MSP Faking Imams?

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EyeInTheSky

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http://pajamasmedia.com/2006/12/the_faking...jamas_media.php

THE FAKING IMAMS -- Pajamas Media Exclusive: Police Report, Passenger Reveals That Flying Imams Were Up to No Good
PJM in SeattleDecember 1, 2006 5:58 PM

The Now Notorious Flying Imams Claim Their Only Crime Was “Flying While Muslim,â€￾ But Our Exclusive Reporting Reveals They Are Trying to Sweep Their Real Motives Under Their Prayer Rugs


Area Muslims pray near the ticketing area of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Friday, Dec. 1.

SEE ALSO: The first public publication of the official police report on the incident including handwritten statements from witnesses. Download file — PDF 3.8 Mgb
http://pajamasmedia.com/upload/2006/12/Fly...ce%20Report.pdf

PLUS: The letter from US Airways passenger “Paulineâ€￾ to U.S. Airways: Download file PDF 68K http://pajamasmedia.com/upload/2006/12/pau...tousairways.pdf

[Bloggers are invited to examine these documents and provide theories for what happened. Please notify Pajamas Media. — Editors]

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.â€￾ 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,â€￾ said she is afraid to give her full name or hometown. She is spending the night at “another locationâ€￾ 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.â€￾

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,â€￾ and “terrorism,â€￾ 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,â€￾ 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,â€￾ 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.â€￾

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 paperworkâ€￾ 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 Ladenâ€￾ and condemning America for “killing Saddam,â€￾ 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,â€￾ Pauline said, “I had it [seat belt extension] in my hand.â€￾

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,â€￾ 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,â€￾ 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.â€￾

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?â€￾ 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.â€￾

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,â€￾ 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,â€￾ Pauline said. “It had to be to intimidate U.S. Airways to ease up on security.â€￾

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

So what are the imams really up to? Something more than praying it seems.
 
An unsettling situation, for ALL aboard.

To the comment about ANY passenger "TAKING OVER THE PLANE", with the exception of an explosive devise on the A/C, NO ONE(now) can get into the cockpit, therefore the a/c can land WITH the perps on board, and the cops waiting.


Time, once again, to DUST OFF an old post of mine........................EL-AL. NEVER has these problems

NH/BB's
 
An unsettling situation, for ALL aboard.

To the comment about ANY passenger "TAKING OVER THE PLANE", with the exception of an explosive devise on the A/C, NO ONE(now) can get into the cockpit, therefore the a/c can land WITH the perps on board, and the cops waiting.
Time, once again, to DUST OFF an old post of mine........................EL-AL. NEVER has these problems

NH/BB's
I hear people say this about EL-AL frequently, but all they have is 37 total airplanes. Easy to keep track of so few.
EL-AL company profile
 
This is easy.Start serving food again. Sandwiches only.
Two choices, either something containing bacon, or something Kosher.

Have discussions with those who refuse or go ballistic.
 
EL-AL. NEVER has these problems
There is no work done on an EL-AL plane without an EL-AL security agent watching.
There are no parts installed on an EL-AL plane without that part first being x-ray inspected by EL-AL security.
Every passenger is subject to questioning (screening) that our government has already deemed profiling and privacy invasion, and thus illegal.
 
EL AL's security procedures are done in the US and they are not illegal, if they were they would not be permitted to do their security screening the way they do it here in the US.

Having flown them and having close friends who work for them, their procedures are effective and legal.
 
EL AL's security procedures are done in the US and they are not illegal, if they were they would not be permitted to do their security screening the way they do it here in the US.

Having flown them and having close friends who work for them, their procedures are effective and legal.
You are correct, and I apologize. Attempting brevity, I did misspeak.
Our FAA/NTSB approached EL AL after 9-11 to learn how they protect themselves in their market areas and are capable of the safety record they have. On review, it was determined that while EL AL screening procedure cross no legal boundaries, it is much more personal than most U.S. travelers are accustomed to and could be considered by some as privacy invasions by the screeners. It was also decided that widespread adoption of EL AL’s screening techniques by U.S. carriers would, in all likelihood, beg lawsuits by the traveling public and be deemed in U.S. courts to be illegal profiling.
 
Wow, Pauline seems quite open-minded and worldly. Ignorance and fear are destroying this country people.
 
Pauline's ignorance of the Islamic faith is laughable and the fact that she uses her ignorance to justify her hate-mongering is just flat out sad.

For the most part, the people in the Middle East do not classify all Americans by the actions of the few they see on tv, however most Americans assume that all Arabs are here to kill us. Judging an entire culture based on the whack job actions of a few fundamentalists would be like our entire culture being judged by the actions of Bush, Cheney and Jerry Fallwell.
 
Hopefully someone will pass your sentiments and assessments on to the family members of those who perished in the various attacks. We're not talking isolated incidents here.

I am in no way advocating what they did. Fundamentalists of all types scare me. Bin Laden, McVeigh, Rudolph, Sharon, all whack jobs whose actions led to the deaths of innocents, all praying to the same God, one way or another.

That being said, nothing excuses someone's ignorance to the basic tenants of the second most practiced religion in the world. Pauline and many others in this country choose to accept what is force-fed to them by our government and the media.

What happened to these people and their families is awful, but it should be taken as an opportunity to work towards education and tolerance rather than marching instep to the orders given to us by our leaders who would rather keep the sheep at bay, while they use fear to get acquiescence those in their charge.
 
I'm perfectly willing to be tolerent the minute they stop trying to kill us.

Education is great, when they stop trying to kill us.

If it's education you want then let's educate the American public to the fact that one sure fire way to eliminate Islamic terrorism is to eliminate our dependence on their oil. Do that and they revert to the economic stone age and it's to bad, so sad no foriegn aid for you.


No, Bob.

The lack of "foreign aid" kills the dictators we support. Bin Laden is quite specific on this.

I support regime change in Israel and massive energy changes to solar, wind and nuclear. Kill the freaks running Israel and, while, making us non-dependant on the ME, let us provide the teachings on how to coup energy from their own territory.
 
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