Flying Imams Use Legal Intimidation

You know this really makes me irritated.

The "flying imams' " federal lawsuit, filed this week in Minneapolis, has made headlines around the country. The imams are demanding unspecified damages from US Airways and the Metropolitan Airports Commission, both with deep pockets. But their suit includes other defendants, as yet unnamed. These people, unaffiliated with the airline industry or government, are among the imams' most vulnerable targets.

And

Their lawsuit appears to be the latest component in a national campaign to intimidate airlines and government agencies from acting prudently to ensure passenger safety. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is advising the imams, is also calling for congressional hearings and promoting federal legislation to "end racial profiling" in air travel. If the legislation passes, airport personnel who disproportionately question passengers who are Muslim or of Middle Eastern origin could be subject to sanctions.

But the most alarming aspect of the imams' suit is buried in paragraph 21 of their complaint. It describes "John Doe" defendants whose identity the imams' attorneys are still investigating. It reads: "Defendants 'John Does' were passengers ... who contacted U.S. Airways to report the alleged 'suspicious' behavior of Plaintiffs' performing their prayer at the airport terminal."

Paragraph 22 adds: "Plaintiffs will seek leave to amend this Complaint to allege true names, capacities, and circumstances supporting [these defendants'] liability ... at such time as Plaintiffs ascertain the same."

In plain English, the imams plan to sue the "John Does," too.

Who are these unnamed culprits? The complaint describes them as "an older couple who was sitting [near the imams] and purposely turn[ed] around to watch" as they prayed. "The gentleman ('John Doe') in the couple ... picked up his cellular phone and made a phone call while watching the Plaintiffs pray," then "moved to a corner" and "kept talking into his cellular phone."

Tell me, if you saw these assholes acting strangely, taking seats in pairs spread out to various parts of the plane and acting oddly, would you really not complain? Why is it that their actions, that apparently were intentional, should be ignored even if they scare the hell out of the rest of the people on the plane? The Imams do indeed have to right to act the way they did, but, they also must be held responsible for those actions. If they were so stupid to think that their loud praying and strange behavior on the plane wasn't reason enough to take action, they may want to find some place else to live.

The imams' attempt to bully ordinary passengers marks an alarming new front in the war on airline security. Average folks, "John Does" like you and me, initially observed and reported the imams' suspicious behavior on Nov. 20. Such people are our "first responders" against terrorism. But the imams' suit may frighten such individuals into silence, as they seek to avoid the nightmare of being labeled bigots and named as defendants.

That's completely right. I personally can't afford to be sued in this type of suit. I would probably be more likely to be quiet and move my seat a couple rows behind them. I'd then take out my laptop and anything that is nearly a weapon, and keep a close watch. Not being a minority, thats about all I could do. But if they so much as yawn wrong, they would find the short guy in the next seat getting really ugly really fast.

Lawsuits may make these jackasses happy, but it will ensure that the people they make nervous quieter, and much more violent.