Camouflage Is So Last Year

If I was taking a poll right now for most bizarre story in Dallas in 2007, I would have to go with the tale of two Muslim women who keep drawing attention to themselves by acting as if they have jihad on their minds.

It started after midnight on Monday morning. Steve Thompson at The Dallas Morning News explains that the domestic partners were apparently having a lover’s spat:

Kimberly Al-Homsi called 911 about 12:40 a.m. Monday. She said her friend, Aisha Hamad, had threatened her with a knife. The two are noteworthy because a few months ago, they were seen at Dallas Love Field, both dressed in camouflage pants under traditional Muslim robes, conducting what appeared to be surveillance, officials said.

Let’s start with the camouflage. Under the robes? In Dallas? As one of the bloggers onLittle Green Footballs points out, they’d be better off wearing tight pants, high heels and big blond hair with two inches of roots showing if they want to go unnoticed.

Police say that Monday morning, when an officer came to the door, Ms. Hamad threatened to shoot him. She told him the only way she would leave was in a body bag.

What is this, a Bruce Willis movie? “Come and get me coppers.”

So began the standoff, during which she fired a paintball gun at a tactical robot and missed, police say, and at the end of which a negotiator persuaded her to come out peacefully. Once outside, Ms. Hamad, 50, fought with them while they tried to handcuff her, police say, so they used a Taser on her.

Why is she shooting with a paint ball gun at the robot? The things look about as threatening as R2-D2. But they were packing heat. When Arlington police arrived, they told the neighbors to shut off all their porch lights because they had seen an infrared beam coming from the house and were worried it was a weapon with a night-vision scope. Police also found lots of ammo and two suspicious packages. One was detonated and the contents are being analyzed.

Police took Ms. Hamad to a hospital, where she was to undergo a mental evaluation. She is likely to face assault charges, Arlington police spokeswoman Christy Gilfour said. Meanwhile, police searched the home on Wembley Road and found four explosive devices, one of which was sitting on a bedroom table.

Ms. Hamad's friend and alleged victim, Ms. Al-Homsi, was jailed on a charge of possessing a prohibited weapon. She was being held, with bail set at $3,000.

KTVT-Channel 11 reported last night from the scene, where neighbors say they were started to get a little worried about the ladies next door.

"We don't let our girls out," said Bill Taylor, a resident of the neighborhood. "Coming in the front yard has become kind of a dangerous thing, or it seems to be. You just don’t know what's going to happen."

This is all the more intriguing because of what happened on February 25.

[On] Feb. 25, when the two women were spotted at Love Field acting in a way authorities found suspicious. Surveillance video showed one of them walking back and forth, apparently pacing off distances.

When confronted, the women told officials they were looking for the Frontiers of Flight museum.

Which is actually INSIDE the airport.

Two days later, the pair was spotted at the airport again. This time Ms. Al-Homsi, 42, was sitting on the hood of a car looking through binoculars at airplanes. Dallas officers stopped the car nearby, but the women refused to let police search it, authorities say.

What exactly does it take for police to have probable cause to search? Especially because Al-Homsi was on a two-year probation for a road rage incident.

In 2005, Ms. Al-Homsi was accused of waving a fake grenade at a motorist on Central Expressway during a spasm of road rage. Officials charged her with a bomb hoax, and she was placed on probation. She is said to have long-range assault rifle and explosives training, according to a Dallas police intelligence bulletin issued March 5.

One report says that Al-Homsi bragged about being trained as a sniper.

The women also came under scrutiny after they were reported driving near the runways at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on July 4. Dallas police and federal terrorism officials have acknowledged investigating the pair, but police officials have said they had no direct evidence the women have ties to terrorism. The women have accused authorities of violating their rights and of religious and racial profiling.

I don’t know about racial profiling. But I think they deserve to get the black-eye treatment on the Do’s and Don’ts page of Glamour. --Glenna Whitley