Curt Haskell talks with reporters outside Detroit federal court (WWJ Photo/Vickie Thomas)
Reporting Vickie Thomas
DETROIT (WWJ) – Even though the so-called “underwear bomber” has pleaded guilty to terrorism, it’s not over yet.
Curt Haskell would have been the lone defense witness if the trial for 24-year old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had moved forward.
Haskell and his wife, both local attorneys, were passengers on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day 2009.
WWJ Newsradio 950′s Vickie Thomas reports the couple plans to file a civil lawsuit saying they are convinced the U.S. government was involved.
“The government staged an intentional falsified terrorist attack that almost took our lives,” said Curt Haskell.
“We were greatly traumatized by this event, as well as intentionally smearing our good name by use of false propaganda in the media, i.e. fake passport, false statements of what happened,” he said.
Abdulmutallab, a 24-year-old Nigerian, never denied his role in the incident in which unsuccessfully tried to blow up Flight 253 from Amsterdam with a bomb in his underwear. In Detroit federal court Thursday Abdulmutallab plead guilty to eight crimes, including conspiracy to commit terrorism and the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.
U.S .Attorney Barbara McQuade said Abdulmutallab did not negotiate any deal with the government. Legal experts expect he will spend the rest of his life in a federal prison in Colorado. That’s where several high-profile terrorists are being held, including Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.
