Michael Gerson gets it right on Eric Holder and terror trials

About a year ago we wrote of the American government’s decision, announced by Attorney General Eric Holder, that terror suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay would be tried in civilian courts. We thought it would be a disaster, and it turns out we were right. The first Guantanamo Bay prisoner tried in civilian court beat the U.S. last week when a jury of our peers convicted him of 1 out of 200 plus charges arising from the 1998 African embassy bombings.

Michael Gerson, writing in the Washington Post, takes Holder and the Obama Administration to task for using the civilian court to try Ahmed Ghailani and losing the case. (A minor conviction was gotten.)

The case of embassy bomber Ahmed Ghailani - the only Guantanamo Bay detainee the Obama administration has brought to trial in the United States - was intended to increase public faith in civilian prosecutions. But a terrorist hugging his lawyers in victory can’t be considered a confidence builder. Days before the Ghailani verdict, the White House admitted that Mohammed, because of massive, public resistance, would not be seeing the inside of a Manhattan courtroom anytime soon. “Gitmo,” one official told The Washington Post, “is going to remain open for the foreseeable future.”

We’ve been personally through this type of trial before. The case of Sami Al-Arian. The weaknesses in both cases was pretty much the same-- the trial took place years after the event in question, many charges were brought, and the evidence is confusing. In my opinion, more than the layperson can digest.

So, Gerson asks the question,

Where do these developments leave Holder, for whom failure is not only an option but a habit? A recent profile by Wil Hylton in GQ attempts to put his tenure in the best possible light - the lonely, naive man of principle undone by politics. But the portrait is unintentionally devastating. Holder clearly views the war on terrorism as a distraction. “The biggest surprise I’ve had in this job,” he told Hylton, “is how much time the national security issues take.”

Doh.

By insisting on civilian trials for terrorists, the Obama-Holder team embarked on a dangerous course of action. Obama needs a way to back off this course and get the next trials before military tribunals, where they belong.

National security is not a traffic infraction violation. It’s life and death stuff and we should learn to play by the rules need for it. And that’s what I think.

Read the full Op-ed.

Terror Victims Getting Short Shrift at the White House?

Debra Burlingame a former attorney and a director of the National September 11 Memorial Foundation, is the sister of Charles F. "Chic" Burlingame III, the pilot of American Airlines flight 77, which was crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, writes in today's Wall Street Journal On-line she and other victims feel "we'd been had" by the Obama administration as it dances around the issues surrounding justice for familes of 9/11 and the USS Cole attack. It seems the patience has worn out.

"Now, after more than eight years of waiting, Mr. Obama was stopping the trial of Abu Rahim al-Nashiri, the only individual to be held accountable for the bombing in a U.S. court. Patience finally gave out. The families were giving angry interviews, slamming the new president just days after he was sworn in."

She continues, "the Obama team quickly put together a meeting at the White House to get the situation under control. Individuals representing "a diversity of views" were invited to attend and express their concerns." The take on all this?

"We'd been had."

Delay, obfuscation, and out-right do-nothingness permeate the lives of terror victims families as they deal with the folks in Washington, D.C. Parents of kids murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorists in the 1990s are still waiting for the US to bring to justice the killers of their kids.

Sami Al-Arian, poster boy for terror supporters the world over, was not brought to trial until 8 years after his books, records and computers were seized by Federal agents. The result, aged evidence that didn't translate well in the ears of the jurors. The trial resulted in an acquittal of the most serious charges and a plea by Al-Arian to supporting Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

President Obama has not been clear on what his true intentions are on the release of Guantanamo detainees and how he will deal with captured terrorists in the future.

Read the full article Obama and the 9/11 Families

St. Petersburg Times Sacrifices Accuracy - Once Again

Reporter Meg Laughlin has been covering the twisted case of Dr. Sami Al-Arian for many years. Al-Arian first came to the public eye in 1995 when his computers and other records were seized in a November raid in connection with terrorism allegations.

After years of seeming government disinterest, Al-Arian was put on trial. Acquitted of most counts, Al-Arian pleaded guilty to "conspiracy to make or receive contributions of funds, goods or services to or for the benefit of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Specially Dedicated Terrorist..." (Read the full Plea Agreement.)

Called to testify before a grand jury in a non-related terrorism case, Al-Arian refused and standing trial for contempt. Among the issues to be resolved is whether his plea agreement exempted him from further cooperation with the government. Demonstrations on behalf of Al-Arian have been frequent. He draws his supporters from the far left fringes of society. Under the guise of protecting Al-Arian's rights, his supporters quickly turn to the Palestinian cause and Israel's "occupation of Palestine." Nonetheless, the trial has begun.

While reporting on the case today, Ms. Laughlin writes, "in May 2006, Al-Arian pleaded guilty to helping associates of the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad with immigration issues." I think the language of the plea agreement disproves that statement.

One of the purposes of this blog is to seek honesty in reporting. It's a never ending challenge. I wish it weren't.

Read Laughlin's report here.

Sami Al-Arian - About to catch a break?

Admitted terror supporter Sami Al-Arian might catch a break next month when a court rules on a motion to dismiss contempt charges. Al-Arian's request is based upon the prosecutor's strengthening of the plea agreement Al-Arian signed in connection with his admitted support of Islamic Jihad, a violent terror group responsible for the murder of many dozens of civilians in Israel.

Of course, Al-Arian's release is hypothetical at this time and is being drummed up by his supporters.

