Move along, folks, nothing to see here. Middle eastern men get on schoolbusses, start jabbering away in arabic, and give conflicting accounts why they did it all the time. It's perfectly normal.
Posted on 05/22/2006 7:18:03 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
Athorities say two Saudi men who boarded a school bus full of children and gave conflicting reasons why they were there were arrested and held without bail.
Mana Saleh Almanajam, 23, and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran, 20, were charged with misdemeanor trespassing and were jailed after a judge said Saturday she wanted more background information on them. A hearing was scheduled Tuesday.
The two men arrived in the country six months ago on student visas and are enrolled at the English Language Institute at the University of South Florida.
Investigators said they boarded the school bus Friday, sat down and began speaking in Arabic. Their behavior concerned the driver, a substitute, who alerted the school district.
The men were asked why they boarded the bus, and sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said they gave different answers: They wanted to enroll in an easier English language program than the one at USF; they wanted to see a high school; and they thought it would be fun.
Ahmed Bedier, director of the Central Florida Council on American-Islamic Relations, criticized the decision to arrest and detain the men.
"The only reason (this happened) is because of who they are, and that's wrong," he said. "Thus far, it doesn't seem like they've been afforded their full rights for something as simple as getting on the wrong bus."
bump
"The only reason (this happened) is because of who they are, and that's wrong," he said. "Thus far, it doesn't seem like they've been afforded their full rights for something as simple as getting on the wrong bus."
Right. Try like planning out revenge for Al-Arian....uhhh...USF? Duh. No brainer.
That's kind of scary. They could have been suicide bombers.
HUH, you mean like
A hearing
a lawyer
you mean those rights? I think that base is covered.
This smells like a potential terrorist "soft target" to me.
Sounds like it might have been a dry run.
Maybe it was a dress rehersal.
While we fall back to sleep...
Move along, folks, nothing to see here. Middle eastern men get on schoolbusses, start jabbering away in arabic, and give conflicting accounts why they did it all the time. It's perfectly normal.
Extract whatever information possible and send their empty, broken husks back to our 'friends' in Saudi.
"Ahmed Bedier, director of the Central Florida Council on American-Islamic Relations, criticized the decision to arrest and detain the men."
He's right. They really thought the bus was going to a camel farm.
Fun? Fun my *ss. They wanted to see how hard it would be to actually do exactly what they did---Board a school bus with lots of potential targets. This is a sick idea, but anyone else have any take on it?
"The only reason (this happened) is because of who they are, and that's wrong," he said. "Thus far, it doesn't seem like they've been afforded their full rights for something as simple as getting on the wrong bus."
As simple as getting on the wrong bus?
How did they mistakenly get on a school bus?
This spokesman obviously took the short bus to school.
The FBI has already ruled out terrorism.
Kudos to the bus driver! Profiling works.
Except that neither of them claimed that they took the wrong bus as their excuse.
Holy cats.
Is it acceptable for anyone other than the children to hitch a ride on a school bus? Arab or not...I don't think that is appropriate.
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