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In the Crossfire

She said, they said

(CNN) -- What did the three medical students -- the focus of a terrorism scare on a Florida interstate last Friday -- really talk about at a restaurant in north Georgia that led a woman to think they were planning a terror attack?

The men were detained for 17 hours while bomb squads searched their cars for explosives. Nothing was found. Was prejudice against Muslim Americans responsible for igniting fears they could be terrorists?

The three students -- Kambiz Butt, Ayman Gheith and Omar Choudhary -- step into the Crossfire with hosts Paul Begala and Robert Novak to tell their side of the story.

NOVAK: Gentlemen, I'd like to start off just to give a frame of reference by playing for you a radio interview with the woman who made the telephone call, Eunice Stone.

Let's listen to it.

(Begin audiotape)

EUNICE STONE: They said they had attended a party in Chicago the night before and that they needed to quit stopping because they were five hours late. And then I just naturally, my curiosity, I just kept listening. And something else was said. They were kind of huddled together there over the booth talking. And then one guy said, "Do you think that will bring it down?" And I looked at my son, and we were just looking at each other. And he said, "Well, if that don't bring it down, I have contacts. I'll get enough to bring it down.:"

And to me, that meant they were planning to blow up something.

(End audiotape)

NOVAK: Mr. Butt, what were talking about when you said you wanted to bring it down?

BUTT: We were talking about Omar bringing his car down from Kansas City. Me and Ayman purchased a car in Chicago, and obviously we drove down. And Omar flew out to Chicago to accompany us down to Miami just for company. And the conversation pertained to just him bringing his car down.

I asked him, "Well, do you have enough money to bring yours down because you know, it's pretty pricey?" And he was like, "Yeah, you know, I have enough connections that I can afford it." And that was what the conversation pertained to.

NOVAK: What did you mean that you had enough connections?

CHOUDHARY: I was going to buy a car once we got to Miami. If not then, then I was going to have one shipped down from Kansas City. And that was what I was referring to: bringing the car down from Kansas City.

NOVAK: I mean, the connections; what connections were you talking about?

CHOUDHARY: Oh, connections, just in terms of I knew some people who were car dealers there and I would ask them that, "If you have to ship a car, from one city to the other, how do you do it, and what deals can you get me?"

BEGALA: Well, Mr. Gheith, are you ... you're not accusing Ms. Stone of lying then, right? Your defense or your argument is that this is a misunderstanding, right?

GHEITH: We're not -- I don't want to accuse anybody of anything. I don't want to slander or hurt because I know how much it hurts, you know, for somebody to be slandered.

All I'm saying is we're positive of what we said. We know exactly what we said. And we've maintained it throughout, from the beginning, from the first time they put the handcuffs on until today.

BEGALA: Mr. Butt, Ms. Stone also says that you and your friends mentioned September 11. And that's part of what caught her attention.

Did you?

BUTT: Well, we absolutely did not. I mean throughout our whole conversation, we were in Shoney's for about an hour. September 11 was never a part of the conversation. September 13 was never a part of the conversation. All we were talking about was our school, the experience we were about to have in Miami pertaining to our rotations in the hospital. We were talking about friends and just getting Ayman (settled) with his sister, and Omar getting a car. That's all the conversation was about.