The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) can be counted upon to instantaneously leap forward to defend and/or excuse any words and/or deeds (with the exception of actual terrorist attacks, of course) of Muslims in the United States.

The latest example comes from Tampa:

    Two Saudi men were arrested Friday after they boarded a school bus and rode to Wharton High School in New Tampa. Students on the bus became alarmed, as did the bus driver, who called ahead. Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputies met the bus at the school and detained the men. No one was injured and nothing out of line occurred on the bus, deputies said.

Hillsborough County sheriff’s spokesman J.D. Callaway:

Both defendants gave several versions of the reason they took a school bus to a high school. They said they wanted to go to Wharton to look around, and then they said they wanted to go there to have some fun, and then they said they wanted to enroll in the English classes there. We’re not sure if this was a situation of them just being new to this country, or if they were confused or what it was. We were unsure as to exactly what the final reason was, but it did cause great concern for the students on the bus and for us. One of the guys was wearing shorts with a black trench coat. [emphasis added]

It was nearly 90 degrees in Tampa yesterday.

Here’s what CAIR said about the incident:

    Ahmed Bedier, Tampa director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said the men likely meant no harm and that because “they were from Saudi Arabia, that escalated the situation.” He blamed the incident on cultural differences. “They didn’t differentiate between a school bus and public transportation,” he said.

Yeah, right.

UPDATE: A judge revoked bail for two Saudi men arrested Friday for boarding a school bus and riding to Wharton High. Neither man carried identification when they were arrested at Wharton High School, and authorities haven’t had an opportunity to gather background information beyond a check of state records. [emphasis added]

CAIR’s Bedier called the court’s decision to revoke bond an overreaction and tied to the men being Arabic and Muslim:

The only reason [this happened] is because of who they are, and that’s wrong. How is it that they can say they can’t find out who these kids are when they’ve searched their homes and found nothing? ... Thus far, it doesn’t seem like they’ve been afforded their full rights for something as simple as getting on the wrong bus.

Since when are people in their early twenties “kids?” Why didn’t they have any identification?