Jerry Wynn, of Jacksonville, Florida, considers himself a good American citizen. He believes the War on Terror to be real and important and he’s willing to accept certain inconveniences when he flies on commercial planes. He’s got two adorable kids whom he coaches at sports on the weekend. He thinks of their safety, and the safety of his wife, whenever any of them fly.

But what happened to Jerry Wynn on American Eagle Flight 4518 on September 21, 2007 has forced him to consider what the War on Terror means to his own, individual citizen’s rights. He wants others to know it could just as easily happen to them. And if it did, what would you do?

The rest of the story is here.

The ACLU doesn’t have the time, resources, or inclination to assist Jerry Wynn. Maybe there’s a pro-national security law firm willing to go to bat for an innocent bystander looking out for his country.

Several MSM outlets got a hold of a joint FBI-DHS homeland security bulletin warning of potential shoe bomb attacks. ABC News:

Following the seizure in Europe of hollowed-out shoes containing blasting caps, U.S. authorities have been told to be on the lookout for thick-soled shoes that could be used to conceal explosives, as infamously was the case with convicted “shoe bomber” Richard Reid.

According to a Department of Homeland Security-FBI bulletin issued Wednesday, Oct. 24, European authorities in September 2007 discovered a pair of shoes that were used to smuggle electric blasting caps across international borders for use in a terrorist attack.

“A recent terrorist incident involving the international smuggling of electric blasting caps highlights the continuing use of modified footwear as a concealment method for explosive devices,” stated the DHS-FBI Bulletin “Terrorist Use of Modified Footwear to Conceal Explosive Devices.”

CBS:

The joint FBI-Homeland Security bulletin, obtained by CBS News today, bluntly warns that terrorists are still working to use “modified footwear as a concealment method for explosive devices,” CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reports.

The alert follows the discovery of bomb detonators – expertly hidden in the hollowed-out soles of this pair of shoes – found aboard a European bus last month.

Intelligence officials say the shoes were not being worn at the time, but instead were being used, as the document says, “to smuggle electric blasting caps across international borders for use in a terrorist attack.”

“The terrorists have an interest in explosive devices. They are trying to figure out the best way to push them, to move them through the system,” said CBS News counterterrorism analyst Paul Kurtz.

Shoes have been used by terrorists before.

Three months after 9/11, al Qaeda operative Richard Reid tried to blow up an American Airlines jet with a shoe bomb similar to the one shown in this test.

Now at U.S. airports, scanners X-ray all passengers’ shoes and carry on bags, searching for explosives.

Still, experts worry that a team of terrorists could beat security by carrying unassembled parts of a bomb past a checkpoint.

“Where one person will carry component A, the next person will carry component B, and they will meet together past the safety point, past the checkpoint and reassemble,” explained Mike White, the director of training for Michael Stapleton Associates and a former head of the NYPD bomb squad.

Officials say there is no specific intelligence that terrorists are preparing new attacks against America.

It would have helped to know more about the people involved with carrying around these shoes in Europe. I’m guessing they weren’t Irish Catholics.

You know what they say: If you see something, say something.

And as the last shoe-bomb incident taught us: Do something.

***

Flashback: The other shoe bomber.

Flashback: Maybe TSA should leave the nuns alone.

Related: Annie Jacobsen on TSA’s bomb security duds.

“If only.” Those are the verbal crutches America must discard in a post-9/11 world.

If only the State Department hadn’t been so sloppy in issuing visas to the 9/11 hijackers. If only police and state troopers had been able to check the immigration status of the hijackers who were pulled over for speeding before the attacks. If only universities had been more diligent in monitoring the hijackers’ whereabouts. If only the feds had listened to alert agents’ recommendations to profile young Arab students in our flight schools. If only someone, anyone, had said something when they saw the suspicious behavior of the jihadists on dry runs.

We have borne the bloody costs of coulda-woulda-shoulda. Nearly 3,000 dead. The World Trade Center in ruins. The Pentagon on fire. The fields at Shanksville, Pa., scarred. Six years later, we can no longer afford hindsight heavy breathing. Memory must guide action. And action must be taken without apology…

… Earlier this year, jihadist enablers attempted to intimidate citizen whistleblowers who said something about the suspicious behavior of six imams on a US Airways flight in Minneapolis/St. Paul. The legal battle to protect ordinary Americans from such lawsuits gave rise to the John Doe movement. Pro bono lawyers and GOP members of Congress stepped up to provide protection. And Americans across the country expressed solidarity with the airline passengers targeted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and its ilk.

