Did You Know...

An American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to London was diverted early this morning to New York over security concerns about a Middle Eastern passenger:

Police had boarded the plane in New York and removed a passenger of Middle Eastern descent after the flight crew had spotted the same man on an employee bus earlier, CNN television reported.

The passenger did not appear to have the correct identification showing he was an employee, CNN said.

The pilot told passengers there was a lack of fuel and he would land the London-bound plane at JFK airport in New York.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in an interview that he had been informed by the airline that the passenger was an employee after all.

“I have gotten a report that the individual in question was, in fact, an employee who was traveling in a private capacity,” Chertoff told CNN.

The crew member aboard Flight 136 questioned a passenger whom the employee had seen bypassing security by traveling on an employee-only bus from the parking lot to the LAX airport, according to spokeswoman Sonja Whitemon. Following that conversation, the decision to divert the plane was made. It landed at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport about 2:30 a.m. ET.

CNN quotes Chertoff praising the flight crew:

…the good news here is that you have somebody who’s alert on the crew and they take appropriate steps at that point to deal with what might be a potentially dangerous situation,” he added. “That’s exactly what we are asking people to do: If you see something, say something.”

Just one problem here, Chertie. Remember your speech the other day at the NAACP convention? You know, the one where you lectured about how we need to “respect the civil rights of Muslim Americans?” Well, when citizen John Does pratice “see something, say something,” it’s an automatic invitation to a CAIR lawsuit by the civil liberties absolutists.

Chertie has chosen to lie in bed with the very people who make a living intimidating and suing vigilant Americans who take homeland security seriously. Head full of lettuce, I tell ya…

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Speaking of CAIR, Joel Mowbray shines light on the group’s duplicitous ways in the WashTimes today.