Six Imams

Did you read the story about the six Muslim Imams who were removed from their flight in Minneapolis? Hard to miss it, right?

Well, the Tribune almost did. They had a nice little piece in the paper yesterday on it, emphasis on the "little" part. The Tribune's piece, in its entirety, reads:

Imams booted off plane after saying prayers

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Six Muslim clerics removed from a US Airways flight said Tues­day they were victims of dis­crimination and called for a boycott of the airline. The imams were removed from the flight to Phoenix on Monday night after three of them said their normal evening prayers in the termi­nal in Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport before boarding, said Omar Shahin, president of the North Ameri­can Imams Federation.

Notice how the Tribune gives one side of the story, the Imam's side, because it happens to fit with the prevailing, left-wing mindset: Americans are bad and hateful, we're intolerant, after 9/11 we unjustifiably single out Muslims for discrimination and abuse, and only journalists respect diversity and tolerance. Now, in the Tribune's defense, the media in general seems to buy into the same pitch that this is just one more example of Americans' "fear and prejudice" after we were attacked by Islamic terrorists.

But you know what? We give the good folks at the Tribune our money every day to report the news, not the company line. One of the reasons I started writing this weblog a couple years ago was my feeling that the Tribune tends to...oh, I think 'censor' is too harsh of a word...let's say that they refine the news to fit their belief system. With the internet available to us, though, we can all go out and find the rest of the story.

Well, it turns out here that there is a "rest of the story." One of the Imams removed from the flight has connections to an organization that is apparently involved in funding terrorism. Further, the Imams were reportedly voicing anti-American rhetoric, were on one-way tickets, and asked for what appeared to be unneeded seat extensions. While none of these acts are per se illegal, imagine what would have happened had the flight gone down in flames. As one observer notes:

If America is to survive, it is eventually going to have to choose national security over political correctness. Shahin has complained that he was “humiliated” and that the way the imams were treated was “terrible.” Indeed. It is terrible. It is terrible that he and the other imams who were taken off the plane, as well as other Islamic leaders in America, have allowed those who commit violence in the name of their religion to do so unimpeded and unchallenged. It is terrible that, if they were indeed removed from the plane for praying, they are among those who have allowed their religion to become so associated with violence that American citizens on an airplane become alarmed at the sight of Islamic prayer.

There is not necessarily a "right" answer to this question. There is certainly a legitimate point of view suggesting that these folks should not have been bothered for saying prayers. But my beef is with our local paper. Why can we not have the whole story (which took me all of 4 minutes to find on the internet) but instead must be spoon fed one side? Don't we pay them to do this kind of homework?

Maybe they just don't want to endanger their awards. "Must be diverse. Must be tolerant. Must be diverse..."