| Washington, DC – Today, Congressman Bill Shuster expressed his concern over news reports that a lawsuit filed by six Imams who were removed from US Airways Flight 300 last November names the passengers and witnesses who reported the imams’ suspicious activities to authorities as defendants.
“This lawsuit makes me wonder exactly what CAIR and the imams are looking to do with their suit,” Shuster said. “The inclusion of bystanders as defendants in this lawsuit is a clear indication that the imams don’t want to right and wrong; they want to make a statement.”
“With this lawsuit, CAIR and the imams have created a thinly veiled threat against anyone who dares point out suspicious or threatening behavior. It’s one thing for the Imams to sue US Airways for damages, but to name the innocent bystanders who alerted authorities as defendants is simply unacceptable,” Shuster said.
Last November, six imams were removed from US Airways Flight 300 for what passengers described as threatening behavior. According to news reports, passengers on the flight noticed the imams making anti-American remarks before boarding the plane. Once on board, passengers reported that these men, who were traveling together, dispersed to seats throughout the plane in a formation reminiscent of the 9/11 hijackers and moved throughout the cabin to confer with one another. Additionally, they asked the flight crew for seatbelt extenders, which they then rolled up and kept under their seats for no apparent reason.
“When this event was first investigated, I called on all involved to take a close, reasoned and balanced look into the facts,” Shuster said. “I did this because the last thing America needs is a situation that creates a climate of fear that makes our citizens second guess a decision to report suspicious terrorist activity.”
The imams’ complaint, which is supported by CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, specifically mentions certain “John Does” as defendants to the suit and describes them as “passengers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport who contacted U.S. Airways to report the alleged “suspicious” behavior of Plaintiffs’…”
“CAIR’s relationship with this lawsuit sends up more red flags,” Shuster added. “CAIR has a long history of threatening legal action against anyone who disagrees with their positions. They say they want to foster a dialogue between America and Islam. However, this lawsuit and CAIR’s refusal to fully admit their ties to known terrorist groups only creates a chilling effect that freezes out the kind of dialogue they publicly call for.”
Some of CAIR’s past radical statements include:
· Omar Ahmad, CAIR’s co-founder praised suicide bombers: "Fighting for freedom, fighting for Islam, that is not suicide,"..."They kill themselves for Islam" (The Washington Times, 3/16/04);
· Nihad Awad, CAIR’s Executive Director and scheduled presenter at the Democrat-sponsored meeting said, “I am in support of the Hamas movement,” at a symposium at Barry University in March 1994;
· Ahmed Bedier, the Executive Director of CAIR’s Tampa Chapter, said in 2004, “Catholic priests pose more of a terrorism threat by having sex with young altar boys than those who flew planes into the World Trade Center." (Letter, Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, 11/9/06);
· Senior CAIR employee Randall Todd “Ismail” Royer, pled guilty and was sentenced to twenty years in prison for participating in a network of militant jihadists centered in Northern Virginia. He admitted to aiding and abetting three persons who sought training in a terrorist camp in Pakistan for the purpose of waging jihad against American troops in Afghanistan.
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