Text 28772, 107 rader
Skriven 2007-05-16 00:16:22 av Mimi Gallandt (1:123/789.0)
  Kommentar till text 28768 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: The Army is ordering inju
=================================
Jeff Binkley -> Vern Humphrey wrote:
 VH>>>> I believe we will see weapons of mass destruction used inside
 VH>>>> the US within ten years.

 VH>>>> I know (but can't tell you how) that a serious attempt has
 VH>>>> already been made to use WMD inside the US.

 SD>>> I absolutely believe you.  I'm suprised that there was only one
 SD>>> attempt-ther probably been more, but we've been able to nip it in
 SD>>> the bud.  I haven't bee keeping up on news lately as I've been
 SD>>> busy with work and home issues, but w this recent spate of
 SD>>> terrorism in the US at Fort Dix, who knows how many mor plans
 SD>>> there are out there to cause problems?

 VH>> And when we pull out of Iraq, Al Qaeda will be free to use all their
 VH>> resources to link up with home-grown or illegals and use them to make
 VH>> live here a living hell.

 JB> With Iran making the bombs.

In today's Chicago Tribune:

Prosecutors hammer Al Qaeda link
By Curt Anderson

May 15, 2007

MIAMI -- A federal prosecutor said "Al Qaeda" 91 times in just over an hour as
he made his opening statement Monday against Jose Padilla and two co-defendants
accused of supporting Islamic extremists.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Brian Frazier also mentioned Osama bin Laden several times
and dwelt on allegations that Padilla attended an Al Qaeda training camp in
Afghanistan.

Launching a fight they will face throughout the trial, defense lawyers for
Padilla, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi took turns trying to pull
the jury's attention from what they called the prosecution's smear tactics.

Prosecutors were essentially saying, "We're going to make the jury afraid in
this case. We're going to say, 'Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda,'" Jayyousi's
lawyer William Swor said.

"The government really is trying to put Al Qaeda on trial in this case, and it
doesn't belong in this courtroom," said lawyer Jeanne Baker, who is defending
Hassoun.

Padilla, a U.S. citizen, and his co-defendants are accused of providing money,
recruits and military equipment for nearly a decade to Islamic extremists
involved in violence worldwide.

"The defendants were members of a secret organization, a terrorism support
cell, based right here in South Florida," Frazier told jurors. "The defendants
took concrete steps to support and promote this violence."

Defense attorneys argued that Hassoun and Jayyousi, both 45, were simply
assisting oppressed Muslims in war-torn regions and that Padilla, 36, was a
peaceful Islamic convert interesting in studying his religion overseas.

Anthony Natale, Padilla's attorney, said authorities blew the case out of
proportion in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Political crises can cause parts of our government to overreach. This is one
of those times," he said.

Evidence includes hundreds of FBI wiretaps translated from Arabic, documents
ranging from bank records to passports, and dozens of witnesses.

If convicted of the main charge of conspiracy to "murder, kidnap and maim"
people overseas, the defendants could face life in prison. They also face
terrorism material support charges that carry lesser sentences.

Padilla, a former Chicago gang member, has been in federal custody since his
May 2002 arrest at O'Hare International Airport. He was initially accused of
plotting to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the U.S. and held for 3 1/2
years as an enemy combatant at a Navy brig, but those allegations are not part
of the Miami indictment.

A key piece of evidence against Padilla is an application to an Al Qaeda
training camