A disquieting story from Tampa, Florida, where two Saudis acting very strangely boarded a schoolbus and (thankfully) were arrested: Saudi Men Who Rode School Bus Arrested.

TAMPA - Two Saudi men were arrested Friday after they boarded a school bus and rode to Wharton High School in New Tampa.

Students on the bus became alarmed, as did the bus driver, who called ahead. Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputies met the bus at the school and detained the men. No one was injured and nothing out of line occurred on the bus, deputies said.

Mana Saleh Almanajam, 23, who lives in Apt. 302 in The Point apartments, and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran, 20 Monticello Gardens, Apt. 304-A, each were charged with trespassing on school property. Both remained in Orient Road Jail on Friday evening. Bail for each was set at $250.

“Both defendants gave several versions of the reason they took a school bus to a high school,” said Hillsborough County sheriff’s spokesman J.D. Callaway. “They said they wanted to go to Wharton to look around, and then they said they wanted to go there to have some fun, and then they said they wanted to enroll in the English classes there,” Callaway said.

“We’re not sure if this was a situation of them just being new to this country, or if they were confused or what it was,” Callaway said. “We were unsure as to exactly what the final reason was, but it did cause great concern for the students on the bus and for us. One of the guys was wearing shorts with a black trench coat.”

While on the bus, the men laughed and spoke in Arabic, Callaway said.

Ahmed Bedier, Tampa director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said the men likely meant no harm and that because “they were from Saudi Arabia, that escalated the situation.”

He blamed the incident on cultural differences. “They didn’t differentiate between a school bus and public transportation,” he said.

Given that the scheming liars who run Saudi Arabia continue to indoctrinate young Saudis with jihad propaganda and hatred, and given the horrible Beslan school massacre in our recent past, it’s reassuring that we aren’t yet so hobbled by political correctness that incidents like this are treated as insignificant by the police.

Over at Daily Kos, however, it’s a different story as the smug, ignorant children of privilege snicker at concerns about terrorism, with that devastating rhetorical device—multiple exclamation points: Daily Kos: OH MY GOD! [Updated]

(Note - each word is a separate link) You’re just not going to believe this outrage!!! Two men got on a school bus!!!!! This is just incredible!!!!!

OH MY GOD!!!!

It’s a good thing the sentries are on duty, keeping watch to guard and protect us!!!!!!!!!

Imagine the widespread alarm and outrage that we would see all over the right-wing blogosphere if they looked like Timothy McVeigh!!!!!!!!!!!

Robert Spencer responds to this moron.

UPDATE at 5/21/06 6:39:39 pm:

Of course it’s possible the innocuous explanations are correct. But if jihadis are probing our defenses, the reaction at Daily Kos must have made them smile.

UPDATE at 5/21/06 6:54:26 pm:

LGF reader ferris points out that actor James Woods witnessed an Islamic terrorism dry run in August 2001.

One of the practice flights may have occurred in August. Actor James Woods was so shaken by a flight he took from Boston to Los Angeles about a month before the attacks that he told an attendant and authorities of his suspicions when he landed. Woods was in first-class and the only other passengers in the section were four men who appeared to be Middle Eastern in origin.

During the entire six-hour flight, Woods noticed the men neither ate nor drank. They talked to each other in whispers and did not read or sleep. On Sept. 12, Woods called the FBI to tell investigators about his experience. He was interviewed by agents on Sept. 13. Woods’s spokesman told Reuters the actor thought it ”prudent not to comment on this and let the FBI continue to do their job, which they seem to be doing superbly right now.”

Most people are not aware, however, of a report from journalist Annie Jacobsen, who said that a federal agent told her one of the terrorists Woods saw rehearsing was Mohammed Atta.