The Islamist template is quite simple: attack, cry foul (victimization) when prevented in an "excessive" manner from attacking, counterattack as a result of the offense, and finally, push through a pro-Islamist policy change as a result (such as Muslim education in schools to prevent "Islamophobia").
In this case, there is apparently one voice in the mainstream media who is pursuing the
Flying Imam story:
Katherine Kersten. She is a rare conservative journalist, who happens to have a local column in the Flying Imam hometown paper. In this piece, she identifies the pro-Islamist policy change in the Islamist template above as the End Racial Profiling Act. This is, of course, championed by Democrats, who have frequently allied themselves with Islamists. (
See here for one of many examples.)
On Dec. 1, a curious report on the grounded-imams incident at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport appeared on the website of the Iranian Quran News Agency. The report quoted extensively from Madhi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation. The foundation is the American arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, ?the world?s most influential Islamic fundamentalist group,? according to the Chicago Tribune.
Bray?s initial statement about the incident had an all-American, see-you-in-court ring. He demanded ?large financial compensation for the imams,? adding, ?We want US Airways and any other airline displaying this type of behavior against Muslims to be hit where it hurts, the pocketbook.?
The report echoed statements made by the imams themselves. Omar Shahin, their spokesman, has portrayed the incident in a way that?s consistent with a lawsuit and a public relations offensive. He?s called for a Jesse Jackson-style boycott of US Airways, and applied classic civil-rights rhetoric to the incident: ?This is prejudice; this is obvious discrimination,? the Star Tribune quoted him as saying. ?I cannot change the color of my skin,? he told Newsweek.
But the report on the Iranian website, which has appeared on a variety of Muslim websites worldwide, had a larger primary focus. After the imams incident, it quoted Bray as saying Muslims want ?new, broad-sweeping legislation that will extract even larger financial and civil penalties for any airline that participates in racial and religious profiling?....
One piece of legislation in the works is the End Racial Profiling Act. It is an important priority of Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, whose district includes one of the largest Muslim populations in the country. Conyers introduced the bill in 2004 and 2005, but it went nowhere. Now the alignment of forces may be changing. Conyers will probably be chairman of the House Judiciary Committee when the new Democratic-controlled Congress convenes next month.
Nancy Pelosi, who called herself a ?proud? cosponsor of the Profiling Act in 2004, is the incoming House speaker.
