This army is well organized, well oiled, and fully cognizant of the American psyche.
LATEST CAIR ALERT:
CAIR TO REACT TO 'FLYING WHILE MUSLIM' INCIDENT IN MINNESOTA
Six Imams removed from US Airways flight apparently because of prayers
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/21/06) - On Tuesday, November 21, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) will hold a news conference at its Washington, D.C., headquarters in reaction to what the civil rights group calls a "flying while Muslim" incident in Minnesota.
WHAT: CAIR Reacts to Removal of Imams from US Airways Flight in Minnesota
WHEN: Tuesday, November 21, 3 p.m. (Eastern)
WHERE: CAIR's Capitol Hill Headquarters, 453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C.
CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com
SEE: 6 Imams Removed From Twin Cities Flight (AP)
SEE ALSO: US Airways Statement Regarding Flight 300
CAIR recently dealt with another case involving US Airways and its refusal to transport a Muslim passenger following a similar incident in West Virginia.
SEE: Detained Muslim Accuses Airport of Bias
UPDATE: Charles has a lot more on the humiliated imams affiliations here
The incident we reported last night, in which 6 Muslim men were removed from a plane at Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, seems to have been a false alarmand the Council on American Islamic Relations is right there, seething and complaining of prejudice: 6 Muslim Imams Removed From Plane, Group Was Saying Evening Prayers Prior To Boarding Plane In Minneapolis.
Lileks has an interesting note:
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The State Department is finally taking action in the case of official Alberto Fernandez, who called the United States arrogant and stupid in an interview with Al Jazeera TV, and also said the US was trying intentionally to encourage hell in the Arab world.
Theyre giving Fernandez an award. (Hat tip: Starfox5253.)
Remember Alberto Fernandez? The State Department press officer was forced to apologize last month after telling Al Jazeera that the U.S. had shown arrogance and stupidity in Iraq.
Well after a month of silence, the State Department is finally speaking out on Fernandez not to condemn him, but to praise his integrity, courage, [and] sensitivity.
Fernandez was selected from three department nominees for the Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Public Diplomacy by Tufts University... for his work with pan-Arab media ... to increase the number of appearances by U.S. officials.
He receives a certificate signed by Secretary Condoleezza Rice and $10,000 in cash.
UPDATE at 11/21/06 10:01:16 am:
Outrages abound: Janet Reno Files Challenge To Terror Law.
The incident we reported last night, in which 6 Muslim men were removed from a plane at Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, seems to have been a false alarmand the Council on American Islamic Relations is right there, seething and complaining of prejudice: 6 Muslim Imams Removed From Plane, Group Was Saying Evening Prayers Prior To Boarding Plane In Minneapolis.
(AP) The Council on American-Islamic Relations called Tuesday for an investigation into the behavior of airline staff and airport security in the removal of six Muslim scholars from a US Airways flight a day earlier.
A passenger raised concerns about the imams three of whom said their normal evening prayers in the airport terminal before boarding the Phoenix-bound plane, according to one through a note passed to a flight attendant, according to Andrea Rader, a spokeswoman for US Airways.
We are concerned that crew members, passengers and security personnel may have succumbed to fear and prejudice based on stereotyping of Muslims and Islam, Nihad Awad, the councils executive director, said in a news release.
The six were returning from a conference in Minneapolis of the North American Imams Federation, said Omar Shahin of Phoenix, president of the group. They took us off the plane, humiliated us in a very disrespectful way, Shahin said after the incident.
Shahin said Tuesday that three members of the group prayed in the terminal before the six boarded the plane. They entered individually, except for one member who is blind and needed to be guided, Shahin said. Once on the plane, the six did not sit together, he said. ...
Police were called after the captain and airport security workers asked the men to leave the plane and the men refused, Rader said. Shahin said no one asked the six to leave until police arrived, when the group complied.
Unfortunately, this is a growing problem of singling out Muslims or people perceived to be Muslims at airports, and its one that weve been addressing for some time, council spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said.
Hooper said the meeting drew about 150 imams from all over the country, and that those attending included Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, D-Minn., who just became the first Muslim elected to Congress. Shahin said they went as far as notifying police and the FBI about their meeting in advance.
Shahin expressed frustration that despite extensive efforts by him and other Muslim leaders since even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks so many Americans know so little about Islam. If up to now they dont know about prayers, this is a real problem, he said.
Why in the world would Americans be suspicious of Muslims loudly, publicly praying on airplanes? Go figure.
Lileks has an interesting note:
According to the TV, the men said they were in town for a religious conference. Interesting. I was talking today with a guy I know; hed been at a suburban hotel for an annual company sales meeting. The regional manager was having a difficult time speaking, since the party in the next conference room was praying about as loudly as is humanly possible, and had followed the prayers with a speaker who expressed in rather . . . forceful terms the depth of Muslim oppression in America. Unless there are several Muslim religious conferences going on in Minneapolis at the moment, Id guess that might be the one. If so, I wonder if the reported truculence of the men might have been influenced, or at least reinforced, by the speaker. Whoever he was.
Ellison?
UPDATE at 11/21/06 8:49:01 am:
Omar Shahin, spokesman for the humiliated imams, is affiliated with Kind Hearts for Charitable Human Development......a Hamas-linked organization whose assets were frozen by the Treasury Department earlier this year. (Hat tip: Aaron.)More about KindHearts and their terrorist connections, at Internet Haganah.Omar Shahin is also on record expressing doubt that Muslims were behind the 9/11 attacks, and admitting ties to Osama bin Laden. link: 184 comments