Instapundit linked up this detailed, and intriguing, account of everyone's favorite "flying imams." As suspected, they were doing a lot more than merely "flying while Muslim."

However, more interesting (to me anyway) is the admission that the pilots consulted an air marshal. To my knowledge, every flight that's ever had any reported "suspicious person" problems has had an air marshal on board. How many people did they really hire after 9-11? I'm not complaining, mind you. For once it sounds like a federal program that really works. For me, at least, it's quite comforting to think that a majority, perhaps even all, domestic flights now have at least one person on our side "packin' heat."

And if you need more evidence that 9-11 will never ever happen again, look no further than:

Another passenger, not the note writer [who originally complained of suspicious behavior], was an Arabic speaker sitting near two of the imams in the plane’s tail. That passenger pulled a flight attendant aside, and in a whisper, translated what the men were saying. They were invoking “bin Laden” and condemning America for “killing Saddam,” according to police reports.

Arabs have been telling us ever since it happened that they're not all wackamole loons looking for 72 virgins. Far from it. And here we have proof. Yeah, I know there are hundreds* of Arabic speakers reading this, thinking to themselves, "well duhh! It's my butt on that plane too!" But you gotta remember most of us English-only Americans are uncomfortable when people speak only Spanish around us, and the only joke any of us make about them is how much a Texan fears them when they have a driver's license.

In a really twisted sort of way, I actually hope Al Qaida et. al. are still fascinated with flying airplanes into things. Far as I'm concerned, it's probably the only method of attack that is now completely out of their reach.

----
* Well, probably only one, or two. On Fridays. If we're lucky. But you get the point.