Posted on 11/4/2007, 3:50:19 PM by Daffynition
DETROIT - Six men of Iraqi descent who were heading home from doing training for the U.S. military have sued American Airlines, saying employees detained and publicly humiliated them after another passenger voiced suspicions.
The men, who sued in U.S. District Court in Detroit alleging racial discrimination, say airline employees grounded their Aug. 28 flight from San Diego to Chicago and detained them, believing they were security risks.
The men, some of whom are U.S. citizens, were returning to the Detroit area after training Marines at California's Camp Pendleton on Iraqi culture when another passenger expressed concerns to guards partly because she heard the men speaking Arabic.
After taxiing from the gate, pilots returned the plane to the terminal. The six men were segregated and detained while the airline helped more than 100 passengers find hotel rooms, according to a prepared statement from the men.
The suit was filed Thursday on behalf of David Al-Watan, Talal Cholagh, Ali Alzerej, Hassan Alzerej, Hussein Alsalih and Mohammad Al-Saedy.
"They treated me like a terrorist," Al-Watan, 30, said in the statement. "We didn't do anything wrong, but they made everybody scared of us."
Flight 590's crew returned the plane to the gate to resolve potential security problems, airline spokesman Tim Wagner said in a statement.
"All passengers disembarked the aircraft after it was determined that it would not be able to redepart because of San Diego International Airport's 11:30 p.m. flight curfew," Wagner said. "Several passengers were briefly interviewed by law enforcement officers. No passenger was arrested."
The six men took flights with the airline the next morning, Wagner said.
The men worked for Defense Training Systems, a unit of International Logistics Services Corp. of Anchorage, Alaska. Their work involved teaching Marines about Iraqi culture, customs and etiquette, said their lawyer, Lawrence T. Garcia.
"These are some of the most pro-American people around," Garcia said. "There's no reason to suspect that these people were a threat on this airline. ... This is the face of prejudice and racism that happens today."
The title should read “Derainged Arabic speakers sue airline” LOL!!!
Screwem if they cannot take a joke!
Ouch!
What joke?
I am glad that their names are now known. Sooner or later one or more of these names will appear in a different context.
If the military doesn't have enough sense to hire arabic trainers who have more maturity and judgement than this, they deserve what they get.
"They treated me like a terrorist," Al-Watan, 30, said in the statement. "We didn't do anything wrong, but they made everybody scared of us."
No dimbulb, the behavior of too many arabic-speaking idiots has made people "scared of you". If you don't have enough sense to speak English while traveling, that's your poor judgement getting you into awkward situations. You can bet your life that if Spanish or French-speakers were the world's biggest murdering terrorists, I would never speak Spanish or French while traveling.
Hello?
Well put.
Regards
Just Joshing! But, in case you are interested I do not trust and Mooselimbs.
Suspicious crew raises alarm and a flight is canceled
“He said that one of the men went into the bathroom and when he came out he stood next to a woman and stared at her for three to four minutes. That passenger got off the plane.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1918613/posts
The idiot who felt it necessary to teach Marines about the finer points of a gentler, kinder war needs to be replaced.
Or perhaps put in charge of teaching al Qaeda about the civilized world's culture customs and ettiquette!
Perhaps the obvious should be stated: don't waste my time indignantly shouting that "some of them are even citizens!" Sleepers and foreign operatives operating in our own country are better at playing that game than everyone else. If the military is dumb enough to hire them...
So racial profiling is OK?
So U.S. citizens are no longer free to speak their native tongue in public? //devils advocate ;)
You don’t speak English, we throw you off the plane. HA HA.
Delayed and Deranged Arab Speakers Make Use of
Democrats' Leading Campaign Donors - The Trial Lawyers
Playing the victim card like any liberal, several Arab
speaking persons - who train our military - filed suit
against the airline because they found a good excuse to do so.
In doing this, they claimed the airline caused the passenger's fears
instead of the prior terrorists attacks made by other Arab speaking men.
