Posted on 08/20/2006 2:10:04 PM PDT by World_Events
Passengers on a Manchester-bound flight have described how two men were removed from the plane because other travellers thought they were speaking Arabic. Heath Schofield, a passenger on the flight from Malaga, described it as being a "bit like Chinese whispers".
Monarch Airlines said passengers had demanded the men were removed because they were acting suspiciously.
Birmingham MP Khalid Mahmood said it was disgraceful the pair seemed to have been judged on their skin colour.
The men - reported to be of Asian or Middle Eastern appearance - were taken from Wednesday's flight ZB 613 and questioned but were allowed to fly back to the UK later in the week.
Refusal to board
Mr Schofield, who was travelling with his wife Jo and their children, said: "We all started boarding the flight.
Heath and Jo Schofield were on the Manchester flight
"Our daughter noticed a couple of guys that were perhaps acting a bit strange. They went to the front of the queue, went to the back of the queue, and then they went and sat down by themselves.
"Anyway, we got on the plane and we boarded and it became apparent after we were already supposed to be flying that several of the passengers had refused to board the craft.
"A few rumours went round, it was a little bit like Chinese whispers, and then some more people decided they were getting off."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Beat me to it.
The behavior seems perfectly rational to me, and I'd categorize it as a setback for the terrorists.
Not so easy anymore is it boys?
Nope. Still busted.
Sorry your husband suffers because of the difficult times we live in. I wish we lived in less difficult times, but we don't. If we act in such a way that your husband is never offended or inconvenienced, we will leave ourselves much more vulnerable to people who want us dead.
Sorry about that. I wish it was not so, but it is.
BTW, I have never heard of Portuguese being mistaken for anything other than Spanish. And in my neighborhood, we know Portuguese.
If guys are moving around, sitting down, standing up, changing places, dressed in unusually heavy clothing, and whispering in a strange language, that is VERY suspicious. There's no way they DON'T know that their behavior will provoke suspicion.
Perhaps they were a "dry run".
Maybe they just got tired of trying to get all that soot out of his clothes...
Just kidding. I'm sorry that he's been subjected to that - especially given the fact that he's obviously a patriotic American. However I do think these passengers were justified in their actions.
Multiple Choice Test
1. In 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles by
(a) Superman,
(b) Jay Leno,
(c) Tiger Woods,
(d) a man from Palestine between 17 and 40 years old.
2. In 1972, 11 Israeli athletes were kidnapped and killed at the Munich Olympics by
(a) the kid who cuts your grass,
(b) Sitting Bull,
(c) Arnold Schwarzenegger,
(d) Muslims between 17 and 40.
3. In 1979, the US Embassy in Tehran was over-ran & 90 Americans were held for 444 days by
(a) Bruce Lee,
(b) Elvis Presley's deceased twin brother,
(c) a tour group of Minnesota grandmothers,
(d) Muslims between 17 and 40.
4. During the 1980s, several Americans were kidnapped in Beirut by
(a) O J Simpson,
(b) the king of Sweden,
(c) the pope and a gang of Cardinals,
(d) Muslims between 17 and 40.
5. In 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon was blown up, killing 220 Marines, by
(a) a Domino's Pizza delivery man,
(b) the president of the Southern Baptist Convention,
(c) Catherine Zeta-Jones,
(d) Muslims between 17 and 40.
6. In 1985, the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70-year-old American passenger thrown overboard in his wheelchair by
(a) Sugar Ray Leonard,
(b) your next door neighbor,
(c) the Little Mermaid,
(d) Muslims between 17 and 40.
7. In 1985, TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens and a U.S. Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by
(a) Captain Kangaroo,
(b)Walt Disney,
(c) Mother Teresa,
(d) Muslims between 17 and 40.
8. In 1988, Pan American Flight 103 was destroyed by a bomb in midair by
(a) Butch Cassidy,
(b) the Sundance Kid,
(c) the Tooth Fairy,
(d) Muslims between 17 and 40.
