Nine Muslim passengers were kicked off a flight from Washington, D.C., to Florida after other passengers reported hearing a suspicious remark about airplane security.
AirTran Airways spokesman Tad Hutcheson called the incident on the New Year's Day flight from Reagan National Airport to Orlando, Fla., a misunderstanding, but defended the company's response. He said the airline followed federal rules and did nothing wrong.
Having flown in the "post-9/11 world" ( god, I hate having to use that phrase ) I have seen the glances and heard the whispers of "white people" when they see a person of varrying ethnicity taking their seat on a plane, picking up their lugage, or checking in at the airport.
Not suprisingly, when someone says something about a "plane", and "engine", or someone hears the word "security", and possibly even the phrase "I wonder if they are going to have hot-dogs" - and the phrase comes from someone that may or may not be "Arab" - then there's got to be trouble, right?
One of the Muslim passengers, Kashif Irfan, told The Washington Post the confusion began when his brother was talking about the safest place to sit on an airplane.
"My brother and his wife were discussing some aspect of airport security," Irfan said. "The only thing my brother said was, 'Wow, the jets are right next to my window.'"
Irfan told the newspaper he thought he and the others were profiled because of their appearance. The men had beards and the women wore headscarves, traditional Muslim attire.
Damn, traditional ethnic attire. I guess the next time I see someone in a cowboy hat and they have dirty boots on and I hear them mention the name Garth Brooks, then that must mean that they fuck their sister. I'm pretty sure that's still illegal in most states.
Irfan, 34, is an anesthesiologist and his brother is a lawyer. Both live in Alexandria, Va., with their families, and were born in Detroit. They were traveling with their wives, Irfan's sister-in-law and Irfan's three sons, ages 7, 4 and 2. A family friend also was traveling with the group to a religious retreat in Florida.
Here's where the wingers are going to get their red-meat posts from.
A "religious retreat".
*queue scary music*
"The FBI agents actually cleared our names," Inayet Sahin, one of the family members kicked off the flight, told CNN. "They went on our behalf and spoke to the airlines and said, 'There is no suspicious activity here. They are clear. Please let them get on a flight so they can go on their vacation,' and they still refused."
More here.
Ed Morrissey and his twitchy, idiotic followers at HotAir have a crack at this - with predictable results
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