That Didn't Take Long - ACLU & Jet Blue TShirt Incident

Well it didn't take long for the ACLU to jump in to help one of their comrades. According to a Press Release from Global Exchange (the socialist group founded by Medea Benjamin), Raed Jarrar the operative from the Medea Benjamin/Cindy Sheehan wing of the Democratic Party has filed a complain with the ACLU. Jarrar was the guy that attempted to board a Jet Blue flight wearing a TShirt proclaiming "We Will Not Be Silent" in Arabic and English.

Contrary to media claims of Jarrar being just some young Muslim man who was racially profiled by the evil TSA and Jet Blue officials, Jarrar is a political operative for several anti-war, anti-American organizations including CodePink. He also participated in the "meeting" in Jordan with the Muslim Scholars Association, victims of abuse from Abu Ghraib, other anti-American Iraqis, Tom Hayden and Cindy Sheehan.

Another piece of evidence that wearing the TShirt was not just an "accident" can be found in the Global Exchange press release...

"While in Iraq, Jarrar was the country director of CIVIC Worldwide (Marla Ruzicka’s organization), the only door-to-door casualty survey in Iraq after the US invasion in 2003. He also established an NGO called "Emaar" that carried out work in Baghdad and nine cities of the south, coordinating with local authorities, community leaders and other NGOs."

According to Sweetness & Light, the TShirt Jarrar wore has become the newest protest symbol...

"There is a growing movement in this country to challenge what appears to be an increase in racial profiling at airports. More and more travelers are wearing T-Shirts that say "We Will Not Be in Silent" in English and in Arabic. Why? Well about two weeks ago, Iraqi activist and blogger Raed Jarrar did the same thing as he was boarding a JetBlue airways flight at Kennedy airport in New York. Airport officials forced him to change his T-Shirt before getting on the plane. Democracy Now spoke with Raed Jarrar ten days ago about the incident."

According to Mark Finkelstein over at Newsbusters...

"Goodman, predictably, expressed her opposition to any kind of racial profiling for terrorists, saying if we so do we'll miss the next 'blonde, blue-eyed' Timothy McVeigh terrorist."

Frankly I'm more concerned with security missing the next Mohammed Atta.

Hopefully the TSA and other airline security will continue to pull people wearing these TShirts aside and subject them to further scrutiny. In light of the recent airline bomber plot, to do otherwise would be negligent.