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FAKING IMAMS -- Pajamas Media Exclusive: Police Report, Passenger
Reveals That Flying Imams Were Up to No Good
PJM in SeattleDecember 1, 2006 5:58 PM
The Now Notorious Flying Imams Claim Their Only Crime Was "Flying
While Muslim," But Our Exclusive Reporting Reveals They Are Trying
to Sweep Their Real Motives Under Their Prayer Rugs
[Bloggers are invited to examine these documents and provide
theories for what happened. Please notify Pajamas Media. — Editors]
By Richard Miniter, PJM Washington Editor
The case of U.S. Airways flight 300 gets stranger by the minute.
When six traveling Muslim clerics were asked to deplane last week,
it looked like another civil rights controversy against post-9-11
airport security.
Now new information is emerging that suggests it was all a stunt
designed to weaken security….
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…..
The passenger, who asked that she only be identified as "Pauline,"
said she is afraid to give her full name or hometown. She is
spending the night at "another location" because she does not feel
safe at home. She credits reports that one imam is apparently linked
to Hamas. "It is scary because these men could be dangerous."
Pauline said she never wanted media attention. She wrote an email to
U.S. Airways and cc:ed her daughter, who unexpectedly emailed it to
her friends. As the letter took on an internet life of its own, it
made its way to the inbox of a retired CNN executive producer. Then,
to her dismay, the feeding frenzy began.
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.
Here is her story, along with corroborating quotes from the U.S.
Airways spokeswoman Andrea Rader and the official report, another
Pajamas Media exclusive.
Sitting in Minneapolis-St. Paul's Airport Gate C9, she noticed one
of the imams immediately. "He was pacing nervously, talking in
Arabic," she said.
She quickly noticed the others. "They didn't look like holy men to
me. They looked like guys heading out of town for a Vikings game."
Pauline said she did not see or hear the imams pray at the gate (she
was at dinner in a nearby airport eatery), but heard about the pre-
flight prayers from other passengers hours later.
As the plane boarded, she said, no one refused to fly. The public
prayers and Arabic phone call did not trigger any alarms - so much
for the p.c. allegations that people were disturbed by Muslim
prayers.
But a note from a passenger about suspicious movements of the imams
got the crew's attention. A copy of the passenger's note appears in
the police report.
To Pauline everything seemed normal. Then the captain - in classic
laconic pilot-style - announced there had been a "mix up in our
paperwork" and that the flight would be delayed.
In reality, the air crew was waiting for the FBI and local police to
arrive.
Ninety minutes after the flight's scheduled 5:15 p.m. departure, the
captain announced yet another delay. Still, Pauline said, there was
no sense of alarm.
Still, it seemed like just another annoying development, typical
when flying the friendly skies.
The situation in cockpit was far more intense, according to a U.S.
Airways spokeswoman and police reports.
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."
A passenger in the third row of first class, Pauline said, told a
member of the crew: "I don't have a good feeling about this guy,"
about the imam who wanted the seat-belt extension.
A married couple one row behind first-class, tried to strike up a
conversation with the imam seated near them. He refused to talk or
even look at the woman in the eye, according to Pauline. Instead, he
stood up and moved to join the other imams in the back of the plane.
Why would he leave the luxury end of the aircraft? Pauline wondered.
The account of the married couple does not appear in the police
report.
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.
A lone plain clothes FBI agent boarded the plane and briefly spoke
to the imams. Later, uniformed police escorted them off.
Some press reports said the men were led off in handcuffs, which
Pauline disputes. "I saw them. They were not handcuffed."
Later, each imam was individually brought back on the aircraft to
reclaim his belongings. They were still not handcuffed. They may
have been handcuffed later.
At this point, the passengers became alarmed. "How do we know they
got all their stuff off?" Pauline heard one man ask.
While the imams were soon released, Pauline is fuming: "We are the
victims of these people. They need to be more sensitive to us. They
were totally insensitive to us and then accused us of being
insensitive to them. I mean, we were a lot more inconvenienced than
them."
The plane was delayed for some three and one-half hours.
Bomb-sniffing dogs were used to sweep the plane and every passenger
was re-screened, the airline spokeswoman confirmed. Another detail
omitted from press reports.
The reaction of the remaining passengers has also gone
unreported. "We applauded and cheered for the crew," she said.
"I think it was either a foiled attempt to take over the plane or it
was a publicity stunt to accuse us of being insensitive," Pauline
said. "It had to be to intimidate U.S. Airways to ease up on
security."
So far, U.S. Airways refuses to be intimidated, even though the feds
have launched an investigation. "We are absolutely backing this
crew," Rader said.
Tucked away in the police report is this little gem: one of the
imams had complained to a passenger that some nations did not follow
shariah law and his job in Bakersfield, Calif. was a cover
for "representing Muslims here in the U.S."
So what are the imams really up to? Something more than praying it
seems.
