Posted on 08/25/2008 7:05:22 AM PDT by Paleo Conservative
PITTSBURGH, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- A U.S. Army veteran on the U.S. terror watch list is suing the federal government to have his name removed from the list.
CNN reported Friday that Erich Scherfen, who received an honorable discharge after 13 years of military service, was hired as a pilot by Colgan Air Inc., a regional airline.
In April, the Schuylkill Haven, Pa., man's employer told him he was on a government terror suspect list and said he would be fired unless he could clear his name by Sept. 1.
Scherfen, who is a convert to Islam and is married to a Pakistani woman, says he has been unable to get his name off the government list. He sued this week to have his name removed.
"My entire career depends on me getting off this list," he told CNN. "I probably won't be able to get a job anywhere else in the world having this mark that I'm on this list."
Witold Walczak, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney representing Scherfen, called his client's treatment "unfair" and "unjust."
"It is quite clear when the government does something that takes away not just your job, but your occupation, your career, they have to provide you with some means to clear your name," Walczak said.
Move to Pakistan. Go live large in Islam and see exactly what your new religion is all about.
My first thought exactly.
Yep...and don't let the screen door smack your Obama!
Ironically if he changed his name to Muhommed they would take his name off the list.
Good.
He made some important life choices that carry a real world cost.
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch, Erich.
I figured there was more to the story than they let on.
http://www.dhs.gov/xtrvlsec/programs/gc_1169676919316.shtm
There are ways off of it. A lot of people who are suing are the ones who believe the list in unconstitutional and want the whole thing scrapped out, not just removed.
The problem with people who have the same name has been dealt with. If you are on the list then there is a reason, and they are just mad because the Gov. won’t tell them the reason and let them argue it.
Let him have his day in front of a panel first, not a court IMHO. The problem is that a lot of facts they have are from informants and other intel operations. DHS doesn’t want to let the people know or suspect how they got the info on them, which a court will demand, possibly exposing their methods or sources.
The power his has in his pants (underwear) is stronger than the power in his brain. He should have converted his wife instead, as being the MAN in the family. That is the rules in HER country, but he played pantsy!!!
Correction: The power he has.......
Gee, when I declare myself a Christian publicly, I have to suffer the consequences (gladly), even in my own service, where we get increased scrutiny for potential unlawful command influence...suck it up, bubba.
Colonel, USAFR
Bad move and a "two-fer" at that.
Cicero: For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder is less to fear.
Btw I thought muzzies had to take a muzzy name? Can you imagine at al quida camp. Ok folks today's guest prof in bombing 101 is erich oh wait AKMED!!!!
‘DHS doesn’t want to let the people know or suspect how they got the info on them, which a court will demand, possibly exposing their methods or sources.”
yeah that whole havin your day in court and meeting your accusers is really inconvenient.
Unfortunately National Security trumps a convenience in most cases. They aren’t stopping them from travel, just certain modes of it.
I can see both sides of this case here, and I do sympathize with the pilot. But if the DHS got their information by a wiretap to a call he made in the US do you think that information should be announced in a public court?
That is the crux of the DHS’s case here. Not every case is like this example of course, but if some are then what do they do with those, and not more mundane cases?
“Unfortunately National Security trumps a convenience in most cases. They aren’t stopping them from travel, just certain modes of it.”
its not convenienc, its civil rights. If folks aren’t safe to be on the streets then they should be deported or put in jail. Secret police watching everyone is not an American idea.
“But if the DHS got their information by a wiretap to a call he made in the US do you think that information should be announced in a public court?”
Oh you mean if they collected the evidence illegally? If you forget or lose your ID when flying you can end up on this list.
Being on the list effects all commercial travel. Perhaps you don’t think its a big deal for the govt to do that, but I do.
I simply don’t trust the govt to use the ever expanding power grab wisely. Put him in jail or leave him alone. But instead the DHS will strip search grandma while allowing some traveler from the middle east to go thru without question.
ditto
I have to say that I am shocked by the responses here. God forbid the gaovernment targets you. I think this man is owed an explanation and if it is a mistake it should be rectified. It is not against the law in my country to convert to another religion, even if it is Islam.
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