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| Home Front: Politix |
| US Muslims avoiding travel due to terror fears |
| 2006-06-01 |
| Azhar Usman, a burly American-born Muslim with a heavy black beard, says he elicits an almost universal reaction when he boards an airplane at any United States airport: conversations stop in midsentence and the look in the eyes of his fellow passengers says, "We're all going to die!" For Ahmed Ahmed, a comedian, it is even worse. His double-barreled name matches an occasional alias used by a henchman of Osama bin Laden. "It's a bad time to be named Ahmed right now," he riffs in his stand-up routine, before describing being hauled through the Las Vegas airport in handcuffs. Taleb Salhab and his wife say they too were dragged away in handcuffs at the border crossing in Port Huron, Mich., as their two preschool daughters wailed in the back seat of their car. The Salhabs were discharged after four hours of questioning, with no explanation from customs officers. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #19 A-Friggin-men, Jules. Quityer bitching. The next Islamist attack on teh US and things now will look like "Happy Days" with Potsie and Ralph Malph. Things will be unpleasant, and the "moderates" better keep that tipline phone number handy |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-06-01 22:38 |
| #18 Those Muslims are American citizens, that's right. There are responsibilities along with rights in citizenship, including that old, out-of-fashion "loyalty to one's country first" concept. Loyalty to the umma first is going to result in a lot of dead non-Muslim Americans, if we don't keep our senses about us. No one is saying we should sew anything on anybody's clothes. I am suggesting a stronger effort on the part of American Muslims to take this terrorist bull by the horns. They've got some heavy lifting to do-as American Muslim citizens. |
| Posted by: Jules 2006-06-01 21:44 |
| #17 One thing to remember in all this discourse is that American Muslims are American citizens. American Jews are American citizens, Menonites, Catholics, etc. I think we need to get this right and remember what we as a nation stand for and why we have a Bill of Rights. BTW, Atta and the rest of his crew didn't sport beards, etc., so lets get a hold of our prejudices and figure out a smart way to ensure our security without doping someone up becasue of their religion. Would we Muslims sew a cresent on their clothes so we'd know who "they are" -- seemed to work well in the 30s and 40s. Terrorist aren't dumb and if we let our prejudices lead us in figuring out who the bad guys are, we'll let in the clean shaven, blue jean wearing terrorists. Read their literature -- they've figured it out -- we better too. |
| Posted by: H8_UBL 2006-06-01 20:54 |
| #16 "Middle Easterners are just as scared of Al Qaeda as everybody else, but we also have to be worried about being profiled as Al Qaeda. It's a double whammy." For those few who DO speak out against terrorists, you deserve a lot of credit. But the "umma" needs to work a LOT harder on its friends and relatives. These are YOUR folks. You have the obligation to confront them, to name it, to fight this against Islamic-based terror, even if you're scared. phil, you have it right-let's see the majority of US Muslims demonstrating, stop remaining mute for the benefit of terrorists, stop equivocating about the horror of violence when used to further the goals of the Islamic world. They want to blend into the American landscape? Fine-let more speak up in support of this WoT-in their mosques and in our midst. Walk the talk. |
| Posted by: Jules 2006-06-01 11:34 |
| #15 ...seethe with frustration and anger.... the genetic disorder is total |
| Posted by: Inspector Clueso 2006-06-01 10:33 |
| #14 When we start treating them like we did the Japanese-Americans during WW2, then they'll have the right to bitch. Until that day arrives, I'm honestly not broken up over this at all. |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2006-06-01 10:15 |
| #13 Here's an idea: travel on back to the Muslim hellhole you crawled out of--and stay there. That way you won't be inconvenienced by Americans trying to make sure no more of your coreligionists commit mass murder. No one will miss you, I promise. Hey, when you get back there, please tell all the homeys how bad the U.S. is. We'd like word to get around so we don't get any more scumbags like you coming our way. |
| Posted by: mac 2006-06-01 09:44 |
| #12 Still, traveling makes many Muslim Americans feel like second-class citizens. Mr. Ahmed, the comedian, often travels wearing a T-shirt that says "Got rights?" Maybe Mr. Ahmed might consider wearing a flashing red light on his head that says "Search me". Once again, the New York Times with it's finger on the pulse of American public opinion... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-06-01 08:57 |
| #11 Damn sympathy meter is on the fritz.... |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-06-01 08:29 |
| #10 So... hmm... how are Christians treated in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan these days - partuculary if they happen to have a bible with them? How about the Jews? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2006-06-01 08:18 |
| #9 I'll take them seriously when they get out on the streets demonstrating in favor of secure identities. Until then, this is just, I'm a victim, posturing. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-06-01 08:15 |
| #8 Can someone post a link to all the German Americans bitching about the way they were treated in 1918? Because it was a lot worse than this. And they were actually a plurality of Americans. But they knew the old country had screwed up and they fought against it. I don't have the sense that the same thing is happening now, with a few exceptions. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-06-01 07:37 |
| #7 "He refuses to shave his beard." Someday the beard may go the way of the Hitler mustache. Haven't seen too many of those since 1945. |
| Posted by: HV 2006-06-01 07:01 |
| #6 Textbook demonstration of the law of sowing and reaping. |
| Posted by: SR-71 2006-06-01 06:21 |
| #5 Most of those wrongly placed on the watch list seethe with frustration and anger... Uh-oh. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-06-01 06:10 |
| #4 Mister Usman isn't seeing "We're all going to die!" in my eyes. He's seeing "You're all going to die!" Just wanted to clear that up. |
| Posted by: imoyaro 2006-06-01 01:33 |
| #3 so.... |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-06-01 01:06 |
| #2 People could be more courteous about it anyway. And apologize when they're finished and make sure they get where they're going as efficiently as is reasonably possible. And the people who get inconvenienced have to be mature about it. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do, and ya gotta make sure people who fit the profile get checked out unless you want to make every fifth person in the US a security guard so you can check out everybody equally. Duh. This Political Correctness can't go on forever if it starts impacting productivity and the economy. Admit it now or admit it later, as long as you act it now. I'd love for someone to solve this so that all parties are 100% happy (except the bad guys, of course!) but until someone offers a solution instead of just whining about it all the time, I don't know what else can be done. Perhaps eventually we will have to check everyone out, but that's not so necessary yet. |
| Posted by: grb 2006-06-01 01:00 |
| #1 4 planes full of people crashed, 3000 people died a horrible death. wha, wha, f'n wah Azhar. Deal with it. An entire nation has had to be searched, delayed, frightened and jeopardized. We don't care about your discomfort. We care about our own. |
| Posted by: Hupuger Angiter7152 2006-06-01 00:35 |