Muslims on a plane..

[CALIgula]

Muslim clerics taken from US Airways flight charge bias

 

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

By Martiga Lohn, The Associated Press

 

MINNEAPOLIS -- Six Muslim clerics removed from a US Airways flight yesterday said they were victims of discrimination and called for a boycott of the airline.

 

The imams were removed from a Minneapolis-to-Phoenix flight Monday night after three of them said their normal evening prayers in the terminal in Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport before boarding, said Omar Shahin, president of the North American Imams Federation. They were among 150 imams who attended a federation meeting in Minneapolis.

 

"The police came and took us off the plane in front of all the passengers in a very humiliated way," said Imam Shahin. "I never felt bad in my life like yesterday. It was the worst moment in my life when I see six imams, six leaders in this community, humiliated."

 

They said they were questioned by police and the FBI, detained in a holding cell with loud music and occasionally surrounded by police dogs.

 

The Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties said in a letter yesterday that it had opened an investigation.

 

US Airways Group Inc. issued a statement saying it was interviewing crew members and ground workers to find out more about what happened. "We are always concerned when passengers are inconvenienced and especially concerned when a situation occurs that causes customers to feel their dignity was compromised," the airline said. "We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind."

 

An airport police report said the flight's captain had already decided he wanted the men off the plane after a passenger passed a flight attendant a note pointing out "Arabic men."

 

Witnesses said the men prayed in the terminal and made critical comments about the Iraq war, according to the police report, and a US Airways manager said three of the men had only one-way tickets and no checked baggage.

 

An airport police officer and a federal air marshal agreed that the combination of circumstances was suspicious, and eventually asked the men to leave the airplane, the police report said. "There were a number of things that gave the flight crew pause," airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said.

 

It wasn't immediately possible to verify whether the passengers who reported suspicious activity witnessed it themselves.

 

But Imam Shahin and Marwan Sadeddin, another of the imams, strongly denied doing anything out of the ordinary. They entered the aircraft individually, except for Imam Sadeddin, who is blind and needed a guide, Imam Shahin said. Once on the plane, the six did not sit together, he said.

 

Imam Shahin said no one asked the six to leave until police arrived, when the group complied.

 

The other passengers on the flight, which was carrying 141 passengers and five crew members, were re-screened for boarding. The plane took off about three hours after the men were removed.

 

Yesterday, US Airways refused to honor the group's tickets or allow them to buy new ones, saying their payment for Monday's flight had been refunded.

 

Imam Shahin eventually booked flights on Northwest Airlines -- to Phoenix for five of the imams from the Phoenix-Tempe area and to Los Angeles for the sixth, who is from Bakersfield, Calif.

 

The five Muslim scholars were greeted at Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport by chants of "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) from family and friends.

 

US Airways spokeswoman Andrea Rader, who came to the airport to see the scholars, said she didn't have much information about what happened in Minneapolis and wasn't prepared to apologize. "I can't say that at this point," she said. "We want to talk to our employees. We want to talk to these customers and let them know we want to do the right thing."

 

Imam Shahin said his days of praying in airports may be over. "It's terrible, unfortunately," he said. "In America, we have no freedom to practice our faith, to do our faith."

 

Imam Shahin expressed frustration that -- despite extensive efforts by him and other Muslim leaders since even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks -- so many Americans know so little about Islam, which requires prayer five times a day.

 

( Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

....oops

 

 

source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06326/740425-84.stm

 

 

So these were clergy....i saw this on the news last night and thought it was fucked up cause it all started with one or two passengers that were... well....basically paranoid. The men made it through metal detectors but were taken off the plane anyways cause one or two passengers felt "uncomfortable".....im sorry, but if im on a plane and get kicked off cause someone feels "uncomfortable" with my presence...im gonna wanna snap their fucking necks...in this situation maybe its better for the one or two "uncomfortable" people to be taken off the plane and catch a later flight, where they can feel safe.

discuss?

[WORDISM45]

i would expect that this is represents an everyday occurence

[CALIgula]

nope this doesn't happen everyday...but as things get worse...i think it will happen more often.