The Left greeted the John Doe movement with mockery and derision, preferring instead to suck its collective thumb, wield the grievance card and play the blame game. But it’s the John Does of the country, not the race-hustling litigators and speech-stiflers, who will help prevent the next terrorist attack. They are John Does like Brian Morgenstern, the young Circuit City employee who contacted authorities after viewing a jihadist training video by the Fort Dix Six Plotters.

“It was a difficult decision at first,” Morgenstern told Fox News. “I went home, and I talked with my family about it. And we all came to the general conclusion that it was the right thing to do.” No regrets. No apologies. And no “if onlys.”

Not everyone is willing to do the right thing. When the FBI recently asked for the public’s help in identifying two men acting suspiciously on Pacific Northwest ferries, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper refused to run the photos — and instead held a reader haiku contest mocking the terrorism concerns. When two young Muslim men were arrested and indicted on weapons and terrorism charges after being stopped near a naval base in Goose Creek, S.C., Muslim civil rights groups immediately cried racism and suggested that law enforcement officials were bigoted and paranoid.

There are 9/10 people and there are 9/12 people. 9/10 people live in a world of make-believe, where sensitivity trumps security and second-guessing is their only acceptable homeland security policy. 9/12 people are the John Does in your neighborhood, on your plane, train or bus, moving ahead with their lives but always on alert.

Which one are you?

***

Karol at Alarming News took to the streets in a 9/10 vs. 9/12 showdown at Ground Zero, countering the Truther crowd with the real truth. Bravo.

The caption reads:

Never Forget

Task Force Marne Soldiers take time on the sixth anniversary of the attacks Sept. 11, 2001, for a remembrance ceremony at the Task Force Marne Headquarters. Camp Victory firefighters are also present to represent the emergency responders who lost their lives six years ago. Photo by Tony Lindback, 302nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.

***

Scroll down for more updates/links…

Lan astaslem: Arabic for “I will not submit/surrender”

What do you remember? When I think back to September 11, 2001, the crisp morning before jihadists struck on American soil, I remember transluscent blue skies. Green-gold leaves. And the blush pink cheeks of my then-one-year-old daughter, who was waiting to go for a walk while I did a double-take at the first cable TV reports of a “small commuter plane” crashing into the World Trade Center.

Then the skies turned black. And the Twin Towers turned to ash.

Zogby released a poll for the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks showing that “77 percent of those living in the East and 46 percent of those living in the West — 61 percent overall — said they think about the attacks at least weekly. Eighty-one percent — 90 percent in the East and 75 percent in the West — said the attacks were the most significant historical events of their lives.”

I am, like most of my readers, one of those people. Sixteen percent of those polled said said they had visited Ground Zero in NYC. This summer, my family and I became part of that group. An American flag flies at the Tribute Center across from GZ:

A view of the construction site:

A memorial at the fire station across from Ground Zero:

What won’t you forget? These are the 9/11 sounds and images burned onto my mental hard drive:

Kevin Cosgrove.

The Falling Man.

The Hanson family.

The 9/11 babies.

Melissa Doi:

Betty Ong:

The cross at Ground Zero:

And Old Glory at the Pentagon unfurled the day after the attacks:

But remembrance without resistance to jihad and its enablers is a recipe for another 9/11. This is what fueled my first two books, on immigration enforcement and profiling. This is what fuels much of the work on this blog and at Hot Air. Not every American wears a military uniform. But every American has a role to play in protecting our homeland–not just from Muslim terrorists, but from their financiers, their public relations machine, their sharia-pimping activists, the anti-war goons, the civil liberties absolutists, and the academic apologists for our enemies.

The Left greets such a commitment with mockery and derision, preferring instead to suck its collective thumb, play the grievance card, and engage in hindsight hypocrisy.

As the most infamous of all Internet leftists once said: Screw them.

The 9/10 crowd stubbornly refuses to connect the dots to see any connection at all between 9/11 and the Iraq war. But it is all of a piece, and the troops who joined the military after the terrorist attacks and volunteered to go back again and again see it clearly. Watch. “Kill them over there so they don’t kill us over here” isn’t just an empty slogan for them. They live and die for it. For their children and ours. In Iraq and around the world.

There are 9/10 people and there are 9/12 people.

This is a 9/10 person:

Cindy Sheehan and company’s CAIR-approved t-shirt reads, “We will not be silent.” Their vow is not a vow to report suspicious behavior or assist counterterrorism efforts. Their vow is a vow to bitch and moan about every effort to combat jihad at home and abroad.

What is your vow?

Never forget.

It’s not just a once-a-year slogan. It’s a 24/7 frame of mind.

***

Readers are asking where to get the “Lan astaslem” t-shirt. You can buy them here. All proceeds will be donated to Soldiers’ Angels.

