Saintperle

8/29/06

Iraqi made to change shirt before flight (because it was "very offensive") -- USA requested to change its own regime for the same reason

From the Sydney Morning Herald via Bushout

August 30, 2006 - 8:54AM

An Iraqi architect says he was forced to change his shirt before boarding a flight in New York because the shirt had "We will not be silent" written on it in Arabic and English.

Raed Jarrar said on his internet blog, raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com, that he was required to change out of the shirt prior to boarding a JetBlue flight from New York's John F Kennedy Airport to California this month because officials told him people were offended by the shirt.

In an interview with New York Public Radio, Jarrar said: "I grew up and spent all my life living under authoritarian regimes and I know that these things happen. But I'm shocked that they happened to me here, in the US."

Jarrar could not immediately be reached for comment.

JetBlue said it was investigating the August 12 incident.

"We're not clear exactly what happened," JetBlue spokeswoman Jenny Dervin said.

The American-Arab Anti-discrimination Committee said the US Transportation Department and the Transportation Security Administration were also investigating the incident after the committee lodged complaints on behalf of Jarrar.

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Here's my quandary -- in recent years, psychotic religious fanatics have convinced out government not to allow tax funds to be spent on anything that offends them -- abortion, birth control, etc.

And I have asked Hey -- how about not spending my money on murdering the people who give little Monkey Boys nightmares because they think Saddam Hussein is Mommy... because they jolly well offend ME.


Jet Blue of course can't be clear about what happened because admitting to being a craven ass-kissing chickenshit that bends over whenever the guys with the power and the money yell at them isn't exactly the stuff shareholders want to see in a company press release.*

Because YOU KNOW, those who were offended don't read Arabic and wouldn't know if the T-shirt said "We will not be silent" or "Add 50 cents for the Deluxe Falafel."

I think, in this day and age if you DON'T successfully offend most of the people on a commercial flight, you're just not living up to your responsibilities as an American Citizen.

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*"It is difficult to get a man to understand something
when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."
Upton Sinclair

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