What were his best moments? .....
Posted on 11/27/2006 9:27:09 AM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Imams, ministers and a rabbi staged a "pray-in" demonstration Monday at Reagan Washington National Airport and demanded an apology from US Airways for barring six Muslims from a Minneapolis to Phoenix flight last week.
The religious leaders called for an end to racial profiling, saying it was unacceptable in America.
"These things are troubling to us," said Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation. "Driving while black, flying while Muslim, traveling with a Torah or getting with Jesus."
Imam Omar Shahin, one of the six imams detained last Monday at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, said they hadn't done anything suspicious.
The imams, who were returning from a religious conference, had prayed on their prayer rugs in the airport before the flight. After they boarded the flight, a passenger, who was alarmed by their activity, passed a note to a flight attendant. The men were taken off the airplane, handcuffed and questioned.
"It was the worst moment in my life," Shahin said.
US Airways Group Inc. spokeswoman Andrea Rader said prayer was never the issue.
"Apparently, as they were boarding, one passenger overheard them saying what they thought were anti-U.S. statements," Rader said.
She also said the men got up and moved around the airplane, forcing the flight crew to consult with the airline about whether they might pose a security risk. Local law enforcement and the FBI thought they did, she said.
"We're sorry the imams had a difficult time, but we do think the crews have to make these calls and we think they made the right one," she said. US Airways plans to meet with the imams this week, Rader said.
On Monday, Shahin and a handful of other Muslims bowed down on rugs and prayed in Terminal A near the US Airways ticket counter. Jewish and Christian clergy also said prayers.
After the prayer session, Shahin and other religious leaders boarded a US Airways flight to demonstrate their determination to continue praying and flying.
Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP national office, called on Congress to pass legislation that would end racial profiling. The bill is necessary because airlines are unclear how to deal with racial and ethnic profiling, he said.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, four airlines accused of breaking federal anti-discrimination laws settled with the government. Transportation Department investigations found the airlines had unlawfully removed passengers because of their perceived ethnic or religious backgrounds.
Though the air carriers — American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines — admitted no wrongdoing, they agreed to carry out civil rights training for their employees.
The Homeland Security Department's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties said last week that it was investigating the US Airways incident.
Civil rights? The issue.
Oh my.
BUMP!!!
TELL IT TO OSAMA~!!!
No no, they've got it all wrong. We're not doing racial profiling. We're doing religious profiling.
"These things are troubling to us," said Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation. "Driving while black, flying while Muslim, traveling with a Torah or getting with Jesus."
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Huh?
Once again, we see Muslims taking advantage of how free and open our society is, and using it against us.
How long would Christians in Saudi Arabia be able to stage a protest like this at an airport there? How long would Jews in Saudi Arabia be able to protest their treatment in that society?
What were his best moments? .....
Actually it was behavioral profiling.
Imam Omar Shahin (R), one of six Muslim imams removed on November 20 from a US Airways flight in Minnesota, travels to catch a flight after a news conference at Washington's Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, November 27, 2006. Also pictured is supporter Imam Mahdi Bray (L), executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES)
Good point.
An imam, a minister and a rabbi walk into an airport bar...
I keep forgetting it was radical Jews and Christians who flew the jets into the towers after slitting throats of the crews..
Mahdi Bray, Executive Director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, center, leads a prayer at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport, Monday, Nov. 27, 2006. Imams, ministers and a rabbi staged a 'pray-in' demonstration at the airport and demanded an apology from US Airways for barring six Muslims from a Minneapolis to Phoenix flight last week.(AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)
Airports and air lines have plenty of rules now. All they have to do are make more rules outlawing ostentatious praying in airports and on planes. They can make any rules they want.
Is this guy serious? Or just ignorant?
Does he know how much a Torah weighs?
Why are all these imams, obese?
Good grief. Half the government making it harder for terrorists to get on a plane, the other half making it harder to get them off.
My understanding form the original article was that these 6 were standing and disrupting the boarding and departure process. The instructions on how to board are pretty clear. Get in, sit down and shut your pie hole.
The alternative excercise of your civil rights is equally simple. If you feel their rules infringe on your rights, don't get on.
These Imams were in a win-win situation IMHO. If the airline booted them, which they did, they would get CAIR and the ACLU to cry foul and maybe force the airlines to loosen their security, which still remains to be seen.
If they got away with what they wanted to get away with, which they didn't, they would've probed our defenses successfully and passed on the information to who knows what group to follow the same path to get what they wanted.....
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