FAKING IMAMS -- Pajamas Media Exclusive: Police Report, Passenger
Reveals That Flying Imams Were Up to No Good
PJM in SeattleDecember 1, 2006 5:58 PM
The Now Notorious Flying Imams Claim Their Only Crime Was "Flying
While Muslim," But Our Exclusive Reporting Reveals They Are Trying
to Sweep Their Real Motives Under Their Prayer Rugs
[Bloggers are invited to examine these documents and provide
theories for what happened. Please notify Pajamas Media. — Editors]
By Richard Miniter, PJM Washington Editor
The case of U.S. Airways flight 300 gets stranger by the minute.
When six traveling Muslim clerics were asked to deplane last week,
it looked like another civil rights controversy against post-9-11
airport security.
Now new information is emerging that suggests it was all a stunt
designed to weaken security….
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…..
The passenger, who asked that she only be identified as "Pauline,"
said she is afraid to give her full name or hometown. She is
spending the night at "another location" because she does not feel
safe at home. She credits reports that one imam is apparently linked
to Hamas. "It is scary because these men could be dangerous."
Pauline said she never wanted media attention. She wrote an email to
U.S. Airways and cc:ed her daughter, who unexpectedly emailed it to
her friends. As the letter took on an internet life of its own, it
made its way to the inbox of a retired CNN executive producer. Then,
to her dismay, the feeding frenzy began.
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.
Here is her story, along with corroborating quotes from the U.S.
Airways spokeswoman Andrea Rader and the official report, another
Pajamas Media exclusive.
Sitting in Minneapolis-St. Paul's Airport Gate C9, she noticed one
of the imams immediately. "He was pacing nervously, talking in
Arabic," she said.
She quickly noticed the others. "They didn't look like holy men to
me. They looked like guys heading out of town for a Vikings game."
Pauline said she did not see or hear the imams pray at the gate (she
was at dinner in a nearby airport eatery), but heard about the pre-
flight prayers from other passengers hours later.
As the plane boarded, she said, no one refused to fly. The public
prayers and Arabic phone call did not trigger any alarms - so much
for the p.c. allegations that people were disturbed by Muslim
prayers.
But a note from a passenger about suspicious movements of the imams
got the crew's attention. A copy of the passenger's note appears in
the police report.
To Pauline everything seemed normal. Then the captain - in classic
laconic pilot-style - announced there had been a "mix up in our
paperwork" and that the flight would be delayed.
In reality, the air crew was waiting for the FBI and local police to
arrive.
Ninety minutes after the flight's scheduled 5:15 p.m. departure, the
captain announced yet another delay. Still, Pauline said, there was
no sense of alarm.
Still, it seemed like just another annoying development, typical
when flying the friendly skies.
The situation in cockpit was far more intense, according to a U.S.
Airways spokeswoman and police reports.
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."
A passenger in the third row of first class, Pauline said, told a
member of the crew: "I don't have a good feeling about this guy,"
about the imam who wanted the seat-belt extension.
A married couple one row behind first-class, tried to strike up a
conversation with the imam seated near them. He refused to talk or
even look at the woman in the eye, according to Pauline. Instead, he
stood up and moved to join the other imams in the back of the plane.
Why would he leave the luxury end of the aircraft? Pauline wondered.
The account of the married couple does not appear in the police
report.
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.
A lone plain clothes FBI agent boarded the plane and briefly spoke
to the imams. Later, uniformed police escorted them off.
Some press reports said the men were led off in handcuffs, which
Pauline disputes. "I saw them. They were not handcuffed."
Later, each imam was individually brought back on the aircraft to
reclaim his belongings. They were still not handcuffed. They may
have been handcuffed later.
At this point, the passengers became alarmed. "How do we know they
got all their stuff off?" Pauline heard one man ask.
While the imams were soon released, Pauline is fuming: "We are the
victims of these people. They need to be more sensitive to us. They
were totally insensitive to us and then accused us of being
insensitive to them. I mean, we were a lot more inconvenienced than
them."
The plane was delayed for some three and one-half hours.
Bomb-sniffing dogs were used to sweep the plane and every passenger
was re-screened, the airline spokeswoman confirmed. Another detail
omitted from press reports.
The reaction of the remaining passengers has also gone
unreported. "We applauded and cheered for the crew," she said.
"I think it was either a foiled attempt to take over the plane or it
was a publicity stunt to accuse us of being insensitive," Pauline
said. "It had to be to intimidate U.S. Airways to ease up on
security."
So far, U.S. Airways refuses to be intimidated, even though the feds
have launched an investigation. "We are absolutely backing this
crew," Rader said.
Tucked away in the police report is this little gem: one of the
imams had complained to a passenger that some nations did not follow
shariah law and his job in Bakersfield, Calif. was a cover
for "representing Muslims here in the U.S."
So what are the imams really up to? Something more than praying it
seems.
