Six Iraqis, Arabic, and Someone with Two Kids in Tow

Details are still sketchy, but what I saw in "Airplane Passenger Dispute Involving Six Iraqis Forces Jet Evacuation in California" (August 30, 2007) looks like an American Airlines flight from San Diego to Chicago got delayed because some passengers got into an argument.

This incident made national news because six of the people involved are Iraqis, and were speaking Arabic.

American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner said that the argument started between someone traveling with two children and six men from Iraq. The Iraqis were in America, training Marines who were on their way to Iraq.

My sympathies are with the passenger with two kids in tow. I've traveled with one of our kids: one of the best-behaved ones, at that, and that was stressful enough.

My sympathies are also with the six Iraqis. It sounds like they've been working hard, and didn't need this sort of incident, either.

Before identifying this as 'racial profiling' or something else along those lines, I'm going to wait until a little more information comes out.

Meanwhile, let's remember that there were about two hundred air rage incidents over America during the late 1990s, and almost 250 last year. Some of those fracases resulted in flights being diverted from their destination.