***

Resistance. Baron Bodissey liveblogs the Stop Islamisation of Europe protest in Brussels.

Remembrance. Lorie Byrd pays tribute in words, photos, and links.

Resistance. Terrorism expert Laura Mansfield has the latest bin Laden propaganda audio/video release.

Remembrance. Is 9/11 becoming just another calendar date?

Resistance. Debra Burlingame, sister of Charles “Chic” Burlingame, the pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, and one of my personal heroines, is joining the Divest Terror campaign:

As the sixth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks approaches, Ms. Burlingame, whose brother was killed when the hijacked plane he was piloting crashed into the Pentagon, has a new cause.

The 53-year-old former television producer and lawyer has aligned herself with a group called Divest Terror, which is attempting to convince American pension funds and investors to pull their money from companies that do business with countries that sponsor terrorism, such as Iran.

“It is something that can put the squeeze on terror-sponsoring countries without shedding a drop of blood or firing a bullet,” she said yesterday during an interview at The New York Sun’s offices. “It is marshaling the economic power of this country against our enemies and people who want to wreak havoc in the Middle East and other parts of the world.”

Remembrance. Daily Kos-style. Click only on an empty stomach.

Resistance. An LGF reader blows the whistle on 9/11 whitewashing at the Liberty Science Museum in NJ.

Remembrance. Villainous Company asks:

Did you open your eyes and hope it never happened
Close your eyes and not go to sleep
Did you notice the sunset the first time in ages
Speak with some stranger on the street
Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow
Go out and buy you a gun
Did you turn off that violent old movie you’re watching
And turn on “I Love Lucy” reruns

Where were you
when the world stopped turning
that September day?

Remembrance, BBC-style. Again, click only on an empty stomach.

Resistance. Meet the Anti-Jihad Federation.

Remembrance, milblogger-style. Greyhawk reflects from the battlefield in Baghdad:

As I write it’s 16:45 my time. In America it’s Tueday, September 11, 2007.

And it’s 8:45. Six years ago that was the last minute of peace before the beginning of the war on terror.

Six years later, how many people know why Osama bin Laden declared war on the United States? It’s not a difficult topic – he stated the reasons himself in his 1998 fatwa. Americans were in Saudi Arabia enforcing sanctions against Iraq. It’s just that simple, boys and girls…

Rebuilding. Lawhawk reports on Ground Zero.

Remembrance, moonbat-style. Same health warning applies. Read Mary Katharine Ham’s account of 9/11 conspiracy theorists disrupting somber memorial gatherings. One shouted at mourners: “You’re sheep! You are sheep!”

Via Fox News, here’s your homeland insecurity story of the morning (hat tip – Roger). John Doe passengers helped restrain the suspiciously-acting passenger:

A passenger tried to open a plane door during a Frontier Airlines flight on Saturday morning but was subdued by airline staff and passengers, an airline spokesman said.

Police and Transportation Security Administration staff met Flight 514 after the plane landed in New York City and took the man into custody, said Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas.

Hodas said the man, whose name was not released, would not have been able to open the door even if he had not been subdued. “You need special training to open the door,” he said.

There were 128 passengers and five crew members on the plane, Hodas said.

Passenger Bobby Vigil of Estes Park told KUSA-TV in Denver that the man had been acting strangely. Vigil said he and other passengers helped a flight attendant tie the man to his seat with duct tape.

“The whole rest of the flight, all the way in, he was yelling and trying to bite the tape, and they ended up restraining him with an extra lap belt,” said Vigil.

The NYDailyNews has a photo of Bobby Vigil and some more details about the arrested passenger:

Vigil said the crazed man was bouncing up and down in his seat for most of the flight, clutching several boarding passes and kicking the row in front of him.
“He was playing with his hair, picking at his face and counting his fingers,” said Vigil, 45, of Estes Park, Colo. “I thought he was anxious to get home or something.”

Vigil said his rowmate left his seat to go to the bathroom in the front of the plane and briefly tried to open the cockpit door. The man, whom he described as Asian and about 20, then returned to his seat, only to get up 15 seconds later, go to the back of the plane and attempt to open the cabin door.

“I heard the flight attendant say, ‘Help me!’” Vigil said. A struggle broke out, and Vigil and two other male passengers rushed over to help the attendant restrain the passenger.

I just received notice from The Becket Fund:

Michelle,

We wanted to let you know that the imams just dismissed their case against the John Doe passengers.

More info to come.

