http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1759301/posts
===
===
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53543
"Muslim sensitivity training for 45,000 airport workers
Security officials told 'to be aware that they may also be praying'"
Posted: December 28, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
===
===
Note: The following text (minus the photo) is a quote:
http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=December&x=20061226172155ndyblehs0.4967768
USINFO > Products > Current Issues
26 December 2006
U.S. Airport Security Officers Briefed on Hajj Traditions
Officers learn about cultural sensitivities of Muslim travelers
By David Shelby
USINFO Staff Writer
A Transportation Security Administration agent checks a passenger at an airport security checkpoint. (File photo © AP Images)
Washington -- The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has provided special training to sensitize the 45,000 security officers working in the nation’s airports to the cultural traditions of American Muslims traveling to Saudi Arabia to participate in the hajj.
“We put out information telling everyone that hajj is coming; this is the time frame; individuals are going to be traveling with these types of items; just to be aware that they may also be praying,” TSA spokesman Darrin Kayser told USINFO December 26. “I guess you would call it cultural sensitivity training.”
Kayser said cultural awareness has been an integral part of TSA training since the agency assumed responsibility for managing airport security after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. He said the hajj briefings were essentially “refresher training” and a chance to alert officers that a larger number of Muslim travelers will be passing through the airports during this season. He said the TSA had a particular interest in performing the training this year, as the hajj corresponds with the busy Christmas-New Year holiday travel season.
The training comes just one month after Department of Homeland Security personnel came under criticism for removing six imams from a domestic flight for what one passenger considered suspicious behavior. (See related article.)
The hajj, or annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, is a religious duty for Muslims. According to Saudi officials, it draws about 2.5 million pilgrims each year.
The number of American Muslims participating in the hajj has been increasing in recent years. According to the Saudi Embassy in Washington, about 15,000 Americans made the pilgrimage in 2005. (See related article.)
Kayser said the training included reminders about procedures for screening individuals with head coverings and TSA policies regarding the transport of holy water. According to TSA guidelines, any container larger than 88 milliters must be carried in a passenger’s checked baggage.
The TSA began its training sessions in mid-December and expects to see hajj travelers through early January 2007.
Additional information on hajj travel is available at the TSA Web site.
More information on U.S. society is available at Population and Diversity and International Religious Freedom.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov )
Off Topic...
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1759678/posts
Strip-Searched Muslim Woman Gets Apology
AP via CBS3 TV in Philadelphia ^ | Dec 28, 2006
Posted on 12/28/2006 5:46:42 PM PST by jdm
The Department of Homeland Security has sent a letter apologizing to a Muslim woman who was detained at the Tampa airport and strip-searched at a county jail.
Safana Jawad, 45, a Spanish citizen who was born in Iraq, was detained on April 11 because of a suspected tie to a suspicious person, authorities said. She was held for two days before being deported to England.
Jawad filed a complaint, and the agency apologized in a letter dated Dec. 8.
"On behalf of the Department of Homeland Security, I offer you my sincere apology for having to undergo a strip search," wrote Timothy J. Keefer, acting chief counsel for the department's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
The agency declined to release the name of the suspicious person in the case.
Department spokeswoman Joanna Gonzalez said it is standard practice to send a response letter to someone who complains. She said the agency does not track the number of apologies it issues.
Jawad was traveling to Clearwater to visit her 16-year-old son, who lived with her ex-husband, Ahmad Maki Kubba. Kubba, an Iraqi exile and American citizen for 27 years, was praised last year by Gov. Jeb. Bush for organizing a group to vote in Iraq's election.
Kubba said his ex-wife's detention prompted his son to move to Spain.
"I lost my son because of what happened," Kubba said. "My son wanted to be in the U.S. Navy, and he speaks both English and Arabic. He would have been just what they are looking for. What they did to Jawad was unfair and is hurting America."
A Pinellas County jail internal investigation cleared deputies of wrongdoing in the case.
"We followed the same protocol with her as with any inmate," Sgt. Jim Bordner said.