Delta pilot orders Muslim clerics to get off plane at Memphis airport 'screened and cleared to fly'

Two Muslim clerics traveling to a religious conference were kicked off a Delta Air Lines flight Friday morning at Memphis International Airport, on orders from a pilot.

Imam Mohamed Zaghloul of the Masjid An-Noor Mosque and Imam Masoud Rahman, a previous imam of the Muslim Society of Memphis, were subjected to extra security screening at the gate, then barred from the flight, Rahman said.

The men cleared security at a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint and boarded their plane. “They were screened and cleared to fly,” said TSA spokesman Jon Allen. “The decision to deny boarding was made by the airline, not TSA,” Allen said.

Jarek Beem, spokesman for Atlantic Southeast Airlines, the Delta Connection carrier that was operating the flight, said the incident was under investigation, that the airline regretted any inconvenience to passengers, and that the airline takes passenger security very seriously. He would not comment on specifics of the case.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/may/06/delta-pilot-orders-muslim-clerics-get-plane-memphi/

but it sure as hell feeds xenophobia.

But the ignorance feeds the fear.

based simply on their dress

6 Muslim gentlemen sitting across from me were told by TSA agents to get off the plane. Turned out they were on a State Department sponsored visit. :-(

Rec