Six Imams Update: Those Darn Facts, and Some Opinions

Here are items, mostly from supposed right-wing “propaganda outlets,” which happen to be raising uncomfortable “truth and facts” in the six imams situation.

CAIR is doing their expected shakedown dance.

The Washington Times notes the cuff contradications:

CAIR says the men were handcuffed for several hours and is also demanding hearings on religious and ethnic profiling at airports.

Mr. Shahin told The Washington Times he was only handcuffed for “10 or 15 minutes” and that the imams were not led off the plane in handcuffs.

Richard Miniter, among many other salient points, notes something that yours truly raised 10 days ago, namely that a few people involved think that Marwan Sadeddin was pretending to be blind.

Powerline reminds us that newly-elected Congressman Keith Ellison lurks in the background, his involvement apparently peripheral but still unclear.

(Aside — Oh boy, this next one apparently
“counts,” because it comes from a
Buckeye State Blog staff-Approved
“MAINSTREAM SOURCE.”
So pay special attention to this one. Zheesh.)

Katherine Kersten of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune is an op-ed writer who apparently frequently scoops that paper’s beat reporters, especially if there are rocks to turn over that might reveal something that will upset the politically correct. She was last seen at BizzyBlog scorching Minnesota’s Democratic Farm Labor Party (the DFL, the name for that state’s Democrats) for characterizing ads produced by former Iraq War soldiers and the families of slain soldiers from that state as (I’m not kidding) “un-American.” Kersten, who may be the ideologically loneliest employee in one of the furthest-left newsrooms in America, follows up on a story the Star-Trib’s editor apparently thinks is old news, and connects lots and lots of dots between the imams and outfits associated with terror.

Now, to some opinions.

Transterrestrial Musings is not amused:

(US Airways) ….. should countersue against these people for (probably deliberately, based on most accounts) terrorizing the passengers and disrupting service. I’d be happy to even contribute to a legal fund for it. In fact, it would be a good idea to set up a fund and get all the airlines to contribute to it, because US Air is waging this battle for the whole industry.

Dan Riehl raises a good point:

Radical Islamists have been actively working America’s tradition of charity to feed money to their malignant cause. The government has been fairly effective in shutting them down. So, is it really out of the question to wonder if some of the same individuals aren’t re-directing their energies, seeing charges of discrimination as a means of getting America to lower her defenses?

Ace was on a roll — “Shock of all shocks, they’re looking to settle just as their dirty laundry is ….. precluding any chance of a verdict in their favor.”

CAIR’s Ohio Chapter President Asma Mobin-Uddin did his part in the coordinated PR blitz that is surely occurring nationwide with a Sunday letter (”Airline discriminated against Muslim clerics”) to the Columbus Dispatch. Let Freedom Ring rang his bell, but good.

* * * * * * *

I think Captain Ed has the best read on the whole affair, as it relates to both the imams and the local Twin Cities press:

At first, the provocation seemed designed to promote Muslims as a victim class. With the kinds of connections that Kersten details, it looks more like a serious attempt to force a retreat on airline security that would allow terrorists to conduct another attack. The Star Tribune’s refusal to do actual reporting on this subject and their abdication of their journalistic responsibilities to their local columnist do a disservice to their Minneapolis readers and to the nation as a whole.

True enough, Captain. But Katherine Kersten still works for a Buckeye State Blog staff-Approved “MAINSTREAM SOURCE,” which means that even though no one can possibly believe you (despite the fact that you broke the publicaton ban in Canada’s “Adscam” scandal that ultimately took down that country’s Liberal Government), or Powerline, or Let Freedom Ring, or the WashTimes, or Richard Miniter, everyone MUST believe her.

……

….. and Rathergate was just pulp fiction until the NY Times called the forged memos “fake but accurate.” (/sarcasm)

_______________________________

UPDATE: Debra Burlingame, whose husband brother piloted one of the 9/11 planes, of 911 Families for America, appeared on Fox News (oops, guess this one doesn’t “count” either — Ed.), and made some of the points described in this post. She also urged viewers to contact US Air to support their conduct. Done.

UPDATE 2: Another apparently “untrustworthy” opinion (HT the “untrustworthy” Jawa Report), because it’s from a Muslim organization that stridently objects to the conduct of the six imams:

As a devout Muslim, I have watched this painfully protracted saga unravel, fearing what comes next. The media, especially print media, have bent over backward to hear minorities’ fears. Yet public opinion has not seemed to budge in favor of the imams. The lesson here lies in why. It has to do with credibility.

We are all creatures of passion. This fiasco has stirred the passionate cry of victimization from the Muslim activist community and imam community. But where were the news conferences, the rallies to protest the endless litany of atrocities performed by people who act supposedly in my religion’s name? Where are the denunciations, not against terrorism in the abstract, but clear denunciations of al-Qaida or Hamas, of Wahhabism or militant Islamism, of Darfurian genocide or misogyny and honor killings, to name a few? There is no cry, there is no rage. At best, there is the most tepid of disclaimers. In short, there is no passion. But for victimization, always.