Not the flying imams

IN NOVEMBER, US Airways kicked six imams off a plane bound for Phoenix from Minneapolis. According to news reports, passengers and crew had become spooked watching some of the imams pray by the gate, then after boarding, saw the imams move around the plane as they spoke in Arabic -- some said the imams spoke of Saddam Hussein, which the imams deny. They said that the imams also and requested seat-belt extenders -- heavy metal objects -- which some feared could be used as weapons. The imams then were questioned and released without being charged.

Last month, the imams filed a lawsuit against US Airways, the airport and unnamed passengers who complained to airline personnel about the imams' behavior. The suit charges that these John Doe passengers "may have made false reports against plaintiffs solely with the intent to discriminate against them on the basis of their race, religion, ethnicity and national origin."

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., promptly introduced an amendment to a measure to protect passengers, lest this lawsuit chill the flying public's willingness to report suspicious behavior. King's amendment has passed through the House.

Minneapolis attorney Gerry Nolting offered to represent any John Does for free. As he told me, the FAA relies on passengers to report suspicious activity to protect the flying public. Suing the John Doe passengers, he noted, would have "a chilling effect" by signaling to passengers that if they report suspicious behavior, "you'll be the next defendant."

Meanwhile, the whole episode had some observers wondering about this post-9/11 controversy.

from your link:

Mr. Mohammedi’s main role with the Council on American Islamic Relations, CAIR, has been in aiding Muslims who have been questioned by the federal authorities. “He has been very helpful in defending those whose rights have been trampled,” said Al Haaj Ghazi Khankan, head of CAIR’s New York chapter.

While Mr. Mohammedi has not been at the center of controversy, CAIR has long attracted criticism. People linked to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations, founded the group in the early 1990s. Although its officials say they don’t support terrorism, CAIR officials have defended Hamas and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Mr. Khankan did not return calls seeking his organization’s positions on the Middle East conflict, but he was quoted in the Jewish Week last October making fine distinctions between Hamas’s killing of Israelis above and below the military age of 18. “Those who are below 18 should not be attacked,” he said.

The group has also circulated a petition calling on the federal government to unfreeze the finances of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which has been accused of funneling money to Hamas.

Mr. Skyler said CAIR’s New York chapter is “not as controversial as the national chapter.”

CAIR’s most visible function in New York is defending Muslim civil rights. It has also lobbied against smoking and gay marriage.

But one long-time critic of CAIR in Washington, Steven Emerson, called City Hall’s distinction “ludicrous.”

“That’s like saying that the New York chapter of the KKK is not as controversial as the national chapter,” he said.

The New York chapter’s Web site displays an unusual response to the September 11 attacks, a letter to the editor of the New York Times written last October 5.

Here’s the archived letter:

http://web.archive.org/web/20011216191712/http://www.cair-ny.com/PETITIONS/pet-20011005b.html

Rajab 18, 2001/October 5, 2001
Letter to the Editor
The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036
Tel:212-556-1234
Fax:212-556-369

True Muslims Cannot Commit Suicide Nor Kill Innocent Civilians
That Is Why Recognized Muslims Are Not Part Of The WTC Tragic Attack
Dear Editor:

In the Sunday, September 23, 2001 edition of The New York Times, page B5 entitled “The Investigation so Far - The Trail: Dead Suspects, Many Links”, you have printed pictures and names of the suspected hijackers. Two of the 19 suspects: Abdulaziz Alomari and Saeed Alghamdi could not have been on the hijacked planes because they are still alive and are working in Saudi Arabia.

Asharq Al-Awsat, one of the leading Arabic international newspapers in Saudi Arabia, featured on page one of its Monday, 17 September, 2001, the picture of Abdulaziz Alomori under the headline “A Saudi, whose name appeared in the list of the hijackers speaks out: “It is my name and my birthday, but I am not the one who blew up the world Trade Center.”! He explained that in 1993, he studied electrical engineering at the University of Colorado in Denver and that in 1995 his apartment was ransacked and his Saudi passport was stolen among other things. He reported this theft to the police precinct of downtown Denver, CO on December 31, 1995. The Saudi Government in Riyadh issued for him another passport, NO. 1784958. He then returned to the U.S. on January 11, 1996 with his new passport, to continue his studies. In April, 2000 he graduated and received a B.S in Electrical Engineering and returned to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he is NOW working with Saudi Communications Corporation.

Please log on http://www.asharqalawsat.com for further details.

The name and picture of the second suspected “hijacker”, Saeed Alghamdi, listed in the New York Times, also appeared in the Saudi Arabian English language daily: ARAB NEWS (e-mail: arabnews@arabnews.com), in which he said that he studied in Florida from 1998 to 1999 and then returned home and worked for Saudi Arabian Airlines. In August 2000, he returned to the U.S. for further training and NOW he is a pilot with Tunis Air, in Tunisia. Mr. Alghamdi suspects that his picture could have been taken from his file in the aviation school in Florida!

Last week the father of Mohamed Atta, whose name and picture also appeared in your paper was interviewed on the Egyptian Satellite Arabic Channel and said that his son, Mohamed Atta, was well and alive working now in the Untied Arab Emirates!

If three of the 19 suspected “hijackers” are still alive, who were the other 16? The important questions are: Who is impersonating these three Muslim Arabs? Why are Muslim Arabs been implicated in this terrorism? And, who could “benefit” from this horrific tragedy? Definitely mainstream Muslims by the consensus of Islamic religious scholars since the dawn of Al-Islaam could NOT be the culprits, because the Islamic teachings state: “Do not kill the life that God made sacred.” Suicide and killing innocent people are sinful acts punishable on the Day of Judgment, nay even before that, in the grave.”

Anxiously awaiting your reply.
Sincerely.

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