Screening lines at airports are perhaps the most familiar reminder
of post-9/11 security. They also exemplify what's wrong with the current approach. Many
of the routines and demands are silly, eroding rather than building confidence in the security regime
of which they are part.
Security
for Whom & Against What? Anyone who has flown on commercial airlines since
9–11 knows that America has changed dramatically. Invasive and humiliating
searches have become routine procedure. Long lines, delays, metal detectors,
explosive residue detectors, partial disrobing, wanding, pat-downs, multiple I.D. checks,
intrusive questioning about your destination — all part of the price of
security in the war on terror, right?
What idiots!
Controversial Muslim group gets
VIP airport security tour. The Department of Homeland Security took a Muslim group with known
past ties to terror organizations on a VIP tour of security operations at the nation's busiest airport at
the same time British authorities were working to break up a plot to blow up U.S. airlines.
Houston airports will search
faces, too. A controversial method of screening airport passengers by observing their behavior
and facial expressions will be coming to Houston, local authorities said Thursday [8/17/2006]. Based on a
federal program, local security personnel at George Bush Intercontinental and Hobby airports will be trained to
look for a telltale sign in, for example, a traveler's scowl or when a passenger fidgets with luggage.
Missiles
may be next big threat to U.S. airliners. The nation's airline industry is a shoulder-launched
missile attack away from plunging into a financial tailspin, one that could trigger $1 trillion-plus in
financial losses in this country. Five years after the devastating attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, U.S.
passenger jets still have no response to a shoulder-launched missile that can be purchased on the black market
for as little as $5,000 and can hit a target more than a mile away.
The Editor says...
If you ask me, shoulder-launched missile is very likely the cause of
the TWA 800 crash.
Five Fixes for DHS: There
are five steps that should have been taken within a year of 9/11 that are still not complete. These
steps are fundamental to building the security infrastructure that the nation needs for the long term.
Are We
Looking for Answers in the Wrong Place? This week, the media focused its aviation
security interests on the problem of missing security-personnel uniforms and badges recently
reported in Canada. Just how our friends to the north learned of the loss of over eleven
hundred uniforms and badges is not clear but it has been reported that at least one uniform was
offered for sale on E-bay; hopefully that was not how the problem came to the attention of
Canadian authorities.
This is just Canada's problem... or is it?
Unarmed and
dangerous. [Canadian] Border guards, tired of being ignored, are now leaving their posts
each time there is a report of a violent offender from the U.S. heading to their crossing. Part of
the border abandonments are union-driven work stoppages to make a point. But even if you don't like
the union's tactics, no sane person can honestly expect border guards to confront gun-toting thugs with
snowballs and good graces. Last month, a new government took office with a promise to finally allow
border guards to carry guns.
Air marshals ousted over job
injuries. Marshals say medical staffers are quitting the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) out
of frustration as hundreds develop illnesses related to their heavy flying schedules such as barotrauma,
decompression sickness that causes ruptured eardrums and sinus conditions often requiring surgery.
Flight
marshal numbers disputed. Flight reports by the Federal Air Marshal
Service show that federal agents were on less than 10 percent of the nation's
flights in December [2004], a number several air marshals say was inflated to make
it appear to Congress that commercial air travel is better protected than it is.
Skewed
air safety priorities. While one could perhaps envisage a scenario
in which shooting down a commercial passenger aircraft would be the lesser of two
evils, would not shooting a single terrorist be clearly preferable? Would it
not be better to arm airline pilots rather than scrambling F-16s to shoot down the
entire aircraft? Yet, even though Congress has mandated the arming of airline
pilots, the administration continues to drag its feet in carrying out this vital
and reasonable measure to protect air passengers and crews.
ACLU
Claims Profiling at Boston's Airport. The head of the ACLU's racial
profiling unit filed a lawsuit yesterday [11/10/2004], charging state troopers
with harassing and detaining him at Logan International Airport for no reason
other than his being a black man.
Civil rights before safety:
The counterterrorism community must ignore the whining by Amnesty International USA condemning the profiling
of Muslims - especially with evidence proving the strategy works and the likelihood of mega-terrorism.
Unfriendly
Skies. Courageous federal agents are warning against airport security
weaknesses that existed prior to 9/11, and still exist today.
Pilots
Unarmed: Pilots are protesting against government policy. The
reason: almost a year after Congress authorized pilots to bear arms, the Transportation
Security Administration is making it almost impossible for pilots to actually do so.
See also Guns in the Cockpit: The debate
over arming the pilots.
U.S.
Senator Zell Miller, D-GA, Floor Statement in Support of Arming Pilots. Why
is it that somewhere between banning nail clippers and shooting down the plane there
is no room for allowing a trained pilot to use a handgun to defend the cockpit?
