Flying Imams Want Airline Security Information

Uhhh… you’ve got to be kidding, right? The trial for the notorious “flying imams” has now reached the evidence discovery phase, and a CAIR-NY attorney for the imams is requesting that US Airways cough up information on their airline safety procedures:

Omar Mohammedi, attorney for the imams, and President of the Board of Directors for the New York Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, went first. His motion was for the judge, Arthur Boylan, to compel US Airways to divulge its training manuals, and information on its security procedures, so that they could show that the security procedures were not followed down to the last jot and tittle when the imams were removed from US Airways Flight 300 on November 20, 2006.

Those of you who are following this case closely might be thinking “Arthur Boylan? What happened to Ann Montgomery?” The PACER database reports that Ann Montgomery is the presiding judge, and Arthur Boylan is a referral judge. Ann Montgomery will still be the judge at the trial in 2009.

When I realized what Mohammedi was asking for, I was briefly dazed, as I heard the sound in my mind’s ear of a thousand bloggers screaming something to the effect of “Ok, let me get this straight. A group of imams led by a fundraiser for a Muslim charity (the Holy Land Foundation) which was shut down by the Treasury Department for its connections to Hamas, is asking a judge to compel an airline to divulge its security procedures. And everyone’s OK with that?!?”

How about: “No.”

It seems evident that the imams are on an exploratory mission to obtain information on post-9/11 airline security procedures. While the CAIR-NY lawyer may claim that this is a standard request, and something to protect the civil rights of their clients, this information would undoubtedly fall into the hands of terrorists. If the judge doesn’t comply this request, is it reasonable to assume that Leaky Leahy and now Chuck Schumer would be happy to oblige?