A bit more detail:

Activity in Case 0:07-cv-01513-ADM-AJB Shqeirat et al v. U. S. Airways Group, Inc. et al “Notice of Voluntary Dismissal”
U.S. District Court

District of Minnesota

Notice of Electronic Filing

The following transaction was received on 8/22/2007 at 1:12 PM CDT and filed on 8/22/2007

Case Name:

Shqeirat et al v. U. S. Airways Group, Inc. et al

Case Number: 0:07-cv-1513

Filer:
Ahmed Shqeirat
Mohamed Ibrahim
Didmar Faja
Omar Shahin
Mahmoud Sulaiman
Marwan Sadeddin

Document Number: 81

Docket Text:
NOTICE of Voluntary Dismissal by Mahmoud Sulaiman, Marwan Sadeddin, Ahmed Shqeirat, Mohamed Ibrahim, Didmar Faja, Omar Shahin (Attachments: # (1) Certificate of Service Certificate of Service)(Goetz, Frederick)

Here’s the dismissal notice:

Now, they should drop the rest of the lawsuit.

The paper’s decision not to run photos of the two Seattle ferry passengers sought by the FBI didn’t take long yesterday to become part of a widespread debate that provoked readers around the country.

It also spread throughout the blogosphere. While most blogs pointed directly to the debate, some made some poignant comments about the topic of yesterday’s Daily Haiku contest, a topic that — considering the sensitivity of the issue — was probably not the best we could have come up with.

While the Big Blog mixes fun and news on a daily basis, in this case we undermined a serious issue and a serious debate, and made it seem as if we in the newsroom didn’t acknowledge its importance.

So thanks to all the bloggers who pointed this out. We agree it was a bad call and will learn from the experience.

P.S. — We’re not going to pick a winner.

Yep. We all know who the loser is, though:

The paper still refuses to run the FBI photos.

Update 11:15am Eastern. John Does are coming forward to assist the FBI. The feds say they have been flooded with tips.

FBI agents are working through tons of tips they received after releasing a photo of two men who they say were acting suspiciously aboard Washington state ferries.

Publicizing the photo of men who haven’t been accused of a crime was an unusual move by the FBI. Officials with the Bureau say they just want to talk to the two men.

The State Patrol says investigators started by showing the pictures to ferry workers, Then they showed them at a fire and police training exercise.

With no new leads, they decided to get all the ferry riders involved by publicizing the photos and asking, “do you know who these men are?”

Ed Morrissey votes for his favorite P-I reader haiku so far by Dani B.:

Don’t be proactive
More readers if ferry sinks
Post pictures after

***

At 6am yesterday morning, I posted the FBI photo of two men who have been spotted by ferry employees and passengers acting strangely aboard Washington State ferries recently. I noted that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer refused to run the photos. In a follow-up story, the P-I explained its decision further:

The P-I elected not to publish the photos, citing civil liberties and privacy concerns, which editors felt outweighed the newsworthiness of the images. “We have no confirmation that these men’s behavior was anything but innocuous, and to forever taint them by associating them with terrorism under these circumstances is not consistent with our policy,” said David McCumber, P-I managing editor.

There’s no taint if there’s no terrorism. Were their actions nefarious or misinterpreted? The men could clear that up in a split second by coming forward and saying so. Bill Hobbs weighs in at Newsbusters:

Of course it would be easier to find out which is the case if the FBI could find the guys. And it would be easier to find the guys if the Seattle P-I would publish the photos, so that Seattle-area residents would know what the men look like whom the FBI has asked the public to help them find. As it stands now, in the name of being politically correct, the Seattle P-I has decided to alarm the people of Seattle and leave them looking suspiciously at just about anyone who fits the general description of male and looking like they might be from the Middle East.

So, how else is the P-I covering the story (or rather, not covering the story)? By holding a haiku contest, of course! (Hat tip – Bill Hobbs, who has more here).

The P-I’s Monica Guzman invites readers to share their feelings in verse:

You’ll love some of the entries. A sample:

Possible danger?
Political correctness!
Paper fails duty.

PI wants Haiku
To justify its dumbness
Task Impossible

And my favorite:

Who are these ‘masked’ men?
Michelle Malkin has pictures.
Get your news from her.

Hey, thanks! Feel free to post more.

Readers in the Pacific Northwest alerted me to a highly unusual FBI bulletin. Via King5-TV:

The FBI is asking for the public’s help two identify two men who have been seen acting strangely aboard Washington State ferries recently.

According to federal agents, passengers have seen the men on several occasions exhibiting unusual behavior. The FBI did not say precisely what that unusual behavior entailed.

Anyone who knows the men or there whereabouts are asked to call the FBI at (206) 622-0460.

