WASHINGTON -- Liberty is threatened not so much by massive destruction as by minor erosion. Like when boarding an airplane in the United States. There should be few safer passengers than a Secret Service agent who guards the president. But not in the case of Walied Shater, who was tossed off of an American Airlines flight on Christmas Day.
Unfortunately, the dispute has degenerated into a typical "he said, she said" squabble. The captain and flight attendants almost certainly wouldn't have questioned Shater's credentials had he been a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant. Indeed, the captain didn't bother looking over the Secret Service paperwork, which he later criticized, until the flight attendant complained about Shater.
However, Shater admits to becoming upset in response, which would put any crew on edge. He probably wouldn't have been ousted had he been less belligerent and his forms been in order. No one comes away looking very good. But it's a poor case for the government to sort out. Especially after Sept. 11, airline personnel should be allowed to decide who flies on their planes.