[Abracadabra]

the world is fucking stupid. there should be an iq test sent out in the mail, and everyone who fails is put to death. it's really the only solution i can think of

[Apr2k5]

thats terrible, i mean, removing them from the plane - they're harsly even terrorist suspects! Ever since 9/11, and 7/7 in London, people tend to associate muslim men&women on an aeroplane as terrorists. Theyre hardly terrorists at all - one of them was blind for fucks sake. More terrorist acts have been committed by white christians than muslims anyway. i look down upon the pilot for saying he wanted them off the plane, if that's true.

[CALIgula]

^^the funny thing is that they were clergy....religious leaders...like a rabbi is to judaism....priest is to catholocism etc......people are way too paranoid in this country now.....report suspicious activity doesnt mean report people that look different from you!

[AOTPrep]

just stupid

[Theo Huxtable.]

this was sad... they should be compensated for time lost

 

however it's partly the fault of the actions of muslim terrorists who give moderate muslims a bad name and create the air of suspicion. the moderate muslims should recognize that as being a cause as well.

[CALIgula]

^^im sure they do...but they don't care.

[isor357]

i dont see anybody except muslims blowing shit up. peoples shook and i cant say that i blame them

[CALIgula]

yeah...people are shook...but they need to get over it....the united states is safe..compared to most other countries in the world...sept 11th and pearl harbor were the only attacks on u.s. soil by foreigners since america was founded in good ol 1776.

[PUMPKIN ESCOBAR]

the world is fucking stupid. there should be an iq test sent out in the mail, and everyone who fails is put to death. it's really the only solution i can think of

 

or some noah's ark flood type shit.

[Dawood]

^^im sure they do...but they don't care.

 

 

says who?

 

you think you care about percieved muslim terrorism more than a muslim?

who do you think is affected by it more? It's my religion under attack on one side

from careless terrorists who use my religion for personal gain, and then on the other side from another group of careful terrorists who use my religion for personal gain.

It's a damn shame.

 

Muslims do care, it's just that the world is a big place and nobody has control over it.

[Theo Huxtable.]

these "moderate" muslims keep saying they want to educate the west about what islam "really is" and how it's about "peace..." because apparently we're all prejudiced and think islam is about murder and suicide bombings.

 

the people they should be informing and educating the most are the terrorist idiots who themselves are interpreting islam as being about violence and terrorism. they're the greatest prejudice and perversion against islam, more than any westerner

[papa_dukes]

you know what fuck muslims if I see one on the plane I am getting off reguardless of what any of you say. Don't trust muslims.

[Dawood]

these "moderate" muslims keep saying they want to educate the west about what islam "really is" and how it's about "peace..." because apparently we're all prejudiced and think islam is about murder and suicide bombings.

 

the people they should be informing and educating the most are the terrorist idiots who themselves are interpreting islam as being about violence and terrorism. they're the greatest prejudice and perversion against islam, more than any westerner

 

 

the problem is , you can't understand it until you understand the social conditions surrounding it. Terrorists mostly do not come from free prospering nations. Terrorists mostly come from povery riddled, undereducated piles of rubbish. These terrorist types are a very small minority but they do get some support and/or sympathy from the majority of muslims who live in islamic countries because of the west's continual campaign against Islam ind it's people nowadays so, really, If America wasn't IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES, KILLING MUSLIMS, WITH THEIR TANKS AND MISSLES AND AIRPLANES then there wouldn't be anyone fighting back and there wouldn't be anyne to call terrorist on CNN would there be?

[Dawood]

you know what fuck muslims if I see one on the plane I am getting off reguardless of what any of you say. Don't trust muslims.

 

that's such a stupid thing to say. How in the world would you know there was a muslim on the flight or not?

Muslims don't all look like Usaamah Ibn Laden. Muslims look like everyone. And why can't you trust a muslim? Don't be a sheep. How old are you anyway? That sounded like an extremely young statement. pssshh

[Theo Huxtable.]

yeah...people are shook...but they need to get over it....the united states is safe..compared to most other countries in the world...sept 11th and pearl harbor were the only attacks on u.s. soil by foreigners since america was founded in good ol 1776.

