I have tried to remain objective in this case, but honestly the whole situation just bothers me.  It just doesn't play right.

And today after reading the police reports and the witness statements, I feel my skepticism is confirmed.

Before I go any further, I am basing this blog on information I got from Pajamas Media, via Michelle Malkin.  By information I refer to the documents here and here, which are the official police reports and a letter from a  passenger.

After reading everything I can see four possible scenarios that came to mind.

1. They were innocent travelers who made some innocent goofs
2. They were terrorists making a dry run rehearsal for a terrorist act and testing security
3. They were terrorists planning on disrupting a flight
4. They were deliberately acting as suspicious as possible in order to cause a scandal

While some bloggers advocate 2 and 3, I do not.  I would rather say that 2 and 3 are only plausible if you combine either of them with 4, and say they wanted people to think they were either doing a rehearsal, or were engaging in an actual terrorist act.

#1 is not totally eliminated, but honestly there were so many strange actions that were committed here, that it just makes it seem completely absurd to dismiss this either as pure overreaction or an oops by a combination of some coincidental acts coupled with a skittish flight crew.

That leaves 4.  Some skeptics complain that there is no reason for them to act in such manner, but those people should recall Rosa Parks and other people who engaged in civil disobedience to make points.  There are always people willing to do wrong to prove what they consider a greater right.  In this case I am fairly convinced that the 6 men got the exact result they wanted, detention and inconvenience, except perhaps that they were not treated badly in the process.

Here is what I mean by suspicious activities: 

• In the terminal 5 of the 6 were loudly praying. Witnesses reported them talking about Saddam, Al Qaeda, and the war against terror.  They were heard cursing the US involvement in the war.  One aspect I did find interesting is that one of the men indicated he did not pray on purpose, so apparently the "requirement" to pray is not locked in stone.
• Three were flying with one way tickets and 5 had no baggage.  While this is not unlawful, remember who else did.
• Most of them requested seat belt extensions without visibly needing them.  Not unlawful either, but the extension might be used as a weapon. At least one (maybe 2) of the extensions was not used, it was on the floor.
• They were seated in three separate sections of the airplane:  2 near the front, 2 in the middle, and two near the rear, yet claimed to be traveling together.  Not a crime, but in the course of boarding, one tried to move to 1st class, otherwise known as farther front and closer to the flight deck.  The two in the middle were originally in rows 4 an 9, but convinced a passenger to exchange seats by one of them posing as blind and claiming to have additional need.  They both were able to sit together in row 9.  Again, not criminal, but strange.  And the spacing is a common tactic to allow hijackers to take ctonrl quickly from multiple points.
• While on the plane one witness who spoke Arabic reported that they were saying fairly ugly things about Americans in general.
• One Imam refused to sign the Miranda statement.  Just weird for someone with no ill intention.
• They lawyered up almost immediately, giving some the impression they had lawyers standing by.  CAIR was quickly engaged also.

PJM believes it was a stunt designed to weaken security.  While that may be true I think more likely it was designed to weaken American resolve in the face of political correctness.  By posing as innocent victims it allows them to deflect legitimate concerns.

Look at it this way.  We were told time and time again that we should have caught the 911 guys who behaved less suspiciously in someways then these guys did.  So why the outcry when Security and Flight Crew personnel made a judgment call and denied them service?

These guys were traveling in a suspicious manner in many ways, and by virtue of the seat belt extenders, they were armed.  This extender is a belt 18 inches long, with buckles both ends, making it a choking device as well as a striking one.

So why are we afraid to say to these 6 mean "what the hell were you thinking?"  Looks like a duck and all that?

It's because we afraid to face the possibility that this could have been real because that forces us to remind ourselves that Muslim fanatics are still a threat despite the representations of the public affairs departments of CAIR and other Islamic organizations.

It is because we have to recognize that there is a certain amount of political incorrectness at play here and act accordingly.

Guess what?  If you are an Arabic looking Muslim and you act suspicious, you may get called on it.  It is not paranoia.  It is safety, because some of the people in your faith, who like to kill people.  We can't see in your heart, to see if evil lies there or not, so we have to judge by actions.

In the end, safety was the rule, and the Air Marshall, the FBI, the Police and the Flight Crew all agreed that better safe then sorry was the best way to ensure safety.

They did exactly right.  Had the crews on 911 been as "paranoid" as the complainers call them, maybe not all planes would have reached the targets they did.  Yes that is useless speculation, but it bears considering.

Thansk to 911, we have a standard of suspicious behavior that has been proven to be dangerous. 

Some of those elements, more then enough, was evident here.

The question becomes why.

Was this just 6 idiots who got caught up in a crew that takes safety seriously, or was this a stunt?  Did they, the lawyers or CAIR plan this to raise awareness or some other foolishness?  Or w2as this just coincidence?

It could be.  But I don't personally believe so.  This was a stunt, a chance to tweak the tail of the American people to take the heat off of Muslims by painting our culture as bigoted.  That backfired.  They overplayed their hand.

They are threatening lawsuits and demanding apologies.  Bullshit.

Rather then have the airline apologize, the 6 Imam need to apologize to every passenger on the plane, for the stress and inconvenience, for at best being innocent idiots, but very possibly being manipulative idiots.

Open tracked to Samantha Burns, Assorted Babble, Church and State, Blue Star Chronicles, The Uncooperative Blogger, Stuck On Stupid, The Bullwinkle Blog, 123beta (F, Wknd), Woman Honor Thyself

Cross posted to LSU

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