Arabic Assassin Fired as Baggage Screener

The mad lyrical flow at Houston Intercontinental Airport suffered a major setback last week with the firing of Basaam Khalaf - a.k.a. the Arabic Assassin, from his job as a baggage screener.

While Khalaf passed his background check and worked at the airport for seven months, TSA officials were unaware of his rap career until they peeped his website. Just so you know, the TSA doesn't want musicians day jobbing among the Samsonites if your songs "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."

Khalaf insists his Arabic Assassin alias is only for publicity and his violent rants are merely flights of fancy, not terror. "Everybody wants to label all Arabics terrorists just because a couple of people messed up," he told the AP. "Well, I'm going to play along with that character. I'm going to let you think I'm one."

That'll show 'em.