|
Arab-American Agent Gives His Version of Airlines Incident
 |
| Attorneys
John Relman and Christy Lopez |
WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - In his first public statement, U.S. Secret Service Agent Walied Shater told the Washington Post newspaper his version of the events that led to his publicized ejection from an American Airlines jetliner last month as he prepared to fly to Texas to guard President George W. Bush.
The Arab-American denied American Airline's official version that there were problems with his paper work, that he was acting suspiciously or reacted in a hostile manner when attempting to resolve the confrontation aboard Flight 1191 to Dallas.
Shater's attorney, Christy E. Lopez, said her client believes he was pulled from the flight because he is Arab-American and Muslim. The U.S. Secret Service said it has launched an official inquiry into the incident.
"I was never told there was a problem with American's paperwork," Shater said. "If someone had asked me, I could have told him that American Airlines' employees made the changes to the first form and that I was simply waiting for the gate agent to complete his portion of the second form before I completed and signed it."
Shater, an agent assigned to the Presidential Protection Division of the Secret Service, was on his way to Crawford, Texas, to guard President Bush.
He did not comment directly to the Post, but provided a statement, co-written by Lopez, by e-mail. Portions of the statement were printed last weekend in a Washington Post article by reporter Darryl Fears.
American Airlines spokeswoman Andrea Rader stood by the company's original story. "We have a responsibility to protect the lives of people on the plane," Rader said. "When a guy gets off the airplane and is hostile, [the pilot] has every right to question that behavior."
In his statement in the Post, Shater said that during his 75-minute wait to board the plane while the pilot checked his credentials, "the pilot never just called my supervisor or any one of a half-dozen independently verifiable numbers that would have confirmed my identity in minutes."
"I offered such numbers and offered to assist in any way I could," Shater said. "When another American Airlines employee made that call that evening . . . my identity . . . was verified in just a few minutes."
Lopez said her client spoke out to give his version of the story and, thereby, widen the explanation of what happened aboard flight 363. Two federal agencies, the Department of Transportation, where Shater filed his complaint, and the Secret Service, where the airline filed its complaint, are investigating.
A third organization, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), filed a complaint with the airline in hopes of getting an apology for removing Shater from the plane.
"All Americans are concerned about improving safety for the traveling public, but religious and ethnic profiling is not the way to make flying more secure," said CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper.
During discussion of the incident, Shater's reputation has taken a beating. That is why he approached the attorneys. News personalities who influence public opinion sided with American Airlines. A CBS News web site survey showed that 78% of respondents nationwide approved of the airline's actions.
Shater said he was in a good mood on the day of the incident. The FBI had recently recognized him for anti-terrorist training in New Jersey, and his family seemed happy after he left them in the Northeast with his wife's parents.
He approached the American Airlines ticket counter after arriving at Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI) and told the ticketing agent, "I'm a law enforcement officer. I'd like a form." It was a routine that any officer who has carried a gun on board a plane knows. He gave the airline employee details about his background, and the agent filled out what is known as the AA E2 form.
As part of the protocol, Shater was escorted to the security gate, where he handed over the sidearm and walked through. At the gate, he met Flight 1191's pilot. Until that flight was scratched because of a mechanical malfunction, there were no problems.
But now, Shater had to hurry to make it to Bush's ranch in Crawford. Like other passengers, he got off the plane and walked to an adjoining gate to catch Dallas-bound Flight 363. But he needed another E2 form. The gate had none.
Together, Shater and the agent agreed to alter the form, attorney Lopez said. The gate agent scratched out the flight and seat numbers, plus the time of departure and destination, then wrote the changes in the margins. Shater was assigned Seat 23D.
Mark Pueschel sat in the window seat next to Shater. He saw him get up, which the airline said Shater did on his own accord. In their rebuttal, Shater's attorneys said airline personnel asked him to leave to undergo further scrutiny by a security team. He left his carry-on bag in the overhead bin, Pueschel said, which made a flight attendant suspicious.
Shater returned a few minutes later, but again he stood and departed. This time, Pueschel said, he took his carry-on, countering American's report that he did not. When Shater disappeared behind the first-class curtain, a flight attendant walked over to check his belongings, Pueschel said.
