Be prepared for the next episode of CAIR’s grievance theater; I’m surprised they’re not all over this one already: Plane bound for Chicago held after dispute involving Arabic-speaking men.

SAN DIEGO - All passengers on an American Airlines redeye flight to Chicago were ordered off a plane after complaints about a group of Arabic-speaking men.

Local law enforcement questioned the six men and released them quickly, American spokesman Tim Wagner said Wednesday. The Transportation Security Administration did not get involved, said agency spokesman Nico Melendez.

“They did nothing wrong,” said Dave Stephens, chief executive officer for Defense Training Systems, which had hired the men to train Marines at Camp Pendleton.

The incident was “an unfortunate situation for all flight passengers,” according to a statement from the company, a unit of International Logistics Services Corp. of Anchorage, Alaska.

American Flight 590 had been scheduled to leave late Tuesday. A passenger who was traveling with two children got into an argument with the six men, Wagner said. He declined to comment on the substance of the dispute.

Stephens said some passengers complained after hearing the men speak in Arabic, but he declined to elaborate. “I wish I could say more because I have personal feelings but this is what I’m allowed to say,” he said.

And speaking of CAIR, Robert Spencer takes a look at the Holy Land Foundation trial and its connections to CAIR: A Trying Time for CAIR.

(Hat tip: Ethel.)

UPDATE at 8/30/07 8:50:24 am:

The San Diego Union Tribune has a few more details: Passenger dispute delays American Airlines flight overnight.

SAN DIEGO – A conflict between passengers at Lindbergh Field Tuesday night caused the overnight delay of an American Airlines flight headed to Chicago.

Flight 590 was scheduled to depart at 11 p.m. for Chicago O’Hare International Airport but was rescheduled for Wednesday at 10:15 a.m. after some kind of dispute among customers started at the gate and continued onto the plane, said American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner.

While Wagner said it is the airlines policy not to disclose any information about their passengers, televised reports claimed that the incident involved a group of six to seven Iraqi Americans and another passenger who was apparently uncomfortable that the men were speaking in Arabic.

The jet left the gate at 11:14 p.m. but did not take off and instead returned at 11:26 p.m. after a traveler with a child elected to get off the plane, Wagner said. The airport’s 11:30 p.m. curfew then prevented the plane from taking off, Wagner said. He said 126 passengers had booked the flight, although he didn’t know the exact number that boarded.

Christine Zugay of Chicago was on board flight 590. She said that after the plane’s doors closed and everyone was seated, the plane left the gate and began to taxi toward the runway. The pilot then came on the intercom and said there was a problem onboard the jet that needed to be taken care of, and that they were returning to the gate, Zugay said.

A few minutes later, the pilot notified passengers that the flight would have to be rescheduled due to Lindbergh Field’s 11:30 p.m. curfew on departures.

Zugay said she did not see or hear any altercation on the plane, but that disembarking passengers were talking about a woman and a child who had left the flight.

UPDATE at 8/30/07 9:45:50 am:

Yep, CAIR’s involved already, probably because someone from the Sun-Times contacted them: Arabic spoken? Plane grounded.

Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Chicago, was upset about the airline’s actions. He said television reporters told him that six Iraqi Americans were detained after a passenger became uncomfortable with the men speaking Arabic.

“It is one thing to flag suspicious behavior, but to flag a global language? We are deplaning people for who they are, not what they do,” Rehab said.

(Hat tip: JammieWearingFool.)