Isolated incident? “Racial profiling?” Unfounded paranoia? Only if you haven’t been paying attention. Recall the Seattle Times investigation from 2004 on reports on jihadi probing of the ferry system:

Groups of men, including one tied to a federal terrorism investigation, have videotaped Washington ferry operations, prompting federal authorities to conclude the system has been under surveillance as a possible target for an attack.

U.S. Attorney John McKay, officials in the U.S. Coast Guard and other members of Seattle’s Joint Terrorism Task Force all share in that conclusion.

“We may well be the target of preoperational terrorist planning,” McKay said.

A confidential FBI assessment of the threat to the state ferries is partly behind an increase in security for large-capacity ferries nationwide, McKay and others say.

The state ferry system is the nation’s largest, carrying 26 million passengers last year. It began implementing new security requirements — including tripling the number of cars screened for explosives — this weekend.

For its assessment, the FBI gathered 157 incidents on or near ferries that law-enforcement officers, ferry workers and passengers have reported as suspicious since Sept. 11, 2001. The Seattle Times obtained a document detailing those incidents.

The FBI determined that 19 of the incidents “were highly likely or extremely likely to involve terrorist surveillance of the ferries, with individuals asking probing questions about ferry operations or taking photos of stairwells, car decks and workers going about their jobs. Three incidents involve one man who is a known subject in an FBI terrorism investigation.”

al Qaeda-linked operatives have targeted ferries before for mass murder and violence. In Feburary 2004, the Times noted, “a man boarded a 1,747-passenger ferry bound from Manila to Bacolod in the Philippines. He carried eight pounds of TNT in a cardboard box onto the ship, left it on a bunk, then slipped off the ferry, according to news reports. An hour after departure, an explosion ripped through the ship, starting a fire that killed more than 100 people and left the ship foundering. Authorities have arrested a man who admitted to the bombing and is a member of an Islamic separatist faction with ties to al-Qaida.” It was the world’s deadliest terror attack at sea. Muslim convert Redondo Dellosa admitted he planted the bomb.

Militant Muslims working for Abu Sayyaf were fingered in another ferry bombing in the Philippines in 2005. More on maritime-related terrorism here.

Remember: If you see something, say something. Don’t let the CAIR grievance-mongerers keep you from acting. It’s significant that the FBI has gone public with the photo. As the sixth anniversary of 9/11 draws near, take nothing for granted.

***

The Seattle P-I refuses to run the photo that the FBI is disseminating. A ferry employee snapped the pic. An excerpt from the paper’s report this morning:

The Seattle P-I is not publishing the photos because neither man is considered a suspect nor has either been charged with a crime.

The FBI has no information suggesting that a terrorist attack on the ferry system is imminent, Burroughs said.

For weeks, the FBI has been trying to identify the men through “normal law enforcement channels,” she said. “We get tips periodically, but we don’t get photos normally like these,” Burroughs said. “We’re hoping to use them to resolve this quickly.”

…Burroughs acknowledged that the FBI rarely publicizes information from an investigation, unless investigators are seeking a suspect wanted for a crime. The decision was made “out of an abundance of caution” and “while keeping an open mind and realizing that what some people consider suspicious or unusual behavior actually might turn out to be something completely innocuous,” she said.

***

Related flashback: How Diana Dean sniffed out the Millenium Plot bomber.

Two weeks have passed since the attorney for the six imams removed from a US Airways flight in November 2006 stated on the record in court that the imams were not planning on suing any private passengers for reporting their suspicious activity in boarding that flight. However, the so called “John Does” remain in the imams’ proposed second amended complaint. Today The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty blasted that inclusion. Becket Fund President Kevin J. Hasson sent the imams’ attorney, Frederick J. Goetz, a draft notice of dismissal to release the John Does from the case. Hasson urged him to sign it, threatening further legal pressure if he did not.

On July 31, 2007, the Associated Press published an article with headline, “Imams not suing flight passengers”. In court that day, the Imams’ attorney was reported as saying “We don’t contemplate naming any private passenger as a defendant.” Yet the John Does still appear on page 6, named as defendants:

“Defendants ‘John Does’ were passengers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport who contacted U.S. Airways to report the alleged ‘suspicious’ behavior of Plaintiffs’ performing their prayer at the airport terminal on November 20, 2006.”

On August 1, the Becket Fund filed an amicus brief urging the court to dismiss the charges against the Does. The Becket Fund has also publicly offered to represent any John Does named in the complaint for free. Today’s letter is cc’d to the judge presiding over the case, as well as all lawyers involved in it, and calls for the imams to immediately dismiss all charges against the Does. “Now we’re making it easy for them; if they truly mean not to sue the passengers, all they have to do is sign on the dotted line,” said Hasson. “If, on the other hand, they refuse to formally drop the Does, it will be another sign that what they’re really up to is trying to intimidate future airline passengers from coming forward with their suspicions. That is outrageous and has nothing to do with religious liberty. And we will continue to fight them every step of the way.”

