On the front page of Pajamas Media today, I ask the important question, "Is it Un-American to Question Suspicious Airline Passengers? The New Racial Profiling Lawsuits." In this piece, I reveal the contents of an exclusive interview I did yesterday with Lawrence Garcia, the lead lawyer for the six, Iraqi natives who announced last week that they are suing American Airlines for "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in a racial profiling lawsuit. Here's an excerpt of my exchange with attorney Lawrence Garcia: 

The men’s Detroit-based attorney, Lawrence Garcia claims that American Airlines is “trying to say the issue is about security.” Garcia says it’s “about a violation of an individual’s rights,” quoting Thomas Jefferson: “anyone who sacrifices liberty in order to gain security deserves neither.”

How was it “violating liberty” to interview the six men for an hour — ten minutes each — he was asked.

“Security is a noble goal, I agree.” Garcia said. “But American Airlines excuse for how they handled this case was that security is a noble goal. My clients were detained. It was false imprisonment, they were aware of their captivity.”

Captivity? Captivity is the condition of being imprisoned or confined.

“But your clients were simply questioned by American Airlines employees,” it was pointed out to Garcia.

“That’s right,” he said.

“Then they were certainly free to go,” this reporter pointed out to him.

“They were aware of their captivity,” Garcia hedged.

“Were the men handcuffed?”

“No.”

“Were any police officers or other law enforcement agents involved?” (Early press reports quoted airline spokesman Tim Wagner as stating, “several passengers were briefly interviewed by law enforcement officers but no passenger was arrested.”)

“No,” Garcia said. “And I have no further comment.”

His position appeared inconsistent. The men in question not only had military training, but were contracted by the U.S. government to educate U.S. military men regarding etiquette. You’d think these men, of all people, would have a pretty clear understanding of what it means to be held captive and/or detained—as opposed to what it means to be questioned. But attempts to get him to clarify further were unsuccessful.“Do not reach me again,” he said. Then he hung up.

Garcia was extremely sensitive to my questions about his clients' interaction with law enforcement officers. So sensitive in fact, that he slammed the phone down on me — after he ordered me not to print any of our conversation (I explained to Garcia that I'd identified myself as a reporter and he agreed to our interview). Now I know why Garcia was so loathe to discuss the law enforcement officers in this case.

According to today's Washington Times, "Iraqi Passengers Sue Airline, Claim Discrimination," by Audrey Hudson and Sara A. Carter, it was one of Garcia's client's, Dave al-Watan, who, according to a police report, approached the police, and not vice versa. Apparently, he was drunk. Also according to the police report, Al-Watan became belligerent with the police officer, asking if the flight was delayed because he and his colleagues were from Iraq. He then shouted out to the crowd, "I am going to sue the airlines."

All this before any of the Iraqi natives were asked a single question by "officials" or law enforcement, let alone held "captive," as attorney Lawrence Garcia claims. From the Washington Times:

A group of Iraqi Pentagon contractors is suing American Airlines claiming racial discrimination for delaying its flight, but a police report shows that some of the men might have been intoxicated, behaved in a frightening and belligerent manner and scared one family off the plane.

The captain of American Airlines Flight 590 from San Diego to Chicago delayed the late-night Aug. 28 takeoff after crew members reported that they "did not feel safe," according to the report obtained by The Washington Times.

The Iraqi men filed the lawsuit last week in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan, where they live, saying they were falsely identified as "posing a risk to security by reliance on racial profiling and through discrimination based on race and national origin."

The captain did not alert the passengers to any danger and instead said the plane had to return to the gate because of an 11:30 p.m. airport curfew.

The men left the plane with the other passengers, but the lawsuit says they were singled out and removed from the flight because they spoke to one another in Arabic.

Once inside the gate area, the lawsuit states, the men "were pulled aside from a crowd of roughly 120 passengers as 'persons of suspicion" inappropriately thought to pose a threat to security."

However, a Port of San Diego police officer reported that he was first approached by one of the men, Dave Al-Watan, "who asked me what the problem was."

The officer said in his report that Mr. Al-Watan had "red, watery eyes and had the odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath." Another officer who approached the group said he smelled alcohol but could not pinpoint who might have been drinking.

Mr. Al-Watan raised his voice to the officers and asked whether the flight had been delayed "because we are from Iraq? Is that why we were removed from the plane?"

Turning to the passengers, Mr. Al-Watan continued in a loud voice: "I am an American citizen, and I work for the Marines. Just leave us off the plane, tell the other people they can fly without us if that's what they want."

"I want a report. This is America. You can't treat people like this. I am going to sue the airlines," Mr. Al-Watan said. 

Here we have a case of six men angling to cash in on American's civil justice system. It's not the first time it's happened. Audrey Hudson has covered the case of the Flying Imams since day two. Read my entire Pajamas Media piece to learn about another such incident on Sun Country Airlines on June 27, 2007.

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