A dent in airline security
"Don't have your guy come down there and tell me we can't pull more than three Arab guys out of line for additional security screening, and then tell us after 9/11 that we should have thrown five guys like that off our planes." —Edmond L. Soliday, former United Airlines vice president of security operations, referring to the transportation secretary's civil-rights attorney. Quoted in Infiltration, by Paul Sperry
The Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune reports this week on a settlement reached in a case where six Muslim clerics “were removed from a U.S. Airways jet after passengers and airline employees reported that the six were engaging in suspicious behavior.” CAIR is calling it a “victory for justice and civil rights.” Is this “victory for… civil rights” potentially a dangerous loss for Americans of all faiths?
Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, worries about the impact of a settlement reached under such circumstances…
"Terrorism operates on fear," says Jasser. "Transportation authorities don't know when, where or how terrorists will strike, so they must be vigilant." After this settlement, he adds, the men and women charged with protecting the public will have to contend with a "competing fear" as they make tough decisions: "They may ask, 'If I detain and question someone who is acting suspiciously, will I cost my employer thousands of dollars, or even lose my job?'"
This chilling effect may lead to risky changes in airport security policies and pilot training, Jasser warns. As a result, officials may miss "vital nuances" in behavior that put the rest of us in danger.
Although the judge in this case believed that the officers were in the wrong, lawsuits have often been used by Islamist groups as a means of silencing debate, rather than protecting civil rights. The Legal Project of the Middle East forum, commenting on several high profile cases, quotes Steven Emerson saying, "Legal action has become a mainstay of radical Islamist organizations seeking to intimidate and silence their critics."
The case happened under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC). You can contact their director of public affairs, Patrick Hogan, to voice your support for the actions airport security took to protect Americans. Be sure to cc your local newspaper or television station, so your voice gets heard, saying that you support practices that safeguard American lives.
For more information on how Islamists are using the law as a tool, and measures being taken to counter this, you can visit the Legal Project of the Middle East Forum here.
You can read the entire Star Tribune article here.
