The Danger Of The PC Mindset

This gave me a chuckle:

A group of about 100 Muslims gathered at Tempe Beach Park on Friday, in front of US Airways headquarters, to appeal for equal treatment and justice.

Led by Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, the group prayed and listened to speeches of support from Jewish and Christian representatives as well as two talks by Bray himself.

They were there to protest the removal last week of six imams, or Islamic spiritual leaders, five of whom live in the Valley, from a US Airways flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix. The incident has drawn national attention and could result in a lawsuit against the airline.

“Deliberate injustice is more fatal to the one who imposes it than on the one on whom it is imposed,” Bray said. “We want to tell US Airways that second-class citizenship is not an option.”

Especially in light of the fact that the official police report lists even more evidence that these yahoo’s were acting in such a way that they knew they would get thrown off, on purpose.

Either that or they did in fact intend on taking over that flight: (via Pajama Media)

Yesterday I spoke with a passenger on that flight, who asked that she be only identified as “Pauline.” A copy of airport police report, which I also obtained, supports Pauline’s account – and includes shocking revelations of its own. In addition, U.S. Airways spokeswoman Andrea Rader also confirmed much of what Pauline revealed…..

[…]Pauline revealed to Pajamas Media that the six imams were doing things far more suspicious than praying – an Arabic-speaking passenger heard them repeatedly invoke “bin Laden,” and “terrorism,” a gate attendant told the captain that she did not want to fly with them, and that bomb-sniffing dogs were brought aboard. Other Muslim passengers were left undisturbed and later joined in a round of applause for the U.S. Airways crew. “It wasn’t that they were Muslim. It was all of the suspicious things they did,” Pauline said.

[…]Contrary to press accounts that a single note from a passenger triggered the imams’ removal, Captain John Howard Wood was weighing multiple factors – factors that have largely been ignored by the press.

Another passenger, not the note writer, was an Arabic speaker sitting near two of the imams in the plane’s tail. That passenger pulled a flight attendant aside, and in a whisper, translated what the men were saying. They were invoking “bin Laden” and condemning America for “killing Saddam,” according to police reports.

Meanwhile an imam seated in first class asked for a seat-belt extension, even though according to both an on-duty flight attendant and another deadheading flight attendant, he looked too thin to need one. Hours later, when the passengers were being evacuated, the seat-belt extension was found on the floor near the imam’s seat, police reports confirm. The U.S. Airways spokeswoman Andrea Rader said she did not dispute the report, but said the airline’s internal investigation cannot yet account for the seat-belt extension request or its subsequent use.

A seat-belt extension can easily be used as a weapon, by wrapping the open-end of the belt around your fist and swinging the heavy metal buckle.

Still, it seemed like just another annoying development, typical when flying the friendly skies. Days after the incident, the imam would claim that the steward helped him attach the device. Pauline said he is lying. Hours later, when the police was being evacuated, the steward asked Pauline to hand him the seat-belt extension, which the imam did not attach, but placed on the floor. “I know he is lying,” Pauline said, “I had it [seat belt extension] in my hand.”

[…]Finally, a gate attendant told the captain she thought the imams were acting suspiciously, according to police reports.

So the captain apparently made his decision to delay the flight based on many complaints, not one. And he consulted a federal air marshal, a U.S. Airways ground security coordinator and the airline’s security office in Phoenix. All thought the imams were acting suspiciously, Rader told me.

Other factors were also considered: All six imams had boarded together, with the first-class passengers – even though only one of them had a first-class ticket. Three had one-way tickets. Between the six men, only one had checked a bag.

And, Pauline said, they spread out just like the 9-11 hijackers. Two sat in first, two in the middle, and two back in the economy section. Pauline’s account is confirmed by the police report. The airline spokeswoman added that some seemed to be sitting in seats not assigned to them.

One thing that no one seemed to consider at the time, perhaps due to lack of familiarity with Islamic practice, is that the men prayed both at the gate and on the plane. Observant Muslims pray only once at sundown, not twice.

“It was almost as if they were intentionally trying to get kicked off the flight,” Pauline said.

It’s obvious that they want the same kind of situation as they have in Europe nowadays. Where everyone is so politically correct that every muslim, from the radical to the moderate (do those even really exist), can walk all over the general public. I’m sure a secondary reason may be that if the Imams are successful in making the public so afraid to call attention to Radical Muslims that it may indeed be easier for their cohorts to take over a flight in the future.

It’s well known that when criminals do a “shake-down” run of a target they want to push the envelope and see just how much outrageous behavior you can get away with.

This time they found out, thanks to some courageous passengers and a courageous airline. A big round of applause to US Airways for not having any of it:

A US Airways spokeswoman said the pilot “absolutely made the right call” in having the men removed from the flight last week after at least two people, including an off-duty flight attendant, complained about their behavior.

As the years go by since 9/11 it’s comfortable to believe that there is no longer a threat to us. That we are all safe. But remember, one of the employee’s at United on 9/11 felt uncomfortable about the hijackers but didn’t say anything.

“I said to myself, ‘If this guy doesn’t look like an Arab terrorist, then nothing does.’ Then I gave myself a mental slap, because in this day and age, it’s not nice to say things like this,” he said. “You’ve checked in hundreds of Arabs and Hindus and Sikhs, and you’ve never done that. I felt kind of embarrassed.”

The PC mindset in action reared its ugly head that day and we all must not let that mindset invade our consciousness again.

Other’s Blogging:

Wizbang
California Conservative
Little Green Footballs

Curt

See author page