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High-Flying Profiling: Six Muslim Leaders Removed in Handcuffs
From US Airways Plane After Praying in Airport
Voting Irregularities Probed in Florida Congressional Race
Triple Cross: Journalist Peter Lance on How Bin Laden's Master
Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets and the FBI - And
Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to Stop Him
High-Flying Profiling: Six Muslim Leaders Removed
in Handcuffs From US Airways Plane After Praying in Airport
Six Muslim leaders were removed from a US Airways flight
in handcuffs last week and questioned for several hours after
being seen praying together before boarding the plane. After
their release, US Airways denied them passage on any of its
other flights and refused to help them obtain tickets through
another airline. Two of the imams joins us in our firehouse
studio. [includes rush
transcript]
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is calling for
congressional hearings about ethnic and religious profiling
at airports. The call comes in response to an incident last
week in Minneapolis when six Muslim imams were removed from
a US Airways flight in handcuffs. They were detained after
being seen praying together before boarding the flight.
The imams were in Minneapolis attending a conference sponsored
by the North American Imams Federation. The president of the
organization, Omar Shahin, was one of the six imams removed
from the plane. He joins me here in New York along with Ahmad
Shqeirat, an imam at the Islamic Center of Tempe, AZ, who
was also removed from the plane.
We invited a spokesperson from US Airways to joins us today
but they declined. Andrea Rader, a spokesperson for the airline
told the Associated Press that prayer was never the issue.
She said the passenger overheard anti-U.S. statements and
the men got up and moved around the airplane. She said "We're
sorry the imams had a difficult time, but we do think the
crews have to make these calls and we think they made the
right one."
- Imam Omar Shahin, president of the North American Imams
Federation. He is one of six imams removed from a US Airways
flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
- Imam Ahmad Shqeirat, an imam at the Islamic Center of
Tempe, AZ. He is one of six imams removed from a US Airways
flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Voting Irregularities Probed in Florida Congressional
Race
In Florida, election officials in Sarasota County have begun
a review of touch-screen voting machines used in the recent
election. They are testing the machines in order to determine
why more than 18,000 ballots in the county registered no votes
in the highly contested Congressional race between Republican
Vern Buchanan and Democrat Christine Jennings. [includes rush
transcript]
The undercount was almost 15 % of ballots cast - far higher
than in neighboring areas.
Buchanan, with 369 votes more than Jennings, was certified
the winner last week. But the Sarasota County Supervisor of
Elections requested a state audit in response to voter complaints.
A few days after the election, more than 100 County residents
told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that their votes were either
not recorded or that they never saw the race listed on the
ballot. The paper also wrote that if the missing votes had
broken for Jennings by the same percentage as the counted
votes in the county, - the Democrat would have won the race
by about 600 votes. Christine Jennings is contesting the results
and the case is now in court. This seat also happens to be
the old seat of Katherine Harris who, when she was Secretary
of State, was a central figure in the 2000 Presidential re-count
battle.
- Elana Schor, staff reporter at The
Hill.
Triple Cross: Journalist Peter Lance on How Bin Laden's
Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets and the FBI
- And Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to Stop Him
New details have emerged about how an al Qaeda spy named
Ali Mohamed penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets and the FBI
before the 9/11 attacks. We speak with investigative journalist
Peter Lance about his new book, "Triple Cross."
[includes rush
transcript]
Ali Mohamed was a member of Osama bin Laden's inner circle
who operated freely within the United States for years before
9/11. Despite being a top al Qaeda operative, he managed to
become a naturalized US citizen, join the US Army, get posted
to the military base where Green Berets and Delta Force train
and infiltrate both the CIA and FBI. And while he was an FBI
informant he smuggled bin Laden in and out of Afghanistan
and helped plan the attacks on US embassies in Africa. He
ended up playing a pivotal role in 9/11.
Journalist Peter Lance joins me here in our firehouse studio.
He is a five-time Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter
and a former ABC News correspondent. His new book is called
"Triple Cross: How Bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated
the CIA, the Green Berets and the FBI - And Why Patrick Fitzgerald
Failed to Stop Him."
- Peter Lance, five-time Emmy Award-winning investigative
reporter and a former ABC News correspondent. His latest
book is "Triple Cross." His previous books include
"1000 Years For Revenge" and "Cover Up."
Website: Peterlance.com
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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