Here’s the text of the letter and dismissal notice.

Well, there are other whistleblowers–the whistleblowers exposing jihadists, their funders, and their ideological apologists–who could use some of that same public outrage and help.

This week, we saw CAIR try to shut down Robert Spencer.

The Young America’s Foundation refused to be intimidated.

Now, the Legal Project of the Middle East Forum has stepped forward:

The Legal Project of the Middle East Forum announces its support of Robert Spencer and the Young America’s Foundation (YAF), the latest victims of what appears to be a targeted intimidation and defamation campaign by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) designed to silence critics of its organization.

Spencer, a well-respected author and the director of www.jihadwatch.org, spoke today for YAF on “The Truth about CAIR” on the campus of George Washington University. As a consequence of this invitation, YAF’s president Ron Robinson received a threatening and possibly defamatory letter written by CAIR’s acting attorney, Joseph E. Sandler, of the law firm Sandler, Reiff & Young, P.C.

Sandler’s letter (available in pdf format here) accuses Mr. Spencer, without offering any factual support, of being a “well-known purveyor of hatred and bigotry against Muslims,” with “a history of false and defamatory statements.” Sandler goes on to “demand that YAF cancel the subject session or else take steps to ensure that false and defamatory statements are not disseminated,” and states an intention to pursue a “legal remedy” against YAF, should CAIR deem statements made by Spencer at the session “false and defamatory.”

CAIR’s letter appears to be aimed at maliciously harming Spencer’s reputation, interfering in his lawful employment, and aimed to discourage both Spencer and YAF from exercising their fundamental rights to free speech and assembly. Furthermore, the letter wrongfully implies that YAF has an independent duty to censor Spencer, and that it may be subject to suit for allowing Spencer to speak on private property. It is our opinion that CAIR’s pre-emptive accusations are without merit, without any legal basis, and that CAIR has yet to prove any of its statements as true.

Therefore, the Legal Project hereby gives CAIR and its attorneys notice that it, too, will pursue “every available and appropriate legal remedy to redress any false or defamatory statements that are made” or have been made by CAIR and its attorneys against Spencer. We advise CAIR’s staff to govern themselves accordingly.

The Legal Project, established by the Middle East Forum in June 2007, is dedicated to safeguarding the democratic liberties afforded by the Constitution to U.S. citizens, namely the rights to free speech and free assembly. The Legal Project protects researchers and analysts working on the topics of terrorism, terrorist funding, Islam, and Islamism against those who seek to silence them through intimidation, defamation, and predatory lawsuits.

You can support MEF’s work here.

***

On another front, as I mentioned earlier this week, several authors are facing libel suits from a Saudi terror apologist. Their publishers are pulping or moving to pulp their books critical of jihad.

Bryan Preston has an interview at Hot Air with Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, one of the targeted scholars who has done yeomen’s work exposing the funding of global terrorism.

Take the time to listen here.

Jeffrey Breinholt at The Counterterrorism Blog has a must-read compilation of chilling Muslim libel suits. He writes:

Although truth is a defense to libel lawsuits, it generally takes thousands of dollars to establish the truth sufficiently to achieve a dismissal. Settlement is sometimes the best option, no matter how unmeritorious the allegations. When that happens, there will be no court opinion. Thus, we do not know how many more cases are out there in which someone facing steep legal bills chose to quietly settle. For those defendants, they will probably never mention the word Islam again in public. Who loses then? In the long run, fear of discussion has costs to society’s search for the truth. Some of us like the fact that information flows so efficiently, and we want to keep it that way.

See also this update on one of the bullied book publishers that isn’t backing down. Bravo.

Don’t just stay vigilant.

Be vigilant.

Today the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty will file an amicus brief asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota to dismiss all claims against the unnamed defendants (“John Does”) who reported the suspicious activity of six imams aboard a US Airways Flight in November. The brief argues that to allow the suit to go forward against the Does would result in a chilling effect, lessening the likelihood that similar activity would be reported in the future and potentially endangering the lives of American citizens. The brief relies in part on the recent legislation passed by Congress, which shields John Does who report suspicious behavior aboard an airplane.

In its 12-year history the Becket Fund has represented clients from Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim and other traditions. This is, however, the first time they have ever opposed someone’s claim of religious discrimination. “We had no choice,” said Kevin J. “Seamus” Hasson, President of the Becket Fund. “The Imams’ tactic of targeting ordinary citizens was giving the whole idea of religious freedom a black eye. We had to do what we could to put a stop to it.”

