It’s a sad commentary on the state of terrorism when a former member of a group whose mission statement includes suicide bombing calls someone a liar and threatens with a lawsuit.

Ayman Abu Aita, who is labeled in the Brüno movie as a “terrorist group leader,” slammed Sacha Baron Cohen as a “big liar” who “made up stories” when describing to CBS’s David Letterman last week [above, via WarmingGlow] the way he met Aita at an undisclosed location. Aita said he is pursuing legal action.

Apparently Aita is offended at being labeled a “terrorist”, because although he served in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades from 2000 until 2003, he says he’s reformed after a two-year stint in Israeli prison, and is currently a representative in the Palestinian Authority, in President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.

“I thought I needed security,” Baron Cohen told Letterman. “It was in the West Bank. The guy picks this secret location. … The terrorist comes in with his bodyguard.”  Aita, however, says the interview took place at a private section of a popular restaurant called Everest in the town of Beit Jala, which is in a section in the West Bank under Israeli control. [WND via /Film]

Let’s not split hairs here: Cohen called him a terrorist, and clearly, he used to be a terrorist.  Does that mean he can’t still be called a terrorist?  Try telling Danny Trejo he’s not gangster.  He’ll cut your belly open, I’ve seen him do it.  As for calling the restaurant a “secret location,” to be fair, Zagat did call it “the West Bank’s best-kept secret.”  Though they weren’t huge fans of the Falafel, which they called “decent, but nothing to blow yourself up for.”