allah be praised… most of the time.

in case you haven\’t heard of the latest airline / muslim kerfuffle, go here. (Then come back.)

oy.

well, i guess it depends on what version of the story you believe. if you believe this one:

Shahin said Tuesday that three members of the group prayed in the terminal before the six boarded the plane on Monday. \”We did nothing\” on the plane, Shahin said.

then the USAir passenger (margaret lou from sioux falls, SD, no doubt) apparently watches Fox News too much and handed a note to the flight attendant simply because the imams looked suspicious.

if you believe this one:

Pat Hogan, spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, said that witnesses to Monday\’s events told police that before the flight that besides praying, the imams were spouting anti-American rhetoric, talking about the war in Iraq and Saddam Hussein.

One of the imams was heard saying that he would do whatever is necessary to fulfill his commitment to the Qur\’an, witnesses told police, Hogan said. Other witnesses said some of the imams were repeating \”Allah, Allah,\” he said.

then i suppose that\’s a different story.

i\’d like to think that i would have not freaked out. (or, hopefully, had my iPod too loud to even notice what was being said.) but would i have been nervous? yup. however, i\’m 99% certain that the imams did nothing but board the plane and, unfortunately, be muslim. oh, and i suppose they could have been more compliant with airline staff when asked to leave, but i can understand why they were a little pissed.

it\’s an unfortunate story, on many levels. one, even if you\’re like me and don\’t believe that anything bad happened on the plane, there\’s a large segment of the population that will believe it, and that\’s unfortunate. two, again if you don\’t believe anything bad happened on the plane, it makes– by extension– us minnesotans look incredibly ignorant. which is probably deserved, but again: unfortunate.

however, part of me is reluctant to blame the people on the plane. frankly, this adminstration and certain media outlets haven\’t gone out of their way to say that all muslims shouldn\’t be feared, at least initially. if you don\’t think so, check out the video here. we\’re now assuming that people are our enemy until proven not, based on their religious beliefs.

and who says the terrorists didn\’t win?