Ann Coulter: What can I do to make your flight more uncomfortable?

Human Events Online (Contributors) ^ | 11-22-2006 | Ann Coulter

[Vinny]

Six imams removed from a US Airways flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix are calling on Muslims to boycott the airline. If only we could get Muslims to boycott all airlines, we could dispense with airport security altogether.

Witnesses said the imams stood to do their evening prayers in the terminal before boarding, chanting "Allah, Allah, Allah" -- coincidentally, the last words heard by hundreds of airline passengers on 9/11 before they died.

Witnesses also said that the imams were talking about Saddam Hussein, and denouncing America and the war in Iraq. About the only scary preflight ritual the imams didn't perform was the signing of last wills and testaments.

After boarding, the imams did not sit together and some asked for seat belt extensions, although none were morbidly obese. Three of the men had one-way tickets and no checked baggage.

Also they were Muslims.

The idea that a Muslim boycott against US Airways would hurt the airline proves that Arabs are utterly tone-deaf. This is roughly the equivalent of Cindy Sheehan taking a vow of silence. How can we hope to deal with people with no sense of irony? The next thing you know, New York City cab drivers will be threatening to bathe.

Come to think of it, the whole affair may have been a madcap advertising scheme cooked up by US Airways.

It worked with me. US Airways is my official airline now. Northwest, which eventually flew the Allah-spouting Muslims to their destinations, is off my list. You want to really hurt a U.S. air carrier's business? Have Muslims announce that it's their favorite airline.

The clerics had been attending an imam conference in Minneapolis (imam conference slogan: "What Happens in Minneapolis -- Actually, Nothing Happened in Minneapolis"). But instead of investigating the conference, the government is now investigating my favorite airline.

What threat could Muslims flying from Minnesota to Arizona be?

Three of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 received their flight training in Arizona. Long before the attacks, an FBI agent in Phoenix found it curious that so many Arabs were enrolled in flight school. But the FBI rebuffed his request for an investigation on the grounds that his suspicions were based on the same invidious racial profiling that has brought US Airways under investigation and into my good graces.

Lynne Stewart's client, the Blind Sheik, Omar Abdel-Rahman, is serving life in prison in a maximum security lock-up in Minnesota. One of the six imams removed from the US Airways plane was blind, so Lynne Stewart was the one missing clue that would have sent all the passengers screaming from the plane.

Wholly apart from the issue of terrorism, don't we have a seller's market for new immigrants? How does a blind Muslim get to the top of the visa list? Is there a shortage of blind, fanatical clerics in this country that I haven't noticed? Couldn't we get some Burmese with leprosy instead? A 4-year-old could do a better job choosing visa applicants than the U.S. Department of Immigration.

One of the stunt-imams in US Airways' advertising scheme, Omar Shahin, complained about being removed from the plane, saying: "Six scholars in handcuffs. It's terrible."

Yes, especially when there was a whole conference of them! Six out of 150 is called "poor law enforcement." How did the other 144 "scholars" get off so easy?

Shahin's own "scholarship" consisted of continuing to deny Muslims were behind 9/11 nearly two months after the attacks. On Nov. 4, 2001, the Arizona Republic cited Shahin's "skepticism that Muslims or bin Laden carried out attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon." Shahin complained that the government was "focusing on the Arabs, the Muslims. And all the evidence shows that the Muslims are not involved in this terrorist act."

In case your memory of that time is hazy, within three days of the attack, the Justice Department had released the names of all 19 hijackers -- names like Majed Moqed, Ahmed Alghamdi, Mohand Alshehri, Ahmed Ibrahim A. Al Haznawi and Ahmed Alnami. The government had excluded all but 19 passengers as possible hijackers based on extensive interviews with friends and family of nearly every passenger on all four flights. Some of the hijackers' seat numbers had been called in by flight attendants on the planes.

By early October, bin Laden had produced a videotape claiming credit for the attacks. And by Nov. 4, 2001, the New York Times had run well over 100 articles on the connections between bin Laden and the hijackers -- even more detailed and sinister than the Times' flowcharts on neoconservatives!

Also, if I remember correctly, al Qaeda had taken out full-page ads in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter thanking their agents for the attacks.

But now, on the eve of the busiest travel day in America, these "scholars" have ginned up America's PC victim machinery to intimidate airlines and passengers from noticing six imams chanting "Allah" before boarding a commercial

[Alberta's Child]

The idea that a Muslim boycott against US Airways would hurt the airline proves that Arabs are utterly tone-deaf. This is roughly the equivalent of Cindy Sheehan taking a vow of silence. How can we hope to deal with people with no sense of irony? The next thing you know, New York City cab drivers will be threatening to bathe.

