July 15, 2005
Arabic rapper from Houston fired as baggage screener
Bassam Khalaf, who is known as the Arabic Assassin on his unreleased rap CD, "Terror Alert," has lyrics that glorify the 9/11 hijackers, and describes himself as a "crazy, suicidal Arabic ... equipped with bombs."
And until last week, he screened luggage passing through Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.
"I've been screening your bags for the past six months, and you don't even know it," said Khalaf, who also said Thursday that he is not really a terrorist and that his rhymes are exaggerations meant to gain publicity.Common sense seems to escape some people.An Internet search of Khalaf's name brings up Web sites that feature his obscene, violent and misogynistic raps that threaten to fly a plane into a building on Sept. 11, 2005.
Khalaf, 21, was hired on Jan. 16 and fired July 7, according to a TSA termination letter that cited his "authorship of songs which applaud the efforts of the terrorists on September 11th, encourage and warn of future acts of terrorism by you, discuss at length and in grave and alarming detail various criminal acts you intend to commit, state your belief that the U.S. government should be overthrown, and finally warn that others will die on September 11, 2005."
Then again, behind this, the Arabic Assassin's CD (whenever it gets released) will probably sell out.