 

you forgot the american revolution, the war of 1812, the mexican-american war when pancho villa crossed into texas. there were also other attacks on u.s. territory soil from japan besides pearl harbor that didn't get much attention... the capture of the aleutian islands near alaska, and there was an incident where a japanese pilot bombed a forest in oregon and an incident where a japanese sub shelled the coast of california. neither caused any casualties or much damage. i think the phillipines was U.S. territory at the beginning of WWII, in which the Japanese overran and drove U.S. forces out (happened like a few days after Pearl Harbor).

[Theo Huxtable.]

the problem is , you can't understand it until you understand the social conditions surrounding it. Terrorists mostly do not come from free prospering nations. Terrorists mostly come from povery riddled, undereducated piles of rubbish. These terrorist types are a very small minority but they do get some support and/or sympathy from the majority of muslims who live in islamic countries because of the west's continual campaign against Islam ind it's people nowadays so, really, If America wasn't IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES, KILLING MUSLIMS, WITH THEIR TANKS AND MISSLES AND AIRPLANES then there wouldn't be anyone fighting back and there wouldn't be anyne to call terrorist on CNN would there be?

 

bin laden came from a wealthy family. the head men of the september 11th hijackings were for the most part, college educated and middle class.

 

also, yes the US is in there in Iraq and Afghanistan unfortunately. but these muslim extermists were being terrorists prior to both of these military conflicts. prior to september 11, the U.S. were not involved war in the middle east, with the exception of the Persian Gulf War in '91 , yet still there were the Africa bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in '98, and the USS Cole bombing in 2000. Yes, the U.S. had bases in the Arabian Peninsula -- Saudia Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar I believe... but the U.S. was there as a deterrent to Saddam Hussein. Of course, bin Laden saw this as a type of blasphemy to have "crusaders" stationed on the same lands of the two holiest places in Islam.

[CALIgula]

says who?

 

you think you care about percieved muslim terrorism more than a muslim?

who do you think is affected by it more? It's my religion under attack on one side

from careless terrorists who use my religion for personal gain, and then on the other side from another group of careful terrorists who use my religion for personal gain.

It's a damn shame.

 

Muslims do care, it's just that the world is a big place and nobody has control over it.

 

 

lol.....no i wasn't talkin about muslims in general.....i was talking about the terrorists....

 

the terrorists 'don't care' about how muslims throughout the world are treated because of the terrorists' actions

[CALIgula]

the people they should be informing and educating the most are the terrorist idiots who themselves are interpreting islam as being about violence and terrorism. they're the greatest prejudice and perversion against islam, more than any westerner

 

co-signed on this.....moderate muslims should step up and educate the extremists.

[isor357]

Dont trust a religion that validates some shit like jumping on a bus with a fucking bomb. Instead of taking out people who actually write policy they kill the innocent....civilians, pedestrians, women and children. Islam is fucked. Those people need to get a grip and stop blowing themselves up. Giving the entire religion a bad name. If it was Christians doing that shit i would dislike them equally.

[Theo Huxtable.]

Dont trust a religion that validates some shit like jumping on a bus with a fucking bomb. Instead of taking out people who actually write policy they kill the innocent....civilians, pedestrians, women and children. Islam is fucked. Those people need to get a grip and stop blowing themselves up. Giving the entire religion a bad name. If it was Christians doing that shit i would dislike them equally.

 

exactly. i used to be more liberal about it, thinking "oh but the israelis took their land and they're poor and impovrished and are only fighting for their freedom." but fuck them. my stance now is fuck any of those muslims or arabs who either carry it out, condone it, or purposely turn a blind eye toward terrorism. they're murderers and baby killers and deserve the persecution and "targeted assasinations" that they receive from either israel, the u.s., or any other western or islamic government that takes a hard stance on terrorists. they get no sympathy from me and i don't need some "moderate" muslim trying to tell me i need to be more educated. all i know is that killing indiscriminately and killing innocent civilians minding their own business is something i can't and won't side with. these radical muslims don't want peace. all they know is bloodshed. it's the only language they speak. they're even killing each other in iraq, between sunnis and shiites. i read how zarqawi likened the shiites to "zionists" -- so the same shit sunnis and shiites say about each other is the same shit they say about jews and christians. they're just evil people. muslim extremists are the new nazis.

