Secret Service Agent Who Wrote Anti-Muslim Statements During Search to Be Suspended Without Pay

ap ^ | August 9, 2002 | Bree Fowler

[TomGuy]

Secret Service Agent Who Wrote Anti-Muslim Statements During Search to Be Suspended Without Pay

By Bree Fowler Associated Press Writer

Published: Aug 9, 2002

DETROIT (AP) - A Secret Service agent who admitted he scrawled anti-Muslim statements on a prayer calendar during a search will be suspended for six months without pay, a federal prosecutor said Friday.

U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins said the agent won't face criminal charges. He said the suspension, which amounts to a financial loss of about $40,000, and other sanctions were greater punishment than any misdemeanor charge would have been.

"I think his career, which was on track for great things before this, has essentially been derailed," Collins said.

On July 18, federal agents searched the Dearborn home of Omar Shishani, who has pleaded innocent to smuggling $12 million in bogus cashier's checks into the United States.

Members of Shishani's family said they discovered after the search that "Islam is Evil" and "Christ is King" had been written on the calendar.

The agent, identified only as a 10-year veteran, will be transferred out of the Eastern District of Michigan and has written a letter of apology to Shishani and his family.

"We're satisfied with the decision," said Hodan Hassan, a spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which had asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to investigate. "And we hope that the punishment meted out would be a signal to others that such bigotry would not be tolerated."

The FBI is investigating whether Shishani has ties to terrorist organizations, but his name is not on the American terrorist watch list, law enforcement officials have said.

AP-ES-08-09-02 1803EDT

[Illbay]

So you're stating here for the record that the First Amendment protects a government official when he commits vandalism while on the job?

That's a new one on me, and surely not something I think you'll find commented upon in the Federalist Papers.

[Illbay]

And then claim First Amendment protection for your "right" to do it!

[blam]

"In a private corporation, this would be grounds for termination."

You are correct. But, if this Muslim had not been here....

[SpringheelJack]

For $40,000, you can do come in right now. Heck, I'll get another calendar, and you can write it twice...for $80,000.

LOL. Too bad the Secret Service agent didn't bother to get the guy's permission before he vented himself on the calendar; then it wouldn't have been vandalism, now would it?

[FreeTheHostages]

no, I agree with you. he should be suspended

[Cachelot]

A month suspension w/ no pay would have gotten the message across. Are Clintonite scum still running this outfit?

Actually, yes they are. And the case against Shishani has been quite effectively blown apart, just wait and see.

And a couple years down the road, you may find out that this agent didn't lose anything - $40.000 may be just a fraction of what the Islamics would be willing to pay for a derailment such as this. If you find him working for someone with an Arab name by then, it'll be a dead giveaway.

[SpringheelJack]

But suspension without pay?

He's lucky he didn't get fired. People with such disrespect for private property shouldn't be in a position of authority anyway; we have enough of them in Congress.

[joyful1]

Certainly some rich person will make it up for him. I certainly would, if I had the money.

[ErnBatavia]

In a private corporation, this would be grounds for termination.

No it wouldn't; none that I know of anyhow. And I'll be you MY buck to YOUR doughnut that I know a hell of a lot more about "Corporate America" than you do.

[helper]

Yes, in fact they still are.

[AM2000]

No it wouldn't; none that I know of anyhow. And I'll be you MY buck to YOUR doughnut that I know a hell of a lot more about "Corporate America" than you do.

So that's your argument? "You're wrong, and I'm smarter than you are, nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah"?

Save it.

[MinuteGal]

Remember that Muslim calander that depicted a plane crashing into a skyscraper BEFORE the WTC attack?

Now THAT'S defacing a calendar!

Leni

[Gunrunner2]

>>But suspension without pay?<<

>>He's lucky he didn't get fired. People with such disrespect for private property shouldn't be in a position of authority anyway; we have enough of them in Congress.<<

Indeed. But. . .what about all that damage done at the White House by all those departing Clintoon adminstration toads. They caused real damage and even stole from the White House and the OEB, but they get away with no sanction or cost at all. The case was closed quietly.

And of course, Air Force One was stripped of anything with a logo and not bolted onto the aircraft---yet, no one punished or fined. Just swept away.

These is something terribly wrong here, terribly wrong.

Sure the SS agent did wrong, but heck, a fine of that magnitude is a message to the agent that your career of over and to hit the bricks. THAT is over-reaction, not justice, and I also suspect, a pre-emptive kow-tow to show we are intolerant of intolerance--with elections coming up you don't want to be portrayed as racist.

The punishment does not fit the crime in this case. No way.

Reasonable punishment: a letter of sanction in his jacket and a fine of, say, two-weeks pay. Message sent and the guys career is not shot to hell.

[Howlin]

LOL!

[Howlin]

I remember that. I wish I could find it!

[SpringheelJack]

The Clintonoids (and Clinton himself) got let off easy, but I don't believe that's any reason why this agent should get off leniently. I appreciate your point, I just think that _both_ parties should have been punished severely.

[Isle of sanity in CA]

Wow! I didn't realize the SS made so much. (80k a year)

[APBaer]

You are right in noting that he was "displaying a total lack of judgment and propriety".

This guy should be fired. Who the fukk wants a guy so nuts back in the White House with a gun?

They stated that "I think his career...has essentially been derailed," okay, haul that wreckage off the track, don't drag it back to the White House.

[Mulder]

Reno burns down the church at Waco and she is not punished.

Horiuchi shoots and kills an innocent woman holding a baby. He is not punished.

An FBI Agent shoots an innocent teenage in the face. He is not punished.

A USSS agent writes something on the private property of a possible enemy agent in possesion of $12 million dollars of fake checks. He is suspended without pay for 6 months, and his career is effectively over.

Only in Amerika.

[Mulder]

Members of Shishani's family said they discovered after the search that "Islam is Evil" and "Christ is King" had been written on the calendar.

I'm glad that someone working for the feds understands the score.