According to the Tampa Bay Tribune report,

Charles Rose, a law professor at Stetson University, said if he were Al-Arian's attorney, he would have strongly advised him not to testify with the immunity order he was given. The order put Al-Arian at high risk of criminal prosecution, no matter what he did, Rose said.

"This was in no way done for the benefit of the defendant," Rose said.

One reason is that obstruction of justice is not a clearly defined crime, Rose said. Prosecutors have a lot of leeway in deciding when to bring such charges. With obstruction of justice added to the immunity order, the prosecutor could decide Al-Arian was obstructing justice if the prosecutor didn't like Al-Arian's testimony before the grand jury.

The court is expected to rule on Al-Arian's request in mid-January 2009.

Dirty Money to an American University - What is George Mason University Thinking?

The Washington Times reports today that "George Mason University is expanding its Islamic studies program with a $1.5 million grant from a Northern Virginia-based think thank still operating under the cloud of a six-year federal terrorism investigation." The donor is the International Institute for Islamic Thought.

The IIIT's Northern Virginia center was among 14 homes and offices raided by federal agencies in March 2002 in an attempt to disrupt domestic financing for global terrorism. The raids - known as Operation Green Quest - resulted in 21 search warrants, 12 arrests, four indictments and the seizure of about $10.3 million smuggled into the United States, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

What gives with GMU? Temple University received the same offer earlier in 2008 and saw the sense in distancing itself from the IIIT which is suspected of supporting admitted terror sponsor Sami Al-Arian's efforts with World and Islam Studies Institute at the University of South Florida to support Islamic Jihad's activities in the Middle East, especially targeting Israeli civilians.

Wake up GMU. When you lie down with.....

Sami Al-Arian in the News – Released on bail

Unlike those countries that are quick to criticize it, the United States once again shows that it stands behind its constitution and laws. It stands behind those laws even when the beneficiary, Sami Al-Arian, an admitted supporter of terrorism is freed from prison where he awaits trial on a criminal contempt charge for refusing to testify in a terrorism case unrelated to his 1995 trial.

How is Al-Arian’s story treated in the media? Well, for those outlets that are covering the story, Al-Arian’s case continues to be surrounded by inaccuracy.

Both quotes which follow misstate the facts of the Al-Arian case. Al-Arian’s plea agreement does not exempt him from testifying before a grand jury. That idea was roundly denied by an appeals court. The plea agreement is completely silent on the issue of cooperation in other terror prosecutions. Al-Arian argues for a right not granted to any other American, not to mention an admitted supporter of terror. You can look it up.

From The Palestine Chronicle, out of Mountlake Terrace, Washington

Dr. Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian political activist and former professor of the University of South Florida, released on bail in Virginia on September 2 after more than five years in federal custody, faces criminal contempt charges despite a plea agreement that he would not have to testify in any other case. In 2005, a Florida jury rejected federal charges that Al-Arian operated a cell for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Al-Arian later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was scheduled for release and deportation in April this year. However, he was subpoenaed and jailed for refusing to testify against others. To borrow Dr. Al-Arian’s lead Counsel, Professor Jonathen Turley, “Having lost the case in Florida , the Justice Department has openly sought to extend his confinement by daisy-chaining grand juries.” His trial to criminal contempt begins in December.

Among the contributors to The Palestine Chronicle- Hanan Ashrawi and Noam Chomsky.


HOTLINE BUZZ from Jurist Legal News & Research published by Bernard Hibbits of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law

“A central aspect of the plea agreement was an understanding that Dr. Al-Arian would not be subject to further prosecution or called to cooperate with the government on any matter. The plea agreement signed with Florida prosecutors explicitly protected him from cooperating in any additional cases.”

Poor Sami Al-Arian - In Trouble Again

Sami Al-Arian, the Tampa-based admitted supporter of terror, just had the book thrown at him, again. This time the charge is criminal contempt of court.

As reported by Josh Gerstein in The New York Sun, Al-Arian's latest troubles began when he refused to testify before a Virginia grand jury in its investigation of the International Institute of Islamic Thought.

Al-Arian's refusal to testify was based on a non-existent portion of his plea agreement that allegedly did not require him to answer the government's call to testify. Essentially, Al-Arian was arguing that he, an admitted felon, had greater rights than you or I.
Unless you have sympathy for Al-Arian, remember this-- he supports Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a virulent terror group that targets civilians.

What's the Story with Jihadists in Florida

Must be something in the Florida air or water that takes nice boys and turns them into potential killers. Just so the Florida people are clear on this, I am not talking about all Florida boys, just some misguided, impressionable youth at the University of South Florida. You remember the University of South Florida, don't you? It was the home of Sami Al-Arian and his so-called "think tanks" that were nothing more than fronts for Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the virulent terrorist group. Notwithstanding his acquittal in 2005 of serious terrorism charges leveled against him, Al-Arian pleaded guilty to providing support for PIJ and received what amounted to an 18 month sentence and future deportation.
Now we add to the wall of shame at USF the name of Ahmed Mohamed. Mohamed was caught with a traveling buddy with explosives in his car as he drove in North Carolina. While he denied, denied and denied, common sense dictated that a plea bargain with a possible 15 year term is far better than life in prison.
His defenders at CAIR and other organizations have to do a bit of eating crow because of the turn of events.
I would like to know what led Mr. Mohamed to develop the outline of a terror plan that would involve blowing up vehicles remotely so that the bomber could terrorize again.
I would like to know what his religious leaders and advisers taught him as a youngster.
I would like to know where his parents were during his life.
I would like to know why someone plans murder.