[WORDISM45]

as long as you equally hate government sanctioned killing of innocent civilians and the system by which that is perpetrated on a daily basis then thats fine

[Theo Huxtable.]

i do.

[MAR]

yeah...people are shook...but they need to get over it....the united states is safe..compared to most other countries in the world...sept 11th and pearl harbor were the only attacks on u.s. soil by foreigners since america was founded in good ol 1776.

 

dont forget 1814. British invasion and burning of washington.

[Larry Pubes]

i do.

 

sorry, but that's some bulllllllshit. whenever i see a post in crossfire by you regarding anything to do with israel and the OPT/palestinians it NEVER takes issue with the systematic, heinous, terrorist crimes committed by israel in the OPT. there is no 'defense' or justification for the crimes israel has perpetrated over the last 39years in the west bank and gaza. likewise nobody should, or can defend the suicide bombers...it goes without saying, regardless of the fact these people happen to originate from stark, humiliating circumstances incurred by a brutal 4 decade occupation. however, somehow the immense hypocrisy of israel and it's defenders somehow gets a free pass with guys like you otherwise you wouldn't flippantly spew such hypocritical turds. you probably haven't noticed, but gaza and the west bank have essentially been systematically decimated with brutal crimes being committed and escalated by israel in the last few months, all explicitly approved by the US executive branch. and it continues on and on, and nobody can do shit because israel is a regional powerhouse supported, armed and backed by the most powerful country ever.

[isor357]

conservative estimates suggest that 15 percent of muslims support radical islam. That is 15 percent of more than a billion or roughly 150 million. Half the number of American citizens

The number that hates America, Americans and what is considered the west is going to be greater than 15 percent. 150 million supports terrorism, condones and celebrates violence. Its safe to assume that if 15 percent is that turned out... another 15 percent probably hates America but doesnt advocate terrorism or violence. Actually i bet that guess is low.

[isor357]

I have all the respect in the world for Israel and none for islam. This isnt motivated by religion... I despise religion. The fact that muslims are that religious makes me sick..... I seen enough footage of them chanting death to America.... muslim children singing songs glorifying suicide bombing.... and islamic leaders flat out praising terrorists and condemning freedom. Israel should nut up on that nonsence and the free world should support that shit. Isor has no patience for a fanatic

[Theo Huxtable.]

sorry, but that's some bulllllllshit. whenever i see a post in crossfire by you regarding anything to do with israel and the OPT/palestinians it NEVER takes issue with the systematic, heinous, terrorist crimes committed by israel in the OPT. there is no 'defense' or justification for the crimes israel has perpetrated over the last 39years in the west bank and gaza. likewise nobody should, or can defend the suicide bombers...it goes without saying, regardless of the fact these people happen to originate from stark, humiliating circumstances incurred by a brutal 4 decade occupation. however, somehow the immense hypocrisy of israel and it's defenders somehow gets a free pass with guys like you otherwise you wouldn't flippantly spew such hypocritical turds. you probably haven't noticed, but gaza and the west bank have essentially been systematically decimated with brutal crimes being committed and escalated by israel in the last few months, all explicitly approved by the US executive branch. and it continues on and on, and nobody can do shit because israel is a regional powerhouse supported, armed and backed by the most powerful country ever.

 

 

he said i should be against governments that sanctions killings against innocent civilians. i said i did.

 

that includes people like saddam hussein ordering his government/military to kill thousands of innocent people

 

israel assassinating Hamas leaders is not the same as "sanctioned killing against innocent civilians." last i checked, hamas lost its "innocence" pass the minute they ordered someone to walk onto a bus filled with women and children to detonate a bomb.

 

in the recent hezbollah-israel conflict, hezbollah targeted civilians. israel did not "target" civilians. but hezbollah strongholds -- in which unfortonately innocents were killed in the crossfire.

 

it notice you just try to disagree with anything i state by default