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| Passenger ejections seen as profiling |
| 2001-09-29 |
| Austin American-Statesman, by Jonathan Osborne Applause filled the cabin, passengers later recounted, as airport police escorted two Pakistani men off American Airlines Flight 886 at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport a week ago. Early on, airport officials said the men's names matched, or closely matched, those on an FBI watch list of people sought for questioning in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Officials later changed their explanation, saying the men were taken off the plane at the request of the airline. Federal regulations give commercial captains the right to remove anyone from a flight without reason. And since the Sept. 11 hijackings -- acts that federal investigators have linked to a Middle Eastern terrorist network -- anecdotal evidence suggests pilots are using their power to remove mostly passengers of Middle Eastern descent. In the more than two weeks since the attacks, at least 10 passengers fitting that description have been ordered off commercial flights across the country, including the two men in Austin and a Pakistani man in San Antonio. None of the passengers has had any connection to the Sept. 11 attacks. That's probably because they're the ones most likely to blow people up. Eskimos don't blow planes up as a rule. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |