"Mr. S. sees all, knows all. That'll be $49.95, please.
What is your credit card number?"
Posted on 01/04/2002 9:34:45 PM PST by ImphClinton
Edited on 04/29/2004 1:59:53 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
And could you inform us mere mortals of what this procedure is?
These politicians, including the President are going to have to get over themselves and their PC crap. How dare they ask Americans to "Get on those airplanes, live your lives, fly", and then tell the airlines that they cannot racial profile for safety when they do it themselves every day.
Yeah, and in Paris, the first day the bomber was stopped from boarding the plane, and on the second day he was allowed to board. This pilot was not about to make the same mistake.
Sure he understood the need for increased security. What he didnt understand is why the pilot would not do the one and only thing that could confirm who he was or prove that he had a potential terrorist on site. Crossing every T on the American Airlines form would prove nothing other than he was meticulous.
Why is he making an issue of it other than it being personally insulting? Well it made him almost a day late for his assignment to guard the President. He want able to get another flight to Crawford area until the next day. Second, the Airline banned him from flying American for life and its pretty hard to be a secret service agent if you cant get to your assignments in a timely fashion. Third, the Airline filed a complaint aginst him with the Secret SErvice.
In his seven years as a federal law enformcent officer he has had an exemplary record. He just received several commendations recently for his work when assigned to the FBI's Counter-Terrorism Unit for three months following 9/11.
And now that I think about it, since AA seems to be the airline of choice for sociopathic people with mass murder on their minds, I don't blame for being freaking paranoid.
Nonetheless, he said, "the stain of racial discrimination has found its way into the shadow of the White House."
Relman and attorney David J. Shaffer said the plaintiffs were referred to them by six black uniformed Secret Service officers who successfully sued Denny's restaurants alleging discrimination against black customers.
The Secret Service has about 2,500 agents, including about 200 who are black. Although several top Secret Service officials are black, the complaint alleges that many qualified black agents are blocked from promotions.
Because he was who he said he was smart ass. And only American Airlines says he didnt fill out their form properly. In thier statement they talked about failng to sign it or list a phone number. He had given the idiot pilot the phone number numerous times and the pilot refused to call it. Now he's quibling that the number was left off the form. Sounds like the pilot was looking for a reason not to board this guy.
I think you stated it incorrectly -- most on this thread are concerned that:
a) He immediately filed a complaint with CAIR, an organization that, among other things, praised Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, aka H. Rap Brown, for his "moral character." (Brown/A-Amin is awaiting trial for the cold-blooded murder of an African-American police officer, and the wounding of another -- the latest in a long string of crimes.)
b) The agent then proceeded to hire a law firm who took his case to the public.
c) This agent, who at the very least has demonstrated questionable judgement and lack of self-control, and at the worst, a hidden agenda, is responsible for the safety of the POTUS.
Something smells to high heaven here.
Lets see this improper documentation. If they have it, they ought to put it on the website for all to see.
You say they probabbly do it routinely? Maybe they dont? Is the document the same for all airlines? Has this agent ever flown American with his weapon before? Was the pilot being picky (i.e, no signature as reason for rejecting the improperly filled out form - pilot sounds worse than an IRS agent).
IMO, considering what AA has been through since 9-11, they were well within their rights to deplane ANY and ALL that made them or their passengers nervous.
B.A., Harvard. J.D., University of Michigan. Professor Relman is the founder and director of Relman & Associates. Since 1986, Professor Relman has represented scores of plaintiffs and public interest organizations in individual and class action discrimination cases in federal court. From 1989 to 1999, Mr. Relman served as project director of the Fair Housing Project at the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. Under his leadership, the project achieved national recognition, winning some of the largest housing, lending and public accommodations discrimination jury verdicts and settlements obtained in the country. From 1986 to 1989, Professor Relman worked as a staff attorney at the National Office of the Lawyers' Committee. Prior to joining the Committee, he clerked for the Honorable Sam J. Ervin III (Former senator (D-N.C.), of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the Honorable Joyce Hens Green of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Professor Relman has written and lectured extensively in the areas of fair housing and fair lending law and practice and has provided numerous training classes and seminars for plaintiffs' lawyers, fair housing organizations, the real estate industry and lending institutions. He is the author of Housing Discrimination Practice Manual, published by the West Group. Professor Relman teaches housing and employment discrimination law at American University's Washington College of Law, where he serves as an adjunct professor.
I could care less about the profiling. Once the agent had been singled out he should have been properly investigated to determine whether he was who he said he was or whether he was an armed terrorist about to board a flight. If he was an agent then he should have allowed to board, perhaps surrending his weapon. If he was an armed terrorist, then he should have been apprehended before he could harm any passengers or crew.
BTW, profiling doesnt mean looking to see who looks like an arab and then automatically throwing them off the flight. Profiling is using known characteritics of terrorists or criminals to better screen large numbers of people when looking for the bad buys. You dont spend your time investigating 80 year old white women in wheelchairs when you have six 22 year old arab men in the same line.
You are DEAD wrong.
New York Times | Thursday, December 27, 2001
Posted on 12/27/01 4:22 AM Eastern by JohnHuang2
December 27, 2001
Guard for Bush Isn't Allowed Aboard Flight
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
ASHINGTON, Dec. 26 — An Arab-American member of President Bush's security detail was denied passage on an American Airlines flight from Baltimore to Dallas Tuesday evening after the flight's pilot questioned the validity of the agent's credentials, a spokesman for the Secret Service said tonight.
The agent, who was armed, was originally scheduled to accompany the president aboard Air Force One to Crawford, Tex. He was was on a commercial flight because of a change in Mr. Bush's schedule.
After a mechanical problem prompted the agent's original flight, American Flight 1191, to be canceled, the agent boarded American Flight 363 shortly before 5 p.m., scheduled to depart Baltimore Washington International Airport at 5:15 p.m.
Once seated, he was confronted by airline security personnel, the Secret Service said, and was asked to exit the plane and submit to additional security checks.
After a delay of an hour and 15 minutes, during which the agent was questioned by the flight's pilot, airline officials and airport police, the agent was ordered removed from the flight even though he had offered to have the Secret Service confirm his identity.
Brian Marr, the Secret Service spokesman, confirmed the account of the incident this evening but declined further comment. Phone calls to the airline tonight went unanswered.
A complaint filed today to the Council on Arab-Islamic Relations, an advocacy group in Washington that tracks cases of racial profiling, called the incident evidence that profiling of Arab- and Muslim-Americans at the nation's airports had increased since Sept. 11.
"They didn't see an American, they didn't see a law enforcement professional," said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the group. "All they saw was a racial and ethnic profile that they didn't want on their flight."
See there, by December 27th, the agent had already called CAIR.
Now, do you care to change any of your statements regarding the "honor" of this agent?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.