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Even worse, this incident could serve as the tipping point for these imams — who had otherwise merely been preaching anti-Americanism to their flocks. But such indignities could turn an imam or his congregants into terrorists. In other words, we really are the ones creating the terrorists: whereas a Muslim may have been focused on studying to become an engineer, now he will overhaul his entire career path to become a terrorist instead.
The imams claim they were only praying. "Only" praying — as if we don't know what they pray for. The imams had been at an imam conference near Minneapolis, "discussing how to build bridges" between Muslims and American society. In case anyone doesn't know, that's translated as "building bridges for American society to Islam." They admit as much on a daily basis.
The only net bad about these "false" alarms is that each one brings us closer to the point so aptly illustrated by ABC's "Path to 9/11," when airport security personnel didn't want the fallout for "picking on" a suspicious Muslim, and so one man risked his job to keep a terrorist from boarding a flight. We're fast approaching the day that calling in suspicious conversations or activities will backfire, and the alert citizen will be regarded with contempt, a roll of the eyes and inaction, as the country becomes paralyzed by fear of political and legal repercussions for being vigilant.
If you don't stop Muslims from killing Americans, you get in trouble. If you do stop them, you get into bigger trouble.
Perhaps we got a taste of things to come when two weeks after the 9/11 attacks an Ethiopian-American student at San Diego State University, named Zewdalem Kebede, confronted four Saudi nationals who were praising the September 11th attackers in the university library: the Saudis were listed as the victims and Kebede got a letter from the university's Center for Student Rights warning of possible disciplinary action, and admonishing him to "conduct yourself as a responsible member of the campus community in the future."
That episode, along with last week's 'imam-dissing' incident, plus the countless other examples of our efforts to stay alive being sabotaged, form a key part of the jihadists' plan. It's the demoralization component, and the Islamists view even these false alarms, these "humiliations" and "indignities" as victories. Recall a widely circulated article by counterterrorism analyst Laura Mansfield last year, in which this southern lady who understands Arabic overheard a meeting at a mosque in an unnamed Smalltown, USA, in which a young man named Khaled [emphasis added] "described how he and his friends whispered to each other on [a] flight, made simultaneous visits to the restroom, and generally tried to 'spook' the other passengers. He laughed when he described how several women were in tears, and one man sitting near him was praying.
"The others in the room thought the story was quite amusing, judging from the laughter. The Imam stood up and told the group that this was a kind of peaceful civil disobedience that should be encouraged, and commended Khaled and his friends for their efforts.
"He pointed out that it was through this kind of civil disobedience that ethnic profiling would fail." Which brings us back to last week's imams, who were apparently following this imam's suggestion: some of them made anti-American comments; they didn't sit together; some asked for seat belt extensions even though they weren't fat; three had one-way tickets and no checked bags; and they engaged in what might be described as in-your-face praying.
They were "intentionally provocative," as JihadWatch's Robert Spencer put it. He cited a woman's letter to US Airways: "Having been married to a Muslim (deceased husband) I might add that evening prayers can be said quietly and while sitting in a chair. Those Muslims knew that yet refused to behave properly and respectfully towards the other passengers. It is obvious that they planned to taunt the authorities."
When security personnel are no longer able or allowed to do their jobs, it will be up to individual passengers to simply walk off of flights when they feel unsafe. Some have already been doing so. Maybe one day, when this kind of civil disobedience becomes the norm, we may witness the advent of Muslim-only flights. That way, there will be no need for ethnic profiling, and we'll finally get the "moderate" Muslims to speak up. Because every Middle Easterner in the security check line will clamor, "Yo, check the dude behind me; he looks like Osama's twin brother! You already checked him? Check him again! Strip-search him!"
And really, Muslims shouldn't mind Muslim-only flights. Airplanes with nothing but Muslims as far as the eye can see should make the passengers feel right at home. CRO
