Posted on 08/03/2002 5:22:09 AM PDT by Lee308
4 Sue American Airlines Over Search Fri Aug 2,12:32 PM ET
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Four New Jersey men are suing American Airlines, claiming they were wrongly removed from an airplane in March and strip-searched because of their Arabic names.
The men, who filed a lawsuit on Friday, say they were headed home from a Florida vacation when airline officials asked them to get off the plane prior to takeoff.
Three employees then searched them in full view of other passengers for 30 minutes, the lawsuit alleges, forcing them to lift up their shirts and lower their pants. The men said the captain eventually apologized and allowed them to get back on the plane.
The men — Eyhab Matari, 25, of Prospect Park, Ehab Abdelaziz, 22, of Paterson, Osama Zeidan, 20, of Clifton, and Waesam Hamdan, 22, of Paterson — are all U.S. citizens of Palestinian descent. They seek unspecified damages in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Newark. "I don't feel American now," Hamdan, who was born in the United States, said Thursday during a news conference at a Teaneck mosque. "I feel second class." A spokesman for the Fort Worth, Texas-based airline declined to comment on the suit, saying the company would not discuss pending litigation.
A slew of lawsuits have been filed against in recent months accusing various airlines of illegally removing passengers who looked Middle Eastern. The American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites), which has filed a handful of lawsuits on behalf of passengers, has blamed poor airline policies drawn up to respond to the threat of terrorism since Sept. 11.
You hit the nail on the head.
Netanyahu expressed sentiments that I thoroughly agree with--something to the effect of: "El Al has successfully thwarted hijackings because they search for TERRORISTS, not for WEAPONS."
Here in the US, we are so blindly politically correct that we cannot allow terrorist profiling. Instead, airlines search middle-aged WASP's like me and my husband and confiscate our toenail scissors, while allowing others who might fit the profile of a would-be terrorist sail through.
That makes absolutely no sense to me. It's fruitless, futile and humiliating as well as being absolutely bone-headed. The current procedures will not solve our problems in the long run. They just create a lot of ill will towards the airlines and suspicion towards government.
The whole airport screening process is a joke and national disgrace.
Unfortunately, this happened here in Jersey and you can't just assume the judge is going to do the right thing and throw it out.
I appreciate your thoughtful comments, but I disagree. I don't think any of the intrusive search procedures adopted since 9/11 provide any more security than we had before. I don't think that they were even instituted to provide more security. I think their purpose was to provide the "illusion" of more security to get people to resume their normal travel plans and get on with their lives.
Last time we flied, I was randomly tagged to have all my luggage searched. No one would tell me why. Here I am, a little old lady piano teacher whose ancestors have been Americans for centuries--why in the world should they waste time searching my stuff? When was the last time a little old lady piano teacher American for centuries committed a terrorist act on an airplane or anywhere for that matter?
Why should normal innocent Americans be subject to inconvenience and public humiliation just to be politically correct? I do not happily submit to it--it's outrageous.
On the other hand, moves like reinforcing cockpit doors and having air marshalls seem like worthwhile moves and don't inconvenience anyone.
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