Flying Imams Terrorized Flight

See the end of this post for exclusive reporting of important updates to the story.

It's an old story. Part of the Islamist playbook is to attack and then claim victimization. This way, useful idiots on the Left, particularly those in the mainsteam media, will parrot the Big Lie and then push the agenda of the poor victims. By the time the truth gets its boots on courtesy of the blogs, the mainstream media feigns ignorance and disinterest in "old news."

For example, most people believe that mistreatment occurs in Guantanamo Bay when in reality, the most vicious of terrorists have been pampered while regularly attacking the guards.

Likewise the most generous nation to terrorists, Israel, is widely portrayed as a victimizer of civilians. The absurdity of the situation is such that the phenomenon of prisoners opting against leaving the cushy Israeli jails when released is commonplace.

How do we know about the playbook? Because we found multiple copies of it, as reported on a number of blogs. How do we know that the imams are Islamists? Because their spokesman admitted ties to Osama bin Laden, was part of a Hamas funding operation closed by the US government, and spoke about how he doubted Muslims were behind 9/11.

How the Imams Terrorized an Airliner

Muslim religious leaders removed from a Minneapolis flight last week exhibited behavior associated with a security probe by terrorists and were not merely engaged in prayers, according to witnesses, police reports and aviation security officials.

Witnesses said three of the imams were praying loudly in the concourse and repeatedly shouted "Allah" when passengers were called for boarding US Airways Flight 300 to Phoenix.

"I was suspicious by the way they were praying very loud," the gate agent told the Minneapolis Police Department.

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"....

Charles Johnson, of Little Green Footballs, has speculated that the imams pushed specific buttons of terror-probing behavior in order to give them an opportunity to create a political incident. However, it is typical of Islamists to play the odds: hiding bombs, for example, in ambulances and in burkas both for effectiveness and for propaganda value when mean Israeli security guards later subject the Palestinians to "humiliating" searches.

According to witnesses, police reports and aviation security officials, the imams displayed other suspicious behavior.

Three of the men asked for seat-belt extenders, although two flight attendants told police the men were not oversized. One flight attendant told police she "found this unsettling, as crew knew about the six [passengers] on board and where they were sitting." Rather than attach the extensions, the men placed the straps and buckles on the cabin floor, the flight attendant said.

This is not only bizarre behavior, but common sense dictates that a seat belt extender is a much more effective weapon than a nail clippers or other airline contraband items. Here is a summary on the research on the topic done by Greg Lang of Soliah.com:

I believe the seat belt extensions create a serious airline security threat. This is one heck of a weapon that has been overlooked. Basically the "heavy" head of this is very heavy with both the latch and the belt adjuster lock thing. In a weapon sense it's a lot like a padlock on a chain or in prison a canned item in a sock. A solid blow to the head can disable and the strap can be used to choke or restrain. I was astounded that these were [allowed for use as] carry on items.

The Wikipedia article on Improvised Weapons lists the belt as both a whip and a choking device. In a lifetime of airplane travel I have never seen someone request a seatbelt extender.

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.

A flight attendant said one of the men made two trips to the rear of the plane to talk to the imam during boarding, and again when the flight was delayed because of their behavior. Aviation officials, including air marshals and pilots, said these actions alone would not warrant a second look, but the combination is suspicious.

"That's like shouting 'fire' in a crowded theater. You just can't do that anymore," said Robert MacLean, a former air marshal.

"They should have been denied boarding and been investigated," Mr. MacLean said. "It looks like they are trying to create public sympathy or maybe setting someone up for a lawsuit."

The pilot with another airline who talked to The Washington Times on condition of anonymity, said he would have made the same call as the US Airways pilot.

"If any group of passengers is commingling in the terminal and didn't sit in their assigned seats or with each other, I would stop everything and investigate until they could provide me with a reason they did not sit in their assigned seats"....

One of the passengers, Omar Shahin, told Newsweek the group did everything it could to avoid suspicion by wearing Western clothes, speaking English and booking seats so they were not together. He said they conducted prayers quietly and separately to avoid attention.

That's comforting. They wore Western clothes, spoke English and booked seats apart just like the 9/11 hijackers.

For a good background on what was known about the 'Flying Imams' incident prior to today, see this article.

Updates

Nov. 30:
The spokesman for the Flying Imams, Omar Shahin, in typical Islamist fashion, had earlier made up a Muslim victimization story of an Arizona woman attacking the mosque, but forgot to customize the tale for the local environment. He claimed she threw shoes at the children in the mosque. Here is how Ann Coulter wittily describes the charge:

This is the most transparent hoax I've heard since, "If I did it, here's how I would have done it." This is like the joke about a speaker at an American communist rally opening with: "Workers and peasants of Brooklyn!" Shahin has so little insight into this country, he can't even invent a believable hate crime.

It's Arabs who have a thing about shoes being a sign of disrespect, not Americans. When Iraqis toppled the statue of Saddam Hussein, the crowd immediately pelted it with shoes. Saddam installed a mosaic of the first president Bush's face on the ground floor of his palace so that visitors would be forced to disrespect Bush by walking on his visage in their shoes.

Shahin himself couldn't get away from this pan-Arabic shoe fetish, adding: "The incidents of Muslims being attacked kind of shocked me in my shoes." Note to imams trying to fabricate hate crimes against Muslims: Americans don't share your shoe neurosis.

This reminds me of the definition of chutzpa. Robert Spencer, the author of the must-read The Truth About Muhammed, was accused of having said he wanted to "drive all Muslims into the sea." Although currently considered tacky from overuse, this was, of course, once the slogan of choice for Muslim genocidal fantasies against the Jews.

Also of note regarding the Islamic Center of Tuscon is that it has extensive terror links, such as the Islamic Association of Palestine conferences, which Steve Emerson notes that the "facts strongly suggest" that it is "part of Hamas' propaganda apparatus." A federal judge held the IAP liable for $156 million in damages from a Hamas terror attack.

Shahin's predecessor at the ICT was "Osama bin Laden's financier and head of logistics until his arrest by Saudi Arabia in 2002."

Dec. 1:
Fortunately one of America's three relatively conservative newspapers is keeping this story alive. (For some reason, it also happens to be among a handful of newspapers not hemorraging subscribers.) Key lines:

Air marshals, pilots and security officials yesterday expressed concern that airline passengers and crews will be reluctant to report suspicious behavior aboard for fear of being called "racists"...."Instilling politically correct fears into the minds of airline passengers is nothing less than psychological terrorism."

Dec. 2:

More revelations are now out, including the official police report and the letter from a passenger on the flight (now in hiding in fear of Islamist retribution). It's interesting that the two newspapers to move this story forward are among the three conservative newspapers in America, while almost every other paper has seen fit to cover only the "Flying While Muslim" canard.