Claims Passenger Removals May Be Related To Christmas Day Attempted Bombing

News And Analysis By Jim Campbell, ANN E-I-C

After the international travel industry was disrupted yet again by an Islamic male with a bomb strapped to his nether regions, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is calling on airline passengers, crews and security personnel to avoid ethnic and religious "profiling" in the wake of the attempted bombing of a flight arriving in Detroit on Christmas Day.

CAIR made that call following two incidents in which 'innocent passengers were targeted based either on their national origin or on otherwise ordinary behavior.'

In Arizona, CAIR claims that two "Middle Eastern" men were removed from a US Airways flight in Phoenix and questioned by the FBI after another passenger overheard the men speaking in a foreign language. The men were questioned and released.

And in Michigan (on the same flight number as that in which the aforementioned Middle-Eastern male improperly detonated a bomb and imperiled the entire aircraft), police removed a Nigerian passenger from a flight after he became ill and spent what others considered too much time in the aircraft's bathroom (in a sequence of events that seemed to mirror many of those seen days before in which the bombing attempt occurred).

"While everyone supports robust airline security measures, racial and religious profiling are in fact counterproductive and can lead to a climate of insecurity and fear," said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. CAIR touts itself as America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization and espouses a mission 'to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.'

Aero-Analysis: Hooper is right, somewhat... a climate of fear is developing in the skies of the world... and as long as (predominantly) Islamic/Middle-Eastern males seek to kill those who do not espouse their religious views (and even those that do, as well), that climate is only going to get worse. While a number of factors are to blame, the virtual silence of the Islamic community and their lack of serious condemnation of these murderers/attempted murderers only makes the matter worse. There are even a number of instances in which members of the Islamic community seem to enjoy or otherwise seem to promote/provoke alarming behavior in attempt to create media and legal incidents in order to cry publicly about "racial profiling" and the like. NO ONE likes to be looked at with suspicion and NO ONE enjoys any inhibition of their right to do and travel as they please, but the simple fact of the matter is this... a great many and the most serious of the incidents that have taken innocent lives in recent years have been perpetrated on the world by young Middle-Eastern men. I hate to say that, but the facts speak for themselves. It is these attackers that have "profiled" Americans and others as enemies of their convoluted and bastardized concept of Islam with hatred, violence, and no care for the rights of anyone else. As long as the situation exists where so many of these incidents are undertaken by a single, easily-identifiable group, it would be counter-productive and foolish NOT to look at this well-defined group with additional scrutiny. We have had a lot of contact with LEOs around the country who are concerned that social pressures (including the type being exerted by CAIR and affiliated parties) may keep them from doing their job, while also realizing that they have a tightrope to walk in seeking to keep the public safe against a threat that is so dishonest, so difficult to quantify, and is seemingly protected by foolish attempts to refute the simple truth that the threat, for now, has been so well documented in direct connection to an easily identifiable group of people with common  characteristics. With luck, the Islamic community will see these attacks for what they are... the REAL threat to their peace and well-being and be only too eager to help alleviate the fear and confusion that these maniacs create... by condemning these attacks as aggressively as possible and being patient with LEOs who simply want to make sure that EVERYONE remains safe and has the opportunity to live their lives in peace and with as little restriction as is possible. There is an Islamic teaching that (if I understand it correctly) values "making peace between one another' and further defines that 'enmity and malice tear up heavenly rewards by the roots.' One way to make peace is simply this... fight the insanity of these vicious murderers and understand the inconvenience that comes with the burden placed upon them by those that share their heritage but have twisted their faith into something that creates fear and suffering. -- Jim Campbell, ANN E-I-C.

FMI: www.cair.com, www.tsa.gov