Bush defends Secret Service agent again

Bush: "I would be surprised if he was hostile. But I wasn't there."

By Jeanne Meserve
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush came to the defense Monday of the Secret Service agent ousted from a flight Christmas Day, calling him "honorable" and saying he would be "surprised" if the agent had been hostile.

American Airlines CEO Don Carty said in a weekend statement that one of his pilots was "not going to let an angry man with a gun on his airplane."

The Arab-American agent, Walied Shater, was en route to Crawford, Texas, to join the presidential security detail when the American pilot had him removed from the flight. American said inconsistencies in the agent's paperwork made the pilot suspicious of his credentials.

"If he was mistreated because of his ethnicity, I'm going to be plenty hot. That means angry," Bush said, acknowledging he did not know the facts of the incident.

Bush described Shater, a seven-year veteran of the Secret Service, as "an honorable fellow" and said he was appreciative of his service.

"I would be surprised if he was hostile. But I wasn't there," Bush said. The president said previously he would be "madder than heck" if racial profiling was a factor.

Lawyers for the agent contended the incident was a case of racial discrimination.

RESOURCES Statement by American Airlines CEO Don Carty

In a recorded statement over the weekend to American Airlines employees, Carty said he had reviewed the reports of the captain and American Airlines Systems Operation Control, and had been briefed on conversations with law enforcement officers at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

Carty said he was "completely convinced" that the captain acted appropriately and in the best interests of security on his airplane.

"Our captain simply was not going to let an angry man with a gun on his airplane," said Carty.

"I back that completely. And I will back any employee who makes the same kind of decision for safety and security decisions. Period. End of story."

Noting that many American Airlines employees, passengers and stockholders are Muslim, Carty said, "There is never -- never -- an excuse for not treating everyone with the utmost respect and tolerance. There is not now and there will never be a place for intolerance at American Airlines."

Christy Lopez, an attorney representing the Secret Service agent, told CNN, "It appears they are paying lip service to the ideas of respect and tolerance, because that is not how they treated this agent."

Lopez said there are no direct statements from anyone other than the captain that Shater was acting inappropriately.

Lopez said her firm has had conversations with American Airlines but would not comment on the substance.