Minnesota Imams Change Lawsuit Hit List

The six "Minnesota Imams," also called the "flying imams," have changed their minds. They say their civil rights were violated last fall when they were removed from a US Airways flight in Minnesota.

They still say that they're victims of something, but they've changed their minds about who is to blame.

Originally, they were going to sue the airline and the passengers who tattled on them.

Now, the Minnesota Imams have decided to drop the passengers from their give-me-money list. They are, however, going to sue the airline employees and police officers who they say are responsible for handcuffing the Imams and making them miss their flight.

Why were the civil rights of these self-described devout Muslims violated so cruelly? They just happened to

• Wear unseasonably bulky clothing
• Change their seat assignments to match the positions of the 9/11 hijackers
• Make anti-American comments about the war in Iraq

How could anyone reasonably think this was suspicious?

In case that question sounds serious, let me suggest a very hypothetical situation.

Let's say that Scandinavian Lutherans had, for decades, been blowing up airplanes, buses, and themselves in what they called a Ragnarokathon. Learned scholars explained that the Scandinavian Lutherans were doing this because western culture didn't appreciate lutefisk and lefse.

Then, in the fall of 2001, Scandinavian Lutherans, mostly from Sweden, blew up the Sears Tower in Chicago. Thousands of people were killed. The skyscraper was destroyed by crashing two airliners into it. The airliners had been hijacked by Scandinavian Lutherans carrying weapons under their overcoats. There were seven hijackers in each plane.

Five years later, at Boston's Logan Airport, one of seven tall, blond, blue-eyed men wearing bulky overcoats say, loudly enough to be heard near the boarding gate, "Ya, vell, hvat can you expect from dem crazy lefse-haters? De so steupid, de probly tink ve eatin' cardboard!"

Another of the blond giants says, "You said it, Sven! Lutefisk forever! Down vit de tasteless Eu Hess Hay!"

Once on the plane, they refuse to sit in their assigned seats, and arrange themselves in the same seating pattern used by the Scandinavian hijackers.

Then, they start singing "Sång till Norden." In Swedish.

Let's say you were a passenger on that plane, and remembered details about the 2001 hijacking. Would you be just a little suspicious? Would you be shocked if someone else was?

(The imams' lawyer says that the homeland security bill discussed last week, with language that would protect people who report suspicious behavior from lawsuits, had nothing to do with his clients' decision.)

(Information from FOXNews.com Imams Removed From US Airways Flight Drop Passengers From Lawsuit.)