Posted by Ir@qi (65.35.186.56) on November 19, 2001 at 01:03:31:
Originally the Fanatic Christians page http://aina.org/, wanted Assyrians to be mistaken for Greek, since Greek at this time are popular in the US because of their Gyro, and NATO, plus Greek are good looking unlike Assyrians who look like Iraqis, but no more.
Assyrians do not want to be mistaken for Greek after this article below, they are afraid now that being mistaken for Greeks, can remind people in the West that Assyrians are nothing but one version of
A-RABS, and A-rabs are not popular now because they bravely stood up to the World dictators.
The aina Christians prefer to look like Irish, at least that will secure their bartender jobs. So they are fixing their Assyrian nose, stretching and painting their Assyrian hair, and shedding their baked Arab Skin.
As of today aina will be doing what it does best, no it is not a pitition to stop the sanctions on Iraq were most of Assyrians are, no, aina will start a new petition crusade to let the whole world know that Assyrians are not Greeks.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/front_page/100574253426924100.xml
Neuroscientist forced off plane
11/14/01
JULIE SULLIVAN
The Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting is the largest of its kind, drawing 25,000 of the world's brain biologists. Among them, Thanos Tzounopoulos of Portland who in a black suit, got to the airport two hours early Sunday to travel.
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The neuroscientist and assistant professor at Oregon Health & Science University checked in, used the restroom, called his wife twice and then sat in Portland International Airport reading scientific papers for more than an hour until Flight 572 to San Diego was called.
He was in Seat 19C, the meeting agenda on his lap, awaiting the 2:41 p.m. takeoff when a ground-based Alaska Airlines employee boarded and asked him to step outside.
You cannot fly, he was told, because a passenger had complained that his behavior was strange.
"Are you serious?" asked Tzounopoulos. He had a panel of international colleagues to meet with that evening.
Instead, the former Fulbright scholar who had flown up to 50 trips a year in recent years on Alaska Airlines, was told to collect his things. As other passengers watched, he walked back down the aisle, got his carry-on bag and the research he was to deliver on the molecular mechanisms of memory and learning. Then Tzounopoulos -- a native of Greece and a permanent U.S. resident who has lived in Portland nine years -- left the plane.
New rules of engagement have emerged at airports since Sept. 11 in a new front line between passengers and pilots. Nationwide, more than 20 passengers have been removed from flights or stopped from boarding because of complaints from other passengers about their appearances or behavior. Far more incidents have been tallied informally, say Arab American organizations and airline employees.