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Politics : The Truth About Islam -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ichy Smith who wrote (3712)	12/29/2006 9:57:14 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 20106

Sounds like the latter.

To: Ichy Smith who wrote (3712)	12/29/2006 9:58:09 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 20106

(To avoid "ignorance or insensitivity") Airports Prepare To Accommodate Muslims' Pilgrimage Tampa Tribune ^ \| December 29, 2006 \| Adam Emerson tbo.com TAMPA - As nearly 3 million Muslims complete the annual hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, several hundred will return to airports throughout Central Florida in the next two weeks. They may dress in traditional robes, carrying the Koran and uttering prayers during their long waits in airport terminals. On Thursday, advocates in Tampa met with airport, customs and FBI officials to help ensure Muslims don't meet with problems as a result of ignorance or insensitivity. Ahmed Bedier, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Tampa, fears recent detentions of Muslims at U.S. airports may continue unless authorities learn about those returning from the holy city. Last month in Minnesota, six Muslims clerics were removed from an airline and questioned after their praying and conversation alarmed other passengers. This year, authorities at Tampa International Airport detained an Iraqi-born woman and questioned her for six hours. She was strip-searched at the Pinellas County Jail, an act that drew an apology this month from the Department of Homeland Security. Nearly 3 million Muslims from around the world massed in tent cities on the outskirts of Mecca on Thursday for the start of the hajj. For many, it is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to cleanse their sins in one of the most important rites of Islam. Identifying Muslim Pilgrims According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, about 15,000 pilgrims traveled to Mecca from the United States. Most of them will return in early January. When they arrive in airports, they will be carrying items marking their time in the holy city. Among them: •The Koran and Muslim prayer books. Bedier urged authorities not to manhandle the Koran and explained that Muslims will stand in airport lines reading Koranic verses. •Clothing that traditionally is worn during the hajj pilgrimage. Pilgrims often will change into Western-style clothes in-flight to avoid drawing attention. "They're not trying to hide anything," Bedier said. •Holy water, or Zamzam, which often is contained in miniature plastic jugs. In a flier to airport staff, the council explains that "tossing a Zamzam water bottle in a trash bin will be deemed a disrespectful act." The latest Transportation Security Administration requirements permit no more than 3.4 ounces of liquids. Zamzam containers larger than that should be packed with checked baggage, TSA officials said in an advisory on the hajj. Bedier says he also is talking with Muslims about how they can avoid problems. For instance, they can locate any of the more than 40 chapels found at U.S. airports, including one at Tampa International Airport. By finding a chapel, they can avoid any disturbances with fellow passengers or security officials. Meanwhile, airport police are undergoing training on the hajj and its significance to Muslims, said Paul Sireci, the airport's police chief, who participated in the meeting Thursday. "We don't expect to have any incidents," Sireci said. "Now we have the knowledge." Richard Stevens, TSA's deputy federal security director at Tampa International, told Bedier that if a security officer asks a woman to remove a scarf, they can do so in a private room, Stevens said. Strip-Search Was An Error Thursday's meeting comes after the detention and deportation in April of Safana Jawad. Jawad, a Spanish citizen born in Iraq, was held at Tampa International for six hours while en route to visit her teenage son in Clearwater. Airport officials told her she had a relationship with someone they said was suspicious. She was jailed and strip-searched in Pinellas County and sent on a flight back to Europe. In a letter dated Dec. 8, Homeland Security Department officials admit that authorities should not have strip-searched her, but they made no mention of her airport detention. To date, she hasn't learned the identity of the suspicious person, Bedier said. The apology "was a step in the right direction, but it left unanswered questions," Bedier said. "There was no reason she should have been detained."