9. The World Trade Center was bombed the first time in 1993 by
(a) Stonewall Jackson,
(b) Michael Jordan,
(c) Winston Churchill,
(d) Muslims between 17 and 40.
10. In 1998, U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by
(a) Santa Claus,
(b) your sister's cat's grandmother's first owner's son's basketball coach's ex-wife,
(c) the World Wrestling Federation,
(d) Muslims between 17 and 40.
11. On September 11, 2001, airliners were hijacked to crash into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon by
(a) Bugs Bunny,
(b) Bob the Tomato,
(c) Ricky Martin,
(d) Muslims between 17 and 40.
12. In 2002, Daniel Pearl of the Wall Street Journal was kidnapped and beheaded by
(a) Bonnie and Clyde,
(b) the Michelin man,
(c) Barney Fife,
(d) Muslims between 17 and 40.
13. In July of 2005, several targets were attacked in central London, killing 52 persons, by
(a) the Orkin Man,
(b) Margaret Thatcher,
(c) Mr. Goodwrench,
(d) Muslims between 17 and 40.
add the USS Cole, Nick Berg's beheading and the Barcelona bombings
"Were the passengers correct?'
When everyone is watching you, you should be on your best behavior. If your best behavior has a cultural ceiling, say urinating in the isle, you should avoid contact with civilized people.
If I have to drive in certain areas of Baltimore, It's common sense to have my doors locked and my confederate flag furled. If I get on a plane loaded with Muslims, I don't need to to be told to stash my Star of David for the duration.
If I'm an African American and I really don't like being pulled over by the cops all the time, maybe I'll ditch the gangster clothes, subwoofer,gold teeth & chains,car, dope,weapons and expired plates. And say "Sir".
If I'm a Muslim and I insist on wearing a beard and a diaper on my head while I read the Koran out loud, perhaps I shouldn't board an EL AL jet.
Damn, I almost scored 100%.
Blew it on Mother Teresa.
if her husband were to buy a cowboy hat and some boots noone would ever suspect him of being a terrorist ever again.
"Why were the two men in question taken off the plane? There are answers implied, but it's interesting that none are given directly. Were the passengers correct?"
The two men were allowed to fly on a later flight. Common sense would dictate that, whether the suspicions were correct or not, their presence on the original flight could have caused problems.
May 13,1981, 23-year-old Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca shot Pope John Paul II three times.
Arm ALL passengers.
My oldest is in the Navy. He's very dark. My youngest is red headed. When he's home, he doesn't get waved thru check points and the one time he was with his brother, following us in his truck, he was pulled over and searched. It's just the way it is. Something about him, gets a second look (maybe because he's so handsome, huh?:') Anyway, the two of them together just wasn't their norm and flags went up. Just the way it is.
"Asian or middle Eastern indeed. While the bulk of Americans might have difficulties in distinguishing between the two, Brits have long had Indians and Pakistanis in their midst from the colonial era and the Brits usually spot them fairly well. So I say odds are they two suspect passengers were from the ME.
And the emergence of an outraged Birmingham MP Khalid Mahmood gives me a dead lock on any bets."
I'd disagree with you on all points. I'm not convinced that one would expect the passengers to convincingly distinguish between Indian/Pakistani/Middle Eastern origin or indeed between Arabic/Urdu/Hindi. On balance of probabilities, I'd say it was far more likely that the two men described were of Pakistani origin and speaking Urdu, rather than Middle Eastern. And I'm not sure why the contribution of the Birmingham MP gives you more certainty that they were Middle Eastern as he himself is of Pakistani origin.
Years and years later (I think just last year), I began hearing credible reports that the financiers had been IRANIAN.
Am I imagining this?
Arabs should be forced to fly in bomb-proof compartments. In the company of pigs.
I'm white --I could have been in the Von Trap Family (of Sount of Music fame), but it's true that because I look very athletic I get stopped and checked all the time.
I have no tattoos, piercings, hippy clothes, no long hair....
It is called "Voting with your feet".
My admiration goes to the common lot of passengers on this flight.
He's medium/short height but muscular. He looks....Navy:')
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