Victim Impact Statement
by Kurt Haskell
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 my 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 emotional 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.
When I attended the jury selection hearings, I questioned why versions of the
same two questions kept coming up, those being:
1. Do you think whether you'll be able to tell whether something is actually a
bomb? and
2. Do you realize that sometimes the media doesn't always tell the truth?
I continued to be greatly saddened at this point as I felt the truth continued
to be hidden.
When Umar listed me as his only witness, I was happy to testify, not on his
behalf, but on behalf of the truth. I never expected to testify, as my
eyewitness account would have been too damaging to the myth that the government
and media are putting forward. A mere 5 days after I was announced as a witness,
there was an inexplicable guilty plea which exasperated me as I no longer would
be testifying.
In closing I will just say that regardless of how the media and government try
to shape the public perception of this case, I am convinced that Umar was given
an intentionally defective bomb by a U.S. Government agent and placed on our
flight without showing a passport or going through security, to stage a false
terrorist attack to be used to implement various government policies.
The effect this matter has had on my life has been astounding and due to this
case, I will never trust the government in any matter, ever.
In regards to sentencing, nothing I've said excuses the fact that Umar tried to
kill me. He has waived his valid claim to the entrapment defense. Umar, you are
not a great Muslim martyr, you are merely a "Patsy". I ask the court to impose
the mandatory sentence.
Read Kurt Haskell's blog
here