Muslim terrorists are loathsome; they should be hanged in the public square. How much less loathsome is it to deliberately and precisely act like a Muslim terrorist? Is it any less loathsome to act like a Muslim terrorist in order to terrorize airplane passengers into pretendng not to notice that you are acting like a Muslim terrorist? That’s the pressure these flying imams are trying to apply through the political, MSM and legislative process. These men should be deported or locked up. Washington Times:

Witnesses said three of the imams were praying loudly in the concourse and repeatedly shouted “Allah” when passengers were called for boarding US Airways Flight 300 to Phoenix. “I was suspicious by the way they were praying very loud,” the gate agent told the Minneapolis Police Department.

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.”…

According to witnesses, police reports and aviation security officials, the imams displayed other suspicious behavior. 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.

The imams who claimed two first-class seats said their tickets were upgraded. The gate agent told police that when the imams asked to be upgraded, they were told no such seats were available. Nevertheless, the two men were seated in first class when removed. 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.

“That’s like shouting ‘fire’ in a crowded theater. You just can’t do that anymore,” said Robert MacLean, a former air marshal. “They should have been denied boarding and been investigated,” Mr. MacLean said. “It looks like they are trying to create public sympathy or maybe setting someone up for a lawsuit.” The pilot with another airline who talked to The Washington Times on condition of anonymity, said he would have made the same call as the US Airways pilot. “If any group of passengers is commingling in the terminal and didn’t sit in their assigned seats or with each other, I would stop everything and investigate until they could provide me with a reason they did not sit in their assigned seats.”

One of the passengers, Omar Shahin, told Newsweek the group did everything it could to avoid suspicion by wearing Western clothes, speaking English and booking seats so they were not together. He said they conducted prayers quietly and separately to avoid attention.

So they were all acting suspiciously, and even today the mouthpiece of the group claims that they were just acting like Muslims on an airplane. What do you think should be done with Omar Shahin?

UPDATE

Former Senator Rudy Boschwitz, via Powerline:

There you are at the gate about to kiss your wife and kids goodbye and the imams begin praying. Would you walk away and let the family go forward? Or would you be much relieved if the airline said: hold on, we ought to check these guys out. Give me a break and not this liberal bullshit. The airline acted prudently just as it should have.

Why does it take a former senator to speak common sense these days? And where are the moderaate American Muslims who should be embarrassed and outraged by Shahin and his ilk? Are they intimidated as in #5 below?

UPDATE II

Omar Shahin, for the record:

Mr. Shahin says he cut ties to KindHearts after the Treasury Department began investigating the group, that “true Muslims” do not murder and were not responsible for the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. “If they claim they are Muslim, they are wrong,” Mr. Shahin said yesterday in a telephone interview. “Despite what religion they claim, even if they are all Arabs, to say they are Muslims is wrong, completely wrong. “We have been asked by God and by the prophet Muhammad to respect all human life. The Koran is very clear, to save one life he saves all human life, and whoever kills one person, he kills all humankind, and that is what Islam is all about.”

Yet one more reason to deport this dangerous clown.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 28th, 2006 at 5:30 am and is filed under art, culture, General, idiots!, Iran, Law, Left of Left, MSM, Religion, War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.