Muslims praying in airports is now considered 'suspicious behavior'?

I was listening to Porky Pig (Hannity) on the radio the other day, he was talking to some "eyewitness" who was talking about the imams who got tossed off the plane. One of the things that drew suspicion was the fact that these men were praying in the airport. Hammity even made the claim that some Muslim cleric said that Muslims should pray before going to the airport, and shouldn't draw attention to themselves by praying at the airport.

WTF? So it's perfectly okay for Christians to gather in groups and pray in airports. But god forbid that Muslims should be allowed to pray freely? What kind of fucking racist bullshit is this?

On a side note - another "suspicious" action was that these guys allegedly changed seats. Big fucking deal. I've been on many flights where I've changed seats. Sometimes I like to sit near the window, sometimes I prefer to sit in the middle. If there are empty seats, I've never had any problem changing seats, nor have I ever been challenged.

I hope these guys sue the shit out of the airline company. The message needs to be sent loud and clear, that 9-11 will no longer be tolerated as an excuse to harass and discriminate against Muslims or people of color.

I heard two of the Imams on Democracy Now. There were 6 Imams in all, waiting for their flight. 3 of them decided to go off in the corner for sundown prayers. Their flight gets called, they board. One is in 1st class as he is a Premier customer. they don't take off. cops come onto the plane, cuff them and frog march them back into the terminal for interrogation.

The guy trying to 'change seats' was the guy who had the first class ticket. He was offering to change seats with an elderly, blind, Imam in the group, thinking the old guy would be more comfortable in the first class seat. the old guy declined the offer.

seat belt extensions, some felt that the men who asked for those weren't over weight enough to warrant them :wtf: What has not been mentioned is that these men are a decade or two older then the 9/11 hijackers. Not too many men over 45 or 50 are going to be suicide bomber, OBL himself is I believe 50 but he personally is not flying planes in to buildings.
Our local paper quoted the person(s) who alerted the flight attendants, interestingly none of them were from the Twin Cities, they all had been here on business and were surprise, surprise from bible belt Red States. I think some sort of vigilante group think over took them, maybe spending a few days in the only place in the US to send a Muslim to Washington was more then they could stand.

concerned about the content of the prayers, rather than the fact they were praying. The claim is that the prayers were free form and called for the downfall of Bush, etc. I'm sure many here are also praying for the downfall of Bush, but if this story is true, it does add some context to the event.

I don't think anyone has the entire story.

Sounds more like some RWer just took it upon themself
to "embellish" the story abit.

Does this alleged Arabic-speaker have a name? Have they
sworn out a statement with the police? Or are they just
a phantom rumor, drifting about the tubes?

I was just wondering if anyone else had heard anything similar.

Please find out where he got that information.

Or you could do the research yourself.

This eyewitness claimed that one of the passengers spoke Arabic, and that this person said the passengers were making "anti-American" comments. First of all, we're relying solely on her interpretation. Secondly, what's considered 'anti-American'? Nowadays, practically anything that's written on this board is considered 'anti-American'.

Again, seems like a very subjective situation. Passengers got spooked because they saw a bunch of Muslim men praying and acting 'oddly'.

They were conscious of not upsetting other passengers, so they agreed that only three of them would go at sunset, and they went out of their way to find a quiet area in the terminal to pray. And US Airways says the prayer was never the issue. See Democracy Now! for Amy Goodman's interview with two of the imams and US Airways' statement.

The embarrassing wrong done to them is just another example of what happens when a government actively inflames fear and division.

Or does praying in Arabic preclude that, just like any Jew that prayers in Hebrew is Israeli-not. The fact that they were praying in public is considered "acting oddly" by many.
There have been a number of claims and unfounded conflating by wingnuts.There was a rental car with what some agency employee thought were bomb making materials in the trunk, found at the same airport last weekend, the guys at Powerline lost no time in jumping on that as "proof" even though there was no connection between the car and the men and the suspicious materials turned out not to be bomb materials at all.

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20061128-122902-7522r_page2.htm

The imams said they were not discussing politics and only spoke in English, but witnesses told law enforcement that the men spoke in Arabic and English, criticizing the war in Iraq and President Bush, and talking about al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.
The imams who claimed two first-class seats said their tickets were upgraded. The gate agent told police that when the imams asked to be upgraded, they were told no such seats were available. Nevertheless, the two men were seated in first class when removed.

earlier it says:

Passengers and flight attendants told law-enforcement officials the imams switched from their assigned seats to a pattern associated with the September 11 terrorist attacks and also found in probes of U.S. security since the attacks -- two in the front row first-class, two in the middle of the plane on the exit aisle and two in the rear of the cabin.
"That would alarm me," said a federal air marshal who asked to remain anonymous. "They now control all of the entry and exit routes to the plane."
A pilot from another airline said: "That behavior has been identified as a terrorist probe in the airline industry."

if this is true, it was proper to remove the men from the flight and investigate the behavior further

in any case, as first class seat thieves, at least the two who seated themselves in first when the seats did not belong to them certainly should have been removed, jeebus, theft is theft, i don't care what religion you belong to

She also said it was suspicious for a group of people to be talking together in their native tongue.

