Exclusive: Personal Statement from Kurt Haskell, Delta 253 Passenger
Kurt Haskell
Infowars.com
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Every victim of a crime in Michigan is entitled to make a
statement in open court regarding the impact of the crime on their life.
The statement is limited to the victim’s physical, emotional and
financial well being as it relates to the crime. Keep that in mind as
you read my statement. Below is a copy of the victim impact statement I
gave today at the Underwear Bomber sentencing hearing. When reading my
statement, keep in mind that I am a practicing attorney in the State of
Michigan. In addition, I regularly practice in the Court the hearings
are taking place at and therefore, I am somewhat limited as to what I
can say. We were limited to 5 minutes each.
I wish to thank the Court for allowing me these 5 minutes to make my
statement. My references to the government in this statement refer to
the Federal Government excluding this Court and the prosecution. On
Christmas Day 2009, my wife and I were returning from an African safari
and had a connecting flight through Amsterdam. As we waited for our
flight, we sat on the floor next to the boarding gate. What I witnessed
while sitting there and subsequent events have changed my life forever.
While I sat there, I witnessed Umar dressed in jeans and a white
t-shirt, being escorted around security by a man in a tan suit who spoke
perfect American English and who aided Umar in boarding without a
passport. The airline gate worker initially refused Umar boarding until
the man in the tan suit intervened. The event meant nothing to me at the
time. Little did I know that Umar would try to kill me a few hours
later as our flight approached Detroit. The final 10 minutes of our
flight after the attack were the worst minutes of my life. During those
10 minutes I sat paralyzed in fear. Unfortunately, what happened next
has had an even greater impact on my life and has saddened me further.
When we landed, I was shocked that our plane taxied up to the gate. I
was further shocked that we were forced to sit on the plane for 20
minutes with powder from the so called bomb all over the cabin. The
officers that boarded the plane did nothing to ensure our safety and did
not check for accomplices or other explosive devices. Several
passengers trampled through parts of the bomb as they exited the plane.
We were then taken into the terminal with our unchecked carry on bags.
Again, there was no concern for our safety even though Umar told the
officers that there was another bomb on board as he exited the plane. I
wondered why nobody was concerned about our safety, accomplices or other
bombs and the lack of concern worried me greatly. I immediately told
the FBI my story in order to help catch the accomplice I had seen in
Amsterdam. It soon became obvious that the FBI wasn’t interested in what
I had to say, which upset me further. For one month the government
refused to admit the existence of the man in the tan suit before
changing course and admitting his existence in an ABC News article on
January 22, 2010. That was the last time the government talked about
this man. The video that would prove the truth of my account has never
been released. I continue to be emotionally upset that the video has not
been released. The Dutch police, meanwhile, in this article (show
article), also confirmed that Umar did not show his passport in
Amsterdam which also meant that he didn’t go through security as both
are in the same line in Amsterdam. It upsets me that the government
refuses to admit this fact.
I became further saddened from this case, when Patrick Kennedy of the
State Department during Congressional hearings, admitted that Umar was a
known terrorist, was being followed, and the U.S. allowed him into the
U.S. so that it could catch Umar’s accomplices. I was once again shocked
and saddened when Michael Leiter of the National Counter terrorism
Center admitted during these same hearings that intentionally letting
terrorists into the U.S. was a frequent practice of the U.S. Government.
I cannot fully explain my sadness, disappointment and fear when I
realized that my government allowed an attack on me intentionally.
During this time, I questioned if my country intentionally put a
known terrorist onto my flight with a live bomb. I had many sleepless
nights over this issue. My answer came shortly thereafter. In late 2010,
the FBI admitted to giving out intentionally defective bombs to the
Portland Christmas Tree Bomber,the Wrigley Field Bomber and several
others. Further, Mr. Chambers was quoted in the Free Press on January
11, 2011 when he indicated that the government’s own explosives experts
had indicated that Umar’s bomb was impossibly defective. I wondered how
that could be. Certainly, I thought, Al Qaeda wouldn’t go through all of
the trouble to plan such an attack only to provide the terrorist with
an impossibly defective bomb.
I attended nearly all of the pretrial hearings. At the hearing on
January 28, 2011, I was greatly disappointed by the prosecution’s
request to block evidence from Mr. Chambers “as it could then be able to
be obtained by third parties, who could use it in a civil suit against
the government”. It really bothered me that the government apparently
was admitting to wrongdoing of some kind as it admitted that it was
concerned it would be sued. It further upset me to know that the
government was putting its own interests ahead of those of the
passengers. (CONTINUE READING)