The Becket Fund has also offered to defend, free of charge, any of the private-citizen Does named in the lawsuit, should the case against them go forward.

Here is the PDF of the brief.

Update: Are the flying imams backing down?

Six imams removed from a U.S. Airways plane said they would not sue the passengers whose concerns led them to being kicked off a flight in November.
In federal court Tuesday, the attorney for the imams said, “We don’t contemplate naming any private passenger as a defendant.”

After being removed from their flight, the imams sued the airport, the airline and ‘John Does,’ which left open the possibility of suing anonymous passengers.

The attorney for one of the passengers says the imams’ offer comes only as congress is about to give immunity to those reporting suspicious behavior.

“The offer is only made after congress passes the immunity provision with the threat of assessing fees and costs against parties suing those making reports in good faith,” Gerry Nolting said.

***
Frank Gaffney follows up on the John Doe protection passed in Congress, noting: “There seems, by the way, to be ample support for tightening the legislation further should CAIR try to use its ‘good faith’ proviso to continue to hector public-spirited Americans.”

Stay vigilant.

***

LGF spots a telling little photoshopped image overlayed on a US flag over on the CAIR website. Take a look.

After nearly a week of intense, behind-the-scenes wrangling, congressional negotiators late Tuesday agreed to include in the pending Sept. 11 security bill sweeping liability protections for citizens who report suspicious activity they fear might be linked to terrorism.

Just a reminder–here’s that Senate roll call vote on Susan Collins’ John Doe amendment from last week:

***

Reaction:

A joint statement on the inclusion of the John Doe Protections language for terrorism tipsters by House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security Peter King, R-N.Y., follows.

“This is a huge win — a hard-fought victory for House Republicans and, more importantly, for the American people,” King said.

“In a post-9/11 reality, vigilance is essential to security. Despite the Democratic opposition to this important homeland security measure, I’m thrilled to announce that common sense has prevailed and heroic Americans who report suspicious activity will be protected from frivolous lawsuits. The American people were heard and our country is safer because of it.”

Added Boehner: “I’m pleased that Democratic leaders finally decided to do the right thing and agreed with Republicans that we should be encouraging Americans to report potential terrorist activity to the proper authorities.”

“This much-needed measure is critical in the effort to confront the significant threats posed by Al Qaeda and other terrorists and protect the American people. I want to thank Reps. King and [New Mexico Republican Steve] Pearce for their leadership on this issue and their efforts to make America safer.”

Pearce’s office sends this:

Today, Congressman Steve Pearce strongly praised the inclusion of “John Doe” protections in the Homeland Security bill. Despite overwhelming bipartisan support, the new majority leadership in the House attempted last week to remove the provision, originally drafted by Rep. Pearce, which would give immunity to vigilant citizens that report suspicious activity to security officials.

“I am pleased to see that the pressure we created lead Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid to make the right decision about protecting alert Americans,” said Pearce. “The American people shouldn’t have to think twice about alerting security and law enforcement to potential terrorist attacks.”

“Vigilant citizens can often be the most useful weapon in the War on Terror,” he added. “It was unnerving to watch the majority leadership ignore this fact and push to protect potential terrorists rather than innocent Americans.”

Said Pearce: “We should be encouraging anyone who sees something to say something. Today, Congress has rightly decided to move forward with this common sense provision.”

You can watch the video of Pearce offering the original John Doe amendment here.

Frank Gaffney and the Center for Security Policy:

The Center for Security Policy is gratified that its efforts, those of innumerable bloggers, radio talk show hosts and other public-minded citizens translated into an important legislative victory late last night. Thanks to the leadership of Sens. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins, the chairman and ranking minority member, respectively, of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and especially that of Rep. Pete King, Sen. Collins’ counterpart on the House Homeland Security Committee, legislation along the lines of that adopted by an overwhelming bipartisan majority of the House of Representatives last May at Rep. King’s initiative will shortly become law.

The language will provide protection against the sorts of harassment lawsuits filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) after several unidentified individuals reported six Muslim imams engaged in suspicious – and frightening – behavior prior to boarding a USAir flight in November 2006. CAIR has been identified as a front organization for the Muslim Brotherhood and is an un-indicted co-conspirator in an alleged terrorism-financing plot.

Center President Frank Gaffney said on learning of this extraordinary development:

“Thanks to courageous, principled and tenacious efforts by key legislators like Rep. King and Sens. Lieberman and Collins, the American people are going to be free to do their part in the War for the Free World – serving as indispensable eyes and ears for those trying to protect us against terrorism – without fear that the likes of CAIR will be suing them for doing so.”