:eyes:

The last time I was in the salon the owner, an Iranian immigrant, was carrying on in Farsi with her customer. I understood a few words like "Irani" "Syria" and "Bush" so they must be terrorists.

:eyes:

you need to stay in your assigned seat and you can switch after the seatbelt sign goes off and it is clear what seats are open

i do not tolerate people taking my assigned seat and i have gone to the FA about it, it's too easy to get pushed around by the bigger people otherwise, i am a frequent flyer, i have earned the better seat thru my loyalty and don't think you are going to grab my seat

i don't know why or how the imans were playing multiple chairs but everyone, i don't care how high you are in your religious hierarchy, needs to follow the rules

if other pax object to your switching seats, then you need to return to your assigned seats, we should all be playing by the same rules

if a middle seat was open next to me and you decided to sit there instead of in your assigned seat, i'd damn well think it fishy and i would consider complaining, esp. if you touched me, middle seats are assigned last and left open as long as possible for a damn reason -- and the reason is not so horny lonely men can squeeze in next to cute chicks

from what i've heard of this story, the imans probably did nothing wrong, however, don't assume you can just sit in any seat you like at any time for any reason, it's not gonna "fly" and yes i've reported people and gotten them moved for taking my seat! call me witchy, i find i don't quite care

if any doubt when changing seats, always best to ask the FA, i've found they are quite helpful about telling where/if there are open seats together if for some reason i need to change

on edit -- having read more, i am sorry to say that the iman in first should have asked permission before giving his seat in first to another flyer, FAs have a list of who is supposed to be in that seat and when there is a switcheroo, it can (not always but CAN) cause a problem, this is why the FA can come up to you in first and address you by name when taking your drink order, they know who is supposed to be there -- the whole thing sounds like a stupid mix-up to me

Next time I'm flying, I'm looking for the 25-40 year old white male with short hair, possibly prior Army, who is listening to Rush Limbaugh while waiting to board the plane.

Then I'm going to approach a flight attendant and tell them that the guy is making me nervous and exhibiting behavior like Timothy McVeigh.

Maybe I'll pick the old white guy in a suit with a congressional pin on his lapel and tell the flight attendant that he should not be allowed within 50 feet of any underage male children.

We could have fun with this.

i think all you are going to do is get yourself on a list as some kind of disturbed person or perhaps a potential terrorist yourself since you're clearly trying to distract the crew, which is illegal

it sounds like any responsible airline would be required to act under these conditions --

Passengers and flight attendants told law-enforcement officials the imams switched from their assigned seats to a pattern associated with the September 11 terrorist attacks and also found in probes of U.S. security since the attacks -- two in the front row first-class, two in the middle of the plane on the exit aisle and two in the rear of the cabin.
"That would alarm me," said a federal air marshal who asked to remain anonymous. "They now control all of the entry and exit routes to the plane."
A pilot from another airline said: "That behavior has been identified as a terrorist probe in the airline industry."

next time, sit in your assigned seat, don't steal other people's seats, and don't pretend it's about prayer or religion, i'm sick of thieves using their religion to steal

if you want a first class seat, pay for it or earn it through flying enough miles and spending enough money to demonstrate loyalty to the airline like the rest of us

That rag has about as much credibility as Bush.

They claimed that one of them was blind and changed seats with another passenger. And 3 of them were praying in the terminal.

Here is what gets me about this story - these men were obviously Muslims. That appears to be why they were kicked off the plane. I am assuming they were dressed differently from the other passengers? But even if they weren't, they did get the attention of the passengers by praying in the terminal. On the other hand, the 9/11 hijackers blended in and were less obvious. Now if these imams had any terror plans, why would they call attention to themselves before they even got on the plane?

airline official as saying that millions of Moslems fly and pray in terminals every year with no problems. I'd have to say that this group exhibited a bunch of behaviors that made the flight crew feel that concern was warranted.

To put this into context: When I flew last spring, the FA had to tell a gentleman of apparent Middle Eastern extraction several times to take out his earphones and turn off his player for take-off. Regardless of what you think of the rule, turning off electronics at take-off is mandatory. The pilot called back to find out why she wasn't buckled in, and the plane had to stop until the passenger complied. No action was taken against this passenger, although he certainly had been arguing with the FA.

Maybe next time I see a group of Christians gathered together in an airport praying, I should alert authorities. Who knows, they could be on their way to bomb an abortion clinic?

In fact it seems that almost all citizens, coincidentally those who oppose the policies of this Administration are now being terrorized at the airports.

Who are really the terrorists?