----- Original Message ----- Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 4:04 PM Subject: Judge sides with flying Muslim imams, strikes US Airway's defense, please send your email to judge
<http://www.votervoice.net/Files/FLFAM/Images/FLFAMBanner1.JPG> Judge sides with flying Muslim imams, strikes US Airway's defense, please send your email to the judge How safe will you feel if the federal courts ultimately rule that airlines and passengers cannot question or respond to suspicious behavior of passengers boarding their jets? Last week, a federal judge's pretrial ruling sided with six Muslim imams who sued U.S. Airways after the airline had the men removed because of their suspicious behavior. On November 20, 2007 the judge rejected most of U.S. Airway's defense arguments. U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery said in her 41-page opinion it is "dubious" that a reasonable person would conclude from those facts that the imams were about to interfere with the crew or aircraft. She said the plaintiffs had stated a plausible claim that Metropolitan Airports Commission officers violated their constitutional rights. On November 20, 2006, six Muslim imams dropped to their knees in an airport terminal and prayed to Allah. Then they separated and individually boarded the jet. They asked for seat belt extenders which were considered unnecessary by the airlines because of the size of the men. The imams also made anti-American comments about the war in Iraq. Several passengers, as well as the crew, became alarmed by what they felt was suspicious behavior of the imams. The airport police and Federal Air Marshal agreed the circumstances were suspicious enough to warrant asking the men to leave the airplane. The airline has stated that the captain delayed takeoff and called up airport security workers to ask the imams to leave the plane; the men refused, and that the captain then called police. The plane left without the imams on board about three hours later. The imams were detained, questioned, and then released. The imams sued U.S. Airways and others involved in the incident. Now Judge Montgomery says that U.S. Airways did not have a good reason to consider the imams' behavior as suspicious. An editorial in Investor's Business Daily questioned whether the imams were "victims or provocateurs" and suggested that it is possible the incident was planned in advance to gain publicity for planned congressional legislation against profiling. Denouncing "the provocative agenda of these imams," Debra Burlingame opined that "it is nothing short of obscene that these six religious leaders (...) chose to turn that airport into a stage and that airplane into a prop in the service of their need for grievance theater." A former federal air marshal has expressed the fear that the situation "will make crews and passengers in the future second-guess reporting these events, thus compromising the aircraft's security out of fear of being labeled a dogmatist or a bigot, or being sued," and that "Instilling politically correct fears into the minds of airline passengers is nothing less than psychological terrorism." Other commentators have pointed out the alleged ties of Omar Shahin and others of the imams involved to extremist groups, and pointed out the numerous statements made by the imams in connection with the incident that were contradicted by multiple eyewitness reports. Judge Montgomery's ruling strips away our rights to be concerned about legitimately suspicious behavior. She sided with the Muslim imams' right to behave in a manner that would knowingly raise suspicion and strike fear among the other passengers. We have prepared an email for you to send to voice your concerns regarding this ruling to U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery and her law clerks. Please click here to send your email to U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery and law clerks. <http://votervoice.net/target.aspx?id=flfam:19576500> If you have not signed up to send Florida Family Association emails, you will need to do so before you can send your email. It is fast and free. And you will be able to send emails on other important issues in the future without having to sign up again. Please forward this email to family and friends who you know would also be concerned about this public safety issue. The sources for this email alert are provided below. To learn more please click the following links: Wikipedia.com <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Imams_controversy#_note-2> Kare11.com <http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=270121> Yahoo.com <http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/071121/20071120006255.html?.v=1> Floridafamily.org <http://www.floridafamily.org/> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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