“We are extremely grateful to these lawmakers and also to members of the Democratic leadership who opposed such efforts, but eventually relented in the face of an outpouring of public demands that the King amendment be enacted into law. We are even more appreciative of the efforts made by all those who helped alert the public to the need to engage so directly and, ultimately, so decisively.”

Now, stay vigilant.

What caught my eye were the photos of some of the suspicious devices taken by airport authorities:

The report states that “individuals involved in these incidents were of varying gender.”

Oookay. Is that all they can tell us, though? Did any other traits “vary?” Shouldn’t we know a little more about the people giving shady explanations for toting around blocks of cheese with wires sticking out or taped to a cell-phone charger?

Every vigilant traveler–every once and future John Doe–should take a look at the TSA warning. And if you see something cheesy, say something. At the very least, you’ll offend a cheddar-lover. At best, you could save thousands of lives. Quite worth the risk, I think.

Speaking of John Does, it appears–take with a grain of salt–that the John Doe protection amendment will become law. But there is still no final language of the amendment.

Be on the lookout…

***

And speaking of dry runs, remember this?

More:

“Keeping the pressure on” to include the provision are Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut Independent and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, the committee’s ranking member, Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine whose efforts last week fell three votes short of passing the provision to an education bill, and Rep. Pete King, New York Republican and ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee and an author of the provision.

Some Republican aides are attributing the mounting pressure to support the provision to press reports and the blogosphere, where bloggers turned bloggyists are posting phone numbers of Democrat congressional leaders and urging readers to call in with their support.

“The blogs have been a terrific vehicle for expressing public outrage over Democratic attempts to kill this provision,” said a spokesman for Mr. King.

In other words: Don’t let up.

Congress switchboard: 202-224-3121
Nancy Pelosi’s office: 202-225-4965
Harry Reid’s office: 202-224-3542

***

Editorial boards weighing in with support for the John Doe amendment:

IBD
NYPost
Wall Street Journal
National Review

Baron Bodissey at Gates of Vienna sends the Photoshop of the Week, dedicated to the “See Something, Shut Up” Democrats who blocked the John Doe amendment:

An Army of Photoshoppers has been unleashed again. Justin Higgins sends this:

Are We Lumberjacks:

Reader William T. sends his contribution and notes that you can make your own construction sign here:

Reader Andy:

***

It’s an uncanny bit of timing that the NYC MTA has just launched a new campaign to urge citizen vigilance and activism…just as Beltway Dems have sent a message to those tipsters to shut their traps.

July 17, 2007

It’s the same message you’ve been getting from the MTA for years, but now you’ll be hearing it in your living room.

The agency unveiled television commercials for its five-year-old “See Something, Say Something” campaign Tuesday.

The collaborative effort between the MTA and city, state, and federal governments, encourages commuters to take an active role in keeping the city’s subways buses and commuter rail lines safe.

“We want to take it to a higher level,” said MTA Executive Director & CEO Elliot “Lee” Sander. “It is just incredibly important that we use the eyes, ears that New Yorkers have in riding our subway cars, our buses, our commuter rails.”

“Terrorists’ timetables are not known,” said New York State Deputy Secretary for Public Safety Michael Balboni. “Things can happen at any time and that’s why it’s absolutely crucial that when you ride the subways, when you ride the trains, take a step out and look at your environment.”

In 2006, nearly 2,000 riders did just that.

“We rely on them. There are more commuters then there are police officers, so we do need their assistance,” said Joseph Martelli, Deputy Inspector, MTA Police. “Similar to how people call 911 when people see something suspicious on their street, we need our commuters to call something in that they feel might be suspicious.”

Here’s one of the just-unveiled New York City “see something, say something” posters that’s ripe for a Photoshop:

And here’s another:

One more sign ripe for a P-shop makeover in the wake of the Dems’ refusal to support John Doe:

Have at it! I’ll post ‘em here.

***

I posted Justin Higgins’ P-shop on Thursday, but it’s worth re-posting again for further inspiration:

Update: Justin answers the call again:

***

The Minneapolis Star Tribune follows up on where the John Doe amendment is headed:

Republicans have been demanding that the lawsuit protections be added in a conference committee meeting to reconcile the House and Senate versions of what has been dubbed the “9/11 bill.” The committee, of which Coleman is a member, adjourned Thursday without taking up the proposal.

Coleman’s staff said the measure could come up again as the Senate finishes work on the conference report this week.

The postponement came as 64 House Republicans — including Rep. John Kline of Minnesota — distributed a letter saying “No American should fear lawsuits for doing the right thing.”