Flying on the ground is wrong

Today’s column on the flying imams by Star Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten could not be more timely: “Suspicions about imams grows as terror links pile up.” Audrey Hudson reports in today’s Washington Times that CAIR has undertaken the representation of five of the six flying imams and that they are seeking an out-of-court settlement of a claim against US Airways based on their removal from Flight 300.
CAIR executive director Nihad Awad, one of the CAIR officials quoted in Hudson’s story, was of course one of two featured speakers at Keith Ellison’s August 25 fundraiser in suburban Minneapolis. Hudson also notes: “An airline spokeswoman says they have received the request from CAIR for a meeting, as well as a meeting request from Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, Minnesota Democrat, the first Muslim elected to Congress, but no date has been set.”
With the confluence of imam ringleader Omar Shahin (see Kersten’s column), Keith Ellison (see “Louis Farrakhan’s first congressman”) and Nihad Awad (see “Keith Ellison’s terror-loving friends”), we have a harmonic convergence of dubious forces. Gary Gross examines the CAIR party line and checks it against other sources. There seems to be a story behind the story here.
Over at Pajamas Media, Richard Miniter continues his investigation of the case of the flying imams. Inspired by John’s report of the kiss-off given to the story by Star Tribune editor Anders Gyllenhaal, Richard raises a number of issues warranting further investigation and concludes: “So if the Star-Tribune or any other news operation wants to examine the case of the flying imams further, there are plenty of fresh angles to pursue. My fellow scribes feel free to follow up!”
UPDATE: Kathy has posted an expanded version of her column in this post of her Star Tribune blog Think Again.