Posted on 01/03/2002 1:10:30 AM PST by kattracks
An Arab-American Secret Service agent assigned to protect President Bush has hired an attorney after being kicked off a commercial flight on Christmas Day, officials said yesterday.
The agent, whose name is being withheld for security reasons, was questioned about his identity before being barred from the American Airlines flight.
Civil rights attorney Christy Lopez of the Washington law firm Relman & Associates has taken the case, said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The council has filed a civil rights complaint alleging the pilot ordered the armed agent off the plane only because he was an Arab-American.
Bush said last week that he would be "madder than heck" if his bodyguard was booted from the flight because of his ethnicity.
The American-Islamic group announced yesterday that a passenger who was sitting next to the agent on American Airlines Flight 363 has come forward alleging the agent was "kicked off the plane because of his race."
Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin declined to comment.
American Airlines claims the pilot ordered the agent off the flight to Dallas-Fort Worth because his paperwork contained "inconsistencies."
If you believe the pilot, he was completely justified in booting this man off the plane.
I believe the pilot.
I wasn't necessarily talking about filling in the appropriate blanks. I was mainly referring to his actual compliance with the Secret Service policy, American Airlines policy, and the FAA regulations Sections 108.11 and 108.21 of 14 CFR 108, Airplane Operator Security.
As you questioned, did his duties actually require him to carry? The FAA has explicit rules about this, and the Secret Service must also file its own explicit policy with American Airlines. Did the agent's written rationale (presumably requested in the forms he was asked to complete) actually comply with all of those policies?
Ask Indira Ghandi about the benefits and safety of using bodyguards from an ethnic group that is your declared enemy.
Oops. You can't. She's dead.
Otherwise, if money is not what this is about the agent making these claims would have been better served by handling this privately and letting the bigger more horrible outcome for AA be to face President Bush and his anger over what happened.
THIS IS BS!!!!
I don't care what religion, color, weight, smoker, abortion position, etc. He behaved like a jerk. The pilot rules that plane and his word is law. He should be apologizing for any embarrasement his action caused the President and the Secret Service in a letter of resignation, not looking for a fast buck. Remember the S.S. letting the "reporter" walk up to the President at Boca? Doesn't look like they have improved much since them. They need to get their act together "big time". The biggest insult is to the true professionals that are ready to take a bullet. This guy isn't even ready to take an inconvenience.
Of course, they'd have to START first.
Why not? I mean, Indian Prime Minister Indira Ghandi kept her Sikh personal guard during all of the uprisings at Amritsar for political reasons. She didn't want to make it appear that she was singling out loyal Sikhs for political retribution or that she questioned the loyalty of her long-time ceremonial guard. That all worked out well, didn't it?
(Historical note: Indira Ghandi was killed by her ceremonial Sikh guard during a period of turmoil over uprisings in the Sikh temple as Amritsar)
You'd think it would be a no-brainer, sheesh!
I would hesitate flying with you. If you rely on dotted 'i's in bad ineffective law as a cure all, you would be the primary problem.
Am I the only one who is reminded by this of Indira Ghandi her Sikh bodyguards? Something smells wrong here. I hope the Secret Service agents that work around this guy are keeping their eye on him, and I hope GW's indignation is for public consumption only.
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