Posted on 08/30/2007 8:28:09 AM PDT by Froufrou
A woman who complained that some fellow passengers spoke Arabic and "had odd behavior" prevented a Chicago-bound American Airlines flight from departing San Diego, police said Wednesday.
Flight 590, scheduled to depart at 11 p.m. Tuesday, left its gate about 11:15 but returned to the boarding area after the woman, who was traveling with at least one child, indicated she wanted to get off the airplane. The flight then was unable to make Lindbergh Field's 11:30 p.m. curfew for departures, said Irene McCormack, a spokeswoman for the San Diego Harbor Police.
The flight, carrying 126 passengers, was rescheduled for midmorning Wednesday and arrived in Chicago in the afternoon, an American Airlines spokesman said.
McCormack said it is unusual for planes to return to the gate. She said it's usually for medical and mechanical problems or a disturbance.
The woman first complained to the flight crew that four to seven men were possibly speaking Arabic in the boarding area. The woman added that they "had odd behavior." The crew decided to return to the boarding area because the woman indicated she wanted off the plane.
The American Airlines spokesman indicated the plane returned to its gates because of a dispute between passengers. The spokesman didn't provide details on the dispute.
A Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman said it returned because of "suspicious activity on board the plane."
Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Chicago, was upset about the airline's actions. He said television reporters told him that six Iraqi Americans were detained after a passenger became uncomfortable with the men speaking Arabic.
"It is one thing to flag suspicious behavior, but to flag a global language? We are deplaning people for who they are, not what they do," Rehab said.
The Associated Press reported Defense Training Systems had hired the men to train U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton in California.
McCormack said no one was detained in the incident.
Hasn’t anyone seen this on “Mail Call”?
“Bang, bang, you’re dead!”
“Arrrgh, infidel dog!”
It looked like fun work to me.
If ol’ “Rehab” wants this to stop,
let’s see some of these Arab speaking people actually DO something about Islamic terroism.
I don't know who they are, but they're hiring Arabic-speaking trainers to train U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton in California. They probably chose Arabic speakers because they speak Arabic.
When someone speaks a foreign language that hardly anyone knows in front of everybody else, it’s not unreasonable to conclude that they don’t want you to know what they’re talking about. My grandparents, and many of that generation, felt very strongly that if you were in the presence of someone who didn’t speak your language, that you spoke English, difficult as it might be. The thinking was that was very rude to speak a language someone didn’t know in front of them. That way the person would know that you weren’t talking about them behind their back.
It’s irrelevant whether you grew up hearing arabic or not. That’s not the point. It’s not the language but the fact that no one else can understand what’s being said. Speaking something no one else understands can be interpreted as suspicious. What could they possibly be saying that they don’t want me to know?
If they were Iraqi Americans, there’s no reason not to have spoken English.
If they didn’t care if people knew what they were talking about, they could have spoken English.
This is America. They should be speaking English in public.
Do you follow the news?
We have become a bunch of bedwetters who see the boogeyman everywhere. What happened to the “Land of the Brave”.
Good thing shwe wasn’t going to europe or asia...she might have heard lots of foreign languages and different behavior!!!
What about the US planes that fly to foreign countries?
They are a Native-American owned company based out of Anchorage, Alaska. They provide many invaluable training services to US Soldiers preparing for deployment.
From their website
"Foreign Language Specialists (FLS) /Civilians on the Battlefield (COBs): DTS has extensive experience providing role players to support live combat and peacekeeping simulations. Our database of Arabic role players has over two thousand qualified individuals with carefully researched backgrounds. Unlike other firms that provide COBs using any available actor, DTS utilizes only authentic personnel from the intended theatre of operation."
This is just one of the services they offer that use Iraqis in role-playing training.
I don't fly on those planes.
So much for freedom- Welcome to the new Paranoid States Of America.
I think they (terrorist) know that trying to hijack a plane is not the easiest way to get things done anymore. It took us a few hours to figure it out but when they upped the ante on 9/11 so did the passengers of flight 93. Those are the new rules we live by, and the terrorist know it!
This lady is full of fear and no good will come of that. I for one don’t applaud her actions because I would rather board a plane fearless knowing that If anything does happen I am sitting on a plane with one hundred other passengers ready to strike back.
The next attack will be a surprise and we will not see it coming either because we missed the signs or our imagination did not extend as far as the terrorists did. (Tragic but true) Over time our guard will drop and we will stop thinking of new ways to protect ourselves.
That is if we continue to fixate about terrorist with planes.
It’s also not unreasonable to assume they cannot speak english...isn’t it?
When I and my business associates fly on foreign aircraft, in foreign countries, should we just not communicate with each other because we can’t speak the language?
Maybe some people do not get out much.
So, because you don’t fly overseas, no one else should?
apparently...and they don’t want anyone else to either.
global language is utter nonsense.
It is just proof CAIR has an agenda of conquest and they are now pushing the MEME of their minor language as somehow relevant.
I predict the next big attack will come from blue-eyed Bosnians.
Another story noted that the Iraqi’s were coming home from training US Marines before deployment. They sound like stand up guys who made the mistake of speaking arabic on a plane. Apparently there was some sort of argument with another passenger as well.
If I had been on this plane I would have been so pissed at this woman.
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