Raed Jarrar, Just Who Is this Guy, and Why Should We Care?

Raed Jarrar is the man who wanted to fly on a JetBlue airliner, days after a massive terrorist effort to blow up multiple airliners had been stopped, wearing a black T-shirt decorated with bold Arabic writing in white.

Rather dressy, actually.

He finally flew, but with another T-Shirt, one purchased by a JetBlue employee.

Now, he's suing the Department of Homeland Security.

News reports were a trifle vague as to just who this Raed Jarrar is, so I did a little checking: mostly with Google. Mr. Raed Jarrar

• Wrote "An Illegal War Degenerates / Iraq: Raped" a month before the T-shirt incident
• Is the Iraq Project Director for Global Exchange (as of earlier today, August 13, 2007)
• Authors In The Middle / Raed Jarrar's Blog.

I hadn't heard of Global Exchange before learning about Mr. Jarrar. GE says that, in contrast to "US companies such as Nike abusing the women who make its shoes, the US government fueling an illegal, unjustified, murderous war in Iraq, or the World Trade Organization (WTO) undercutting consumer and environmental protections, Global Exchange offers itself as a partner for peace and social justice."

Why should we care? Considering the ACLU's involvement in his lawsuit, I don't think we've heard the last of his claim to victimhood. And, this is another instance of someone, intentionally or not, creating a situation which could reasonably discourage people from reporting a terrorist who was intent on carrying out a violent mission.

There's more about Mr. Jarrar and his amazing T-shirt at "T-Shirt Story 1: 'I Got Rights!'" and "T-Shirt Story 2: Civil Rights vs Common Sense."