MILWAUKEE (AP) — Midwest Airlines canceled a flight ready to take off for San Francisco after a passenger found Arabic-style handwriting in the company’s in-flight magazine and alerted the crew.
The plane, carrying 118 passengers and five crew members, had already pulled away from the gate at Mitchell International Airport on Sunday evening. It returned to the gate, the passengers got off, security authorities were notified, all luggage was checked and the aircraft was inspected. Nothing was found.
The passengers were put up in nearby hotels and booked on a Monday morning flight.
The writing was in Farsi, the language used in Iran, said airline spokeswoman Carol Skornycka. She said she didn’t know exactly what the writing said but was similar to a prayer, "something of a contemplative nature."
Source: [USA TODAY] via [The Angry Arab]
Ok, I will make sure not to write my mom a letter while I’m on a US plane. Damn you Bin Ladin, Zarqawi and the rest of the cronies for tarnishing my mother-tongue.
Perhaps they would take it lightly because English language speakers do not have a history of bombing or hijaking airplanes.
I think it is about time for Arabs to stop blaming Americans/the West for all their ills. If you want to stop the world from discriminating against you, then you should–like Natasha suggested–take a stance against terrorism yourselves. For Arabs/Muslims who live in America and who do not want to be discriminated against, they should decide upon themselves that Islamic militants are the “bad” and “radical” Muslims. They can easily condemn such deeds by protesting in the streets against Islamic groups and people like Usama Bin Laden–just like they protested the banning of hijab in France or as they usually protest the support of America to the Israelis in front of embassies. Unless Muslims themselves decide who represent the true face of Islam best, America is not going to and should not trust them.