The Air Tran Flight 297 story I wrote about Sunday isn’t dying, it appears. My mailbox is full, and bloggers and local and national media are all over the story. On Monday, WSB-TV interviewed Brent Brown, CEO of Chesley Brown International, who was an eyewitness to events on the plane. If you missed it, don’t forget you can watch later on their website.

There are various theories about what happened on the flight, among them the lawsuit theory. Air Tran had recently settled a suit stemming from a New Year’s Day incident where a Muslim family was removed from a flight, so it could be the airline saw a similar potential with this case and decided to handle it in a PC way, meaning they treated these troublemakers differently than they’d have treated others. Remember in late 2007 when Southwest Airlines removed 23-year-old Hooter’s gal Kyla Ebbert from her flight for showing too much bod? I guess that’s just not acceptable these days, but 13 Muslims refusing to sit down is…

Some people have speculated the incident was a terrorist “dry run” which wouldn’t be the first out of Atlanta. Readers might remember my September, 2007, column about Delta Flight 1824, an ATL to Orlando flight detained three hours because a dozen Middle Easterners had bags that repeatedly tested positive for explosives residue. In their luggage, officials found a makeshift Vaseline-filled cylinder, strands of electrical wire with stripped ends, clocks, two tubs of butter, various batteries and bottles of hydrogen peroxide.

Witnesses for that flight (who were not singled out for intense scrutiny, as in the Air Tran case) observed two of the men (who never got on the plane) had smeared Vaseline on their arms and necks, which flight attendants I know speculated at the time might indicate a twin skin disorder – or more likely that they were prepared for a little hand-to-hand with the flight attendants and passengers. Three Delta Flight 1824 suspects had fraudulent ID, and the public was never informed of the outcome.

The other theory is that some Muslim radicals, in an effort to intimidate and bully, just thought they’d have a little fun at the Infidel’s expense. If you look at the beatings and vandalism occurring in certain Muslim areas in Europe for the last few years, it’s easy to see how some of that “little jihad” might be spreading to America. Not every terrorist is ready for the suicide bomb belt, and here in the states, where we try and respect their religion and don’t expect this kind of trouble, even the smallest threatening gesture can be alarming.

Whatever the motive of the 13 unidentified troublemakers, I’m sure they’re laughing today at us dumb Americans for beating each other up over their inappropriate behavior.