As we reported Monday, those six Islamic clerics who were removed from a US Airways flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul airport for suspicious behavior have launched a lawsuit against the airline, with help from the professional grievance mongers, CAIR.

But that in itself isn’t today’s outrage; the really disturbing part of this story is that CAIR plans to sue not only US Airways, but the passengers who witnessed and reported the imams’ behavior.

And CAIR is hunting for their names right now. The real target of the 6 imams’ ‘discrimination’ suit. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

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.”

In retribution for this action, the unnamed couple probably will be dragged into court soon and face the prospect of hiring a lawyer, enduring hostile questioning and paying huge legal bills. The same fate could await other as-yet-unnamed passengers on the US Airways flight who came forward as witnesses.

The imams’ attempt to bully ordinary passengers marks an alarming new front in the war on airline security.

Here’s the PDF document with the imams’ complaint against US Airways. Read it for yourself.

UPDATE at 3/15/07 2:57:24 pm:

I’ve received several emails from LGF-reading attorneys, offering their services pro bono to any passenger who ends up being sued by the imams and CAIR. Just for the record, one is a friend of The Jawa Report, and they’ve let me know he can be reached through them.