The lawsuit settlements are planned to find their way into
the campaign donations of several democrats, although official
sources deny this. "The donations from the trial lawyers are
from noble lawsuits, such as medical malpractice suits and
spilled coffee settlements. We all need this justice"
commented the un-named Democrat spokesman.
/sarc .....I think....
They hired a lawyer a day after the event. The links from your link gives the mother’s story.
SAN DIEGO – The takeoff of an American Airlines flight out of Lindbergh Field was canceled in August because the crew was suspicious of several Middle Eastern passengers, an investigative report said. The crew notified the captain, who canceled the flight.
At the time, the airline said it was a woman traveling with her two small children who raised the alarm.
According to the airline's account of the incident, the woman said the men made her so nervous she asked to be let off the plane, and the ensuing delay pushed the Aug. 28 flight to Chicago past the 11:30 p.m. curfew on takeoffs.
American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner referred to it as a “customer dispute.”
But a report from the San Diego Harbor Police, which was released this week under the California Public Records Act, said members of the flight crew said they were nervous about a group of the Middle Eastern passengers and did not feel safe.
One flight attendant told investigators the behavior of the group made him nervous and was “making his hair stand on end.”
He said that one of the men went into the bathroom and when he came out he stood next to a woman and stared at her for three to four minutes. That passenger got off the plane.
The flight attendant also said that another man in the group began to stare at him in an “abnormal, unusual and intense” way. When he mentioned that to the other attendants, they each said they felt they were being stared at in the same fashion.
“It was like each of these (Arabic) passengers had their assigned attendant,” Kotsonis said.
Another flight attendant told investigators he had “a gut feeling and discomfort” and “needed to do something” after one of the men put a blanket on his head during the safety demonstration only to take it off and stare angrily at everyone around him.
After the passenger got off the plane, the crew talked among themselves and decided to notify the pilot about their concerns.
The pilot said in the report that this was the first time in 20 years of flying that a crew had indicated such feelings to him.
According to the report, the pilot said he had “complete trust in his crew and did not feel like they overreacted.”
It turned out that the group of seven Iraqi and Iraqi-American men worked for an Alaska-based defense contractor and had been training U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton. They have hired a lawyer.
That Alaska based contractor providing these "workers" to train Marines about "Iraqi culture, customs and etiquette" seems to have neglected to train them in the American culture, customs and ettiquette", specially in sensitive potentially explosive (pun intended) scenarios. People feel specially defenseless and vulnerable in a metal tube at 30,000 feet. If their "workers" can not or will not make allowances for reality, perhaps they shouldn't be hired.
What kind of training can these clueless and rude workers provide, in view of the statements above?
Muslims are known to be arrogant, delusional, rude and tactless. The only people who disagree with this are those who have never dealt with any muslims in depth over a sufficient length of time. This applies to both the most primitive ignorant ones and "professionals".
Playing the victim "Lotto" tells me all I need to know about these six. I just wish I could be on the jury in this case.
Finally how are these "workers" vetted? Are their backgrounds and histories as well scrutenized as, say, nuclear plant workers? If not, why not?
If vetting is too much trouble, perhaps they should be provided military trnasports where they can be as rude and unconscious as they like --- to each other.
It leads me ever further to believe that there is no "moderate" islam, but islamists just waiting for the signal to strike.
Islam and arabic are not "races".
So U.S. citizens are no longer free to speak their native tongue in public? //devils advocate ;)
There is no controversy about US laws being ignored by the faceless bureaucracy entrusted to apply them.
What assurance do you have that some (many?) of these "citizens" are not plants and sleepers? Remember, the same incompetence and dereliction of duty applies there.
Political Correctness has been the death of several thousands of us and will continue to be to many more of us...
bwhaaha
“They treated me like a terrorist,” Al-Watan, 30, said in the statement. “We didn’t do anything wrong, but they made everybody scared of us.”
BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY ALI BABBA...we got a lot at stake ......deal with it..
Then Islam has won this ‘war’ ...because you are afraid.
This country was founded only for whites. ///devils advocate
You don’t speak English, we throw you off the plane. HA HA.
you forgot to ADD.. ‘CASE CLOSED’
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