To the Editor:

“Witness for the Persecution,” by James Zumwalt (Op-Ed, April 14), was disturbing. While I agree that people should not face litigation for good-faith reporting of suspicious activity, I wonder what the six imams did that counts as suspicious.

Mr. Zumwalt writes that “witnesses described conduct that suggested something ominous might in fact be in the offing.” Then he describes the imams’ conduct: they “prayed loudly in the open terminal before boarding, sat in different seats on the plane from those assigned, positioning themselves near exits, asked for unneeded seatbelt extensions (which they then placed under their seats) and, most disturbingly made anti-American comments.”

The Constitution guarantees our freedoms of speech and religion. Praying and making anti-American comments do not rise to the level of suspicious conduct. Nor do sitting in unassigned seats or asking for seatbelt extensions.

It is shocking that our collective fear of Islam has grown so acute that the imams’ innocuous behavior could be characterized as conduct suggesting that “something ominous might in fact be in the offing.”

How shocking is it? Just substitute the words rabbis or Baptist ministers for imams and it becomes starkly clear.

The imams were not taken off the plane for their behavior—they were taken off because they are Muslims.

Tom Wilentz
Scarsdale, N.Y., April 14, 2007
The writer is the president of the Muslim Education and Converts Center of America.

Note from KBJ: Innocuous behavior? More like inculpatory behavior.