Posted on 11/21/2006 4:29:09 PM PST by xcamel
Spokesman for 6 Muslim clerics barred from US Airways flight
One of six Muslim imams pulled from a US Airways flight in Minneapolis last night by federal authorities is affiliated with a Hamas-linked organization and acknowledged a connection to Osama bin Laden in the 1990s.
Omar Shahin, who served as a spokesman for the clerics, is a representative of the Kind Hearts Organization, which had its assets frozen by the U.S. Treasury pending an investigation, notes Islam scholar Robert Spencer on his weblog JihadWatch
Treasury spokesman Stuart Levey in February said KindHearts "is the progeny of Holy Land Foundation and Global Relief Foundation, which attempted to mask their support for terrorism behind the façade of charitable giving."
The imams had attended a conference in Minneapolis of the North American Imams Federation, said Shahin, who is president of the group.
"They took us off the plane, humiliated us in a very disrespectful way," Shahin said after the incident last night.
Today, Shahin called for Muslims and non-Muslims to boycott US Airways unless the company changes its policy.
"They know what they have to do, they have to be fair and just with everybody," he said.
The Washington, D.C., based lobby group Council on American-Islamic Relations planned to file a complaint, said CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper.
"Because, unfortunately, this is a growing problem of singling out Muslims or people perceived to be Muslims at airports, and it's one that we've been addressing for some time," Hooper said.
CAIR, however, has its own ties to Hamas, having been identified by two former FBI counter-terrorism chiefs as a spinoff of a front group for the Palestinian terrorist organization.
A Sept. 28, 2001, story in the Arizona Republic that said Arizona appears to have been the home of an al-Qaida sleeper cell, named Shahin as one of three part-time Arizona residents who "fits the pattern" of the terrorist group.
Shahin, identifed as being with the Tucson Islamic Center, said members of his mosque may have helped bin Laden in the early 1990s when the al-Qaida leader was fighting against the Russians.
The CIA at that time, Shahin said, called bin Laden a "freedom fighter."
"Then they tell us he is involved in terrorist acts, and they stopped supporting him, and we stopped," he said.
In the story, Shahin expressed doubt that Muslims were responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks and said he "didn't trust much of what the FBI has divulged - including the hijackers' identities."
As for Al-Qaida nests in America, Shahin said, "All of these, they make it up."
Witnesses to the imam's explusion last night said some of them made anti-American comments about the war in Iraq before boarding the flight, according to Minneapolis airport spokesman Patrick Hogan.
Also, some of the men asked for seat belt extensions even though a flight attendant thought they didn't need them.
"There were a number of things that gave the flight crew pause," Hogan said.
Shahin claimed three members of the group prayed in the terminal before the six boarded the plane. Last night, however, he said they had prayed on the plane.
The imams boarded the plane individually, Shahin said, except for a blind member who needed assistance. They didn't sit together and "did nothing," he contended.
There you have it...nice job other passengers. Expose these inmates errr...Inmans or whatever they call themselves for who they really are!
Yes it was a good call. Of course, we've known about CAIR's ties to Hamas for a long time and they're still here.
"Shahin called for Muslims and non-Muslims to boycott US Airways unless the company changes its policy"
If I owned an airline and didn't have a policy that would make them want to boycott it, I would hurry up and make such a policy.
CAIR has their fax machine on speed-dial so they can file complaints more rapidly.
"is affiliated with a Hamas-linked organization"
You mean CAIR?
Are any of the 6 still alive?
"The imams boarded the plane individually, Shahin said, except for a blind member who needed assistance. They didn't sit together and "did nothing," he contended."
I think you get to be an Imam automatically if you are blind.
I always thought US airlines should switch from peanuts and other crunchies to pork rinds.
This is an outrage! Cut off his head! It is the only way honor can be restored!
Gomer Pyle sez... "Well surprise, surprise, surprise!!!"
Great Idea!!!!!LOL
Hmmmm.
I have been in limbo since 11/07/06. Has this story made the MSM?
one airline is definately safer from here on out. Now any Mooslim found on a US Air flight is suspect for not adhearing to the boycot.
Big bags of bacon bits...
Well, well ...
They seem to be ignoring it (per usual)
String these jihadist up by their balls until they spill their guts on all their terrorist contacts...... oops, I forgot, we're only allowed to provide them with "Halal" meals and maximum comforts...... no distress allowed for people who want to slaughter millions of Americans, we're just the foolish dhimmis here.......
What would happen if the passengers had attacked these Iman's.
/R /S.
""They took us off the plane, humiliated us in a very disrespectful way," Shahin said after the incident last night."
It sounds like we blew it with these gentlemen.
We should have been more sensitive.
They should have been ejected from the plane while enroute to the destination.
Strange... not a word of this in today's MSM news... /sarcasm
just backing 50' from the gate and tossing them out would have been enough
Then play the BC/PC card.
We are doomed unless America as a country wakes up.
Bull crap
One of the marks of an extremist is the way they manipulate and abuse the victimogly of a PC American media
What's BC?
Bubba!
"Today, Shahin called for Muslims ... to boycott US Airways"
Yup! That'll teach us!
I believe the best word for the job is "Inbreds."
Should we wait until mid-flight before ejecting them, just to be sure?
Worldnet Daily calls attention to the Hamas connection, but I doubt it will get any play in the MSM.
The more incidents like this, the more the NTSB will bend over backward to avoid bothering Muslims.
Muslims in the US understand the politically correct mindset very well, and constantly play to it.
No they don't.
Just with people who act civilized.
Muslims don't qualify.
OK, a few muslims might, but they all would fit in a Cessna.
And look how INDIGNANT these EVIL people are when they are exposed for that they are.
The Police Report.......
http://static.wcco.viacomlocalnetworks.com/~wcco/Documents/MSPreport.pdf
My girlfriend asked me, "If you saw these guys boarding the plane, acting strange, would you get on?"
"No F-n' Way!"
I see a very successful ad campaign for US Airways if they had the balls to use it.
Wonder how one of us would be treated if we prayed (etc.) in King Khaled Int.?
I am sending an email to usair tonight to complain...That its taken them this long to figure out how to get muslims off planes.
Works for me
If anyone is interested below is the link for US Airways customer relations messages. I thanked them for placing passenger safety above political correctness:
http://www.usair.com/awa/content/contact/customer_relationsform.aspx
Ditto.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.