She felt his black leather jacket and held his English-language textbook. It was called "The Crusades Through Arab Eyes," and Shater had bought it on Amazon.com.
Although the American Airlines report said Shater left the plane for no apparent reason, John P. Relman, another of his lawyers, said five others were also asked to deplane and undergo further scrutiny.
"That we yanked him off the airplane is absolutely untrue," said Rader, the airline spokeswoman. But Pueschel supported Shater's story. Rader dismissed Pueschel's observations.
Pueschel said Shater's behavior seemed normal. "I was more intrigued with her activity," he said, referring to the attendant who rifled through Shater's belongings.
"She grabbed his book, looked at the title and made a face, like she was annoyed or had discovered something that was unbecoming," Pueschel said. "Her actions led me to believe that something was up."
The agent's lawyer denied the allegation that his client was carrying an Arabic language book, saying that the agent was American-born and could not read Arabic. No legal action has been filed
A passenger sitting next to the agent denied that he had acted in a hostile manner when confronted by members of the jetliner's crew.
Outside the plane's cabin, the situation was getting tense. The attendant had gone into the cockpit and informed the pilot of Shater's "strange behavior." She told him Shater had gotten off the plane and left a book with Arabic writing on the cover. That prompted the captain to take a closer look at the messy E2 form.
It wasn't signed. In his report, the pilot said, "I then had the agent come back and recheck his credentials and give me a new AA E2. Again this form was filled out improperly. I left my seat to speak to the individual. He appeared nervous and anxious."
But days after the event, Bush supported Shater, saying he doubted the pilot's characterization of the agent and vouched publicly for the agent.
"I know the man," Bush told reporters at the White House. "I am most appreciative of his service to me and my wife. He is an honorable fellow. I don't know enough about the details of this particular incident. But I know there's an investigation going on, and I look forward to seeing it."
Meanwhile, Shater said, "This unnamed pilot says I was belligerent and many are quick to believe him."
"I can only reiterate that I am trained to remain cool regardless of provocation, and that I was never belligerent or threatening in any way to anyone that evening," he added.
Relman, the attorney, said the form wasn't signed because Shater had handed it to the gate agent, expecting to get it back after the seat number and other information were added.
But the pilot didn't know any of that, the American Airlines spokeswoman said. He saw forms with no signature, phone number or traveling status of the officer. Shater admitted to being frustrated. In addition to worrying about not making it to the president's ranch, he felt his cover was being blown.
On the plane, the pilot spoke by radio with American's security officer in charge, asking him "to fax me a copy of what the Secret Service credentials look like" and discussing other ways to verify Shater's credentials.
"While all this was going on," the pilot wrote in the report, "the individual approached me . . . and asked why he was being denied boarding for so long. I disclosed to him that the paperwork was not correct and that I needed to have it fixed before he would be accommodated," the pilot wrote. "This was an [American Airlines] issue and none of his concern."
Shater provided his version. "After over an hour of the pilot humiliating me, I did tell the pilot that his treatment of me was unprofessional. When he responded, 'Never again address me directly,' I showed him my credentials and told him that those credentials get me into the White House, not just his plane.
"Now the pilot and American Airlines are trying to turn that single exchange, occurring late in this incident and not in front of any passengers, into the reason why I was barred from flying on American," Shater said.
Ultimately, Shater decided not to get on the flight. Even though the airline's report described him as hostile, he was allowed back on the plane, with his gun, to retrieve the rest of his belongings.
"It was clear to me that day, and it remains clear to me now, that the pilot did not follow the appropriate procedure to verify my identity because, in his mind, any evidence in support of the fact that I was a legitimate Secret Service agent could never outweigh the fact that I was a man of Arab descent and therefore suspicious," Shater said. "He never called, he never wanted to call, he was never going to call anyone to verify my identity."
The agent ultimately took yet another flight to Texas, where he formed part of the Secret Service detail over the Christmas holidays at the president's 1,600-acre ranch in Crawford.
"I would be surprised if he was hostile,” said Bush. "But as I said, if he was mistreated because of his ethnicity, I'm going to be plenty hot. That means angry."
Since the deadly September 11 attacks, many Arab-Americans and Muslims have complained about extra-scrutiny and harassment when boarding domestic flights in the United States. Some have been removed from their flights because of alleged fears over security.
|
