W's Arab Bodyguard Hires Att'y

New York Daily News ^ | 1/03/02 | KENNETH R. BAZINET

[kattracks]

WASHINGTON

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."

[Principled]

Protection of passenger's lives trumps hurt feelings and political correctness every time.

Sir, this bears repeating.

Protection of passenger's lives trumps hurt feelings and political correctness every time.

[Senator Pardek]

I wish President Bush would make a point by saying "I've told my SS security detail to never profile individuals in a crowd when I'm out and about based on gender or appearance - under any circumstance."

I'll bet he has no problem with those SS agents around him doing exactly that.

[jwalsh07]

If the Captain isn't the final arbiter of who board's his vessel, who is?

Is it true that this fellow did not fill out the form correctly given three tries?

[Hildy]

My stewardess friend told me last week that pilots may still fly up front with the active pilots.

[Principled]

This was the comment I addressed. You managed to make a statement conveying ethnic guilt, and assuming that every Arab is a criminal.

No, that was in reply to your David Duke post. I didn't assume anything, you did.

[spycatcher]

Yep, SS agents profile every day. This guy was kicked off for his *suspicious arrogant reaction* to being legitimately questioned about paperwork. A professional agent wouldn't screw up basic paperwork or get over-excited -- he was a legit terror risk. Seems he's also a major scam artist, even has Bush hoodwinked.

[Senator Pardek]

Yep, SS agents profile every day.

Lol... I wonder if this particular agent will tell the President "Sir, I cannot, in good conscience, ever 'profile' again while guarding you in public - especially concerning males who look Middle Eastern".

I'm sure the President would have no problem with that.

[Harrison Bergeron]

"If a pilot goes to a David Duke rally, and decides on his next day on the job to exclude all blacks from the plane, has he acted lawfully and in such a fashion that the airline won't get penalized?"

Based on goofy hypotheticals like that, I think you're the only one around here taking you seriously.

[The Westerner]

Once the SS Agent goes to CAIR, a cover for a terrorist organization aimed at America's destruction, that Agent loses ALL credibility.

I remember hearing about an alarming security leak on 911. Somehow the details of the President's secret codes were known(?) Anyone remember this? I've wondered how it happened.

[Let's Roll]

"This guy tried to have it his way and sounds like he is still trying to massage an ego."

Tried to have it his way like the Arab world in general. This guy could even be a sleeper. I know background checks etc. but we all know how incompetent federal bureaucracies are proving to be. If he's a loyal SS agent, he should want scrutiny - not rush out to hire a lawyer. This doesn't smell right.

[Poohbah]

There are days when all one can do, in order to maintain one's self-respect as a human being, is stand on one's hind feet, give the world the finger, and hang the consequences. I take the attitude that such behavior, while messy and painful, is often necessary to avoid the world becoming a Weberian/Kafkaesque nightmare.

Of course, some folks on FR will cheerfully applaud said behavior--but only if it is done by someone of the "right" skin color. If someone of the "wrong" skin color does it, these same folks will screech to high heaven.

[Don Joe]

"a career Secret Service agent on assignment, trained to take a bullet, who happens to be ethnically Arab?"

Dig yourself, man. You're starting to sound like J. Jackson, in his "A Black Person Can Do No Wrong/Any Accusation Leveled Against A Black Is By Definition Racist" mode.

BTW, you forgot to include "...and has aligned himself with CAIR, an organization linked in the press with terrorist outfits."

This guy is not Poster Boy for "I've Been Wronged!"

[Principled]

I'm seeing if racist behavior is OK as it relates to excluding blacks, and if not, why its OK as to Americans of Arab descent. So far, no one wants to answer.

So far, you have chosen to ignore all the answers.

First, racism is the belief in the natural superiority of one race over another. Racism is not an issue in this context...not germane.

Now, nobody except you has claimed that the SS agent was removed simply because of his race. You're the only one (besides his lawyers).

Everyone else believes he was removed because he was carrying a gun, did not have the proper (legible and complete) paperwork, was unable to properly fill the paperwork in two more tries, and was "not calm". He left the plane and left a carryone on board and "demanded" to be let back on the plane. Good grief! Mother Teresa would have been escorted off the plane for such behavior.

Nobody but you thinks he was removed solely based on his race.