LOL ping.

[Vinny]

ROTFL!

[Gunny Gene]

"The radical Muslims belong in jail. " No, they belong in the ground.

[vbmoneyspender]

Also they were Muslims.

LOL.

[livius]

Their food is nauseating (even by airline standards) and they always lose your luggage, but hey, if the Muzzies don't want to fly them, they're my airline! I read that US Airways was making a hostile bid for Delta. I normally fly Delta, but after the takeover, I guess maybe I'll be lucky enough to be on a Muslim-free airline!

[IronJack]

the imams were talking about Saddam Hussein, and denouncing America and the war in Iraq.

If this were a perfect world, these "imams" would have not only been allowed to fly, they would have had preferential boarding.

Airlines extend you that courtesy when you're seriously injured and in a wheelchair.

[I see my hands]

"From now on, I'll only fly on US Airways."

A far cry from their Al-legheny Airlines days.

[visualops]

fighting spirt?

[Pukin Dog]

You can love her or you can hate her, but odds are that if you find her argument lacking, it probably means you are a pussy.

[middie]

Ms. Coulter is a first class jerk, but even a blind bird find a worm once in a while. This time she's accurate and says it well.

[TopDog2]

Don't be too quick to switch airlines Ann. Here's the email I got from them after I praised them for looking out for the safety of their passengers:

Dear Valued Customer:

Thank you for taking the time to contact Customer Relations at US Airways. Your comments and perception of US Airways are very important to us.

We are aware of the situation involving six customers on US Airways Flight 300 from Minneapolis to Phoenix on the evening of November 20th, and are diligently conducting our own investigation. We are debriefing crewmembers and ground personnel as well as working with local law enforcement. We will cooperate fully with all of the appropriate law enforcement officials to determine the facts surrounding this incident.

We are always concerned when passengers are inconvenienced and especially concerned when a situation occurs which causes customers to feel their dignity was compromised. We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind and will continue to exhaust our internal investigation until we know the facts of this case and can provide answers for the employees and customers involved.

Thank you for sharing your comments and allowing us the opportunity to explain our position.

Sincerely,

Barbara Madgett US Airways Customer Relations
4000 E. Sky Harbor Blvd. Phoenix, AZ 85034
1-800-363-2542

[fish hawk]

3 ways to stop Muslims from boarding airlines at all: Paint Porky Pig with wings on the nose of the plane. Only serve Pork on the flights. And, upholster all the seats with pig skin leather.

[Freedom4US]

It's just absurd to the point of hilarity, except it's not funny. The news at the top of the hour on the radio today was interviewing airline passengers dutifully reciting how many ounces of liquids they can carry they are authorized to carry on. If the slaughter of 9/11 can't get those in our government to wake up and cut out the PC nonsense, nothing will. I will never fly again, unless forced, as long as this absolute nonsense bullshit is being foisted on the good citizenry.

[RonDog]

From www.nytimes.com:

...The six men detained, all imams, had attended a Minneapolis conference of the North American Imams Federation.

They were handcuffed by the police and led off the flight, bound for Phoenix, after reports from passengers and crew members of "unsettling" behavior, according to a police report.

One passenger had slipped a note to a flight attendant that began, "6 suspicious Arabic men on plane," the report said...

-- snip --

...Detailed accounts of the incident varied. Witnesses, including a number of passengers and US Airways employees, said they heard some of the men making anti-American remarks and chanting "Allah," first as they boarded the plane and then when led off, Mr. Hogan said.

Others said the men behaved strangely once on board, with some asking for seat belt extensions, the police report said. "I did not see they actually needed them," one flight attendant wrote in a statement given to the police. "They were not overweight."

Dr. Shahin disagreed, saying the extensions were necessary for their "big bodies."

In another statement, a gate agent said some of the imams had been praying in Arabic in the gate area. "I was suspicious by the way they were praying very loud," the agent said.

A second imam, Ahmad Tafish Shqeirat, said that three of the six had prayed in the gate area, in the ritual of evening prayers, but had not meant to be disruptive and indeed had taken pains not to disturb other passengers.

[Sam Ketcham]

I have nothing against Muslims / Mullahs flying on an airplane that I am not on. Heck, "FIT IN OR FLY OUT."

[Chewie84]

Bet you the boycott doesn't work.

[goldstategop]

Welcome Muslim Boycott Bump

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[cowdog77]

Personally, I'd fly exclusively on any airline that Muslims boycott, even if I had to fly a few thousand miles out of my way to do it.

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Ditto...

[HarmlessLovableFuzzball]

I would fly from Phoenix to Chicago on US Air even if it meant flying west

[ladyinred]

Thank You US Airways!!!