Protecting
the cockpit: The secretary of transportation's politically
correct pledge that there will be no ethnic profiling of airline passengers
has led to ridiculous and potentially dangerous situations. Those from the
same demographic group as the hijackers are ignored while little old
ladies are subjected to humiliating searches.
Air Traveler ID Requirement Challenged: Secret
rule demanding "Your Papers Please" claimed unconstitutional.
More information is available about the
proposed National ID Card.
El
Al: The Airline That Gets It Right. Our domestic airlines look for bombs and
weapons. El Al looks for terrorists. And they make no apologies
in the process. Moreover, no one seems to complain.
We need
to profile: Let's look at our DOT and FAA mandates for air security. By their
actions, they assign an equal probability that anyone who boards a plane is a potential
hijacker, and that includes pilots and crew, the aged and infirm, and children and
babies. That's why they do body scans, make people take off their shoes and
confiscate scissors, fingernail files, cork screws and other items on
their "prohibited" list. This vision of anti-terrorism is both stupid and costly.
Political
correctness: the sequel. Five young men supported by the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee filed lawsuits
in three federal courts against America's four largest airlines. Their
complaint: They were unfairly discriminated against by the airlines when
"amateur profilers" misidentified the young males as "suspicious" Middle Easterners
who might be Islamic extremists.
Profiling
Needed: Most security resources should be spent scrutinizing Caucasian
males, particularly those with a Middle Eastern appearance.
Captains to FAA: Focus on
cockpits: They argue that no matter what changes are made on the ground, terrorists will still
find a way to sneak aboard commercial flights with weapons. The key, they say, is preventing them from
breaking into the cockpit and taking over the flight controls once they're aboard.
Three Cheers for Captain 'X'!: He's
President Bush's least-favorite pilot. But we should all applaud the embattled Captain "X," unnamed pilot
of American Airlines Flight 363, who refused to allow a suspicious, belligerent, armed passenger to fly on
his plane, Christmas Eve.
If the profile
fits ...: When there is a 100 percent chance, it ceases to be a profile. It's called
a "description of the suspect." This is not a psychological judgment about an ethnic group —
it is an all-points bulletin: Warning! The next terrorist to board a commercial flight will be an
Arab or Muslim male.
The ACLU Is Going to Get People
Killed With This Nonsense. We now have lawsuits against four American airlines seeking damages
because the airlines did just what they should have done. They profiled! The five men who brought
these lawsuits are all of Middle Eastern or Asian descent. The airlines aren't giving the specific
reasons why these particular men were taken off these particular flights. The plaintiffs want us to
believe it was simply because of the color of their skin. If that is the case, then how in the world
did they manage to get on later flights?
A Recipe for Safer Skies? Looks like the
White House has already traded in its recently adopted motto, "Let's Roll," for a new slogan:
"Let's Roll Over." With a submissive stroke of President Bush's pen, nearly 30,000 airport
screeners gained lifetime public employment this week. President Bush wanted a more limited government
role, but he immediately gave in to Democrats' insistence on mass federalization of the entire airport
security workforce.
Is It
Safe To Fly Yet?
America's
wake-up call: We have to wonder if the Clinton administration's cover-up of the
cause of the crash of TWA Flight 800 emboldened the perpetrators of these attacks to carry
out their kamikaze missions. The evidence that TWA 800 was downed by missiles is
overwhelming. Hundreds of eyewitnesses either saw a missile rise from the surface
of the ocean or spotted a missile in the sky heading for TWA 800. Radar picked up a
missile track. But all of this ended up being disregarded by the FBI, the CIA and the
National Transportation Safety Board.
Waste And
Abuse at Homeland Security: Following the spending on programs purportedly designed
to make our commercial aviation system secure, one is startled by two facts: (1) The
staggering amount of money that has been spent to rebuild the nation's aviation security program
after 9/11; and, (2) How the enormous expenditures made in the attempt to hire effective
federal workers to replace existing ineffective private sector workers, and to install new
electronic equipment to protect the system from on-board weapons and explosives has failed
to accomplish either.
Fear factor and Fortress
America: This raises the questions of whether we can hope to make ourselves
"safe" — if by that we mean no more terror attacks — and if it is
worth the price of transforming ourselves into an armed fortress. Changing America
is a primary objective of the terrorists. If we change ourselves,
have they won?
How Hard Is It to Fly a 757 or 767?
Pushing
the Envelope — of Mediocrity: It's all just an opportunity, to
some: forget homeland security. Forget stopping
terrorists before they strike. The objective is to unionize as many people as
possible whenever and wherever possible.
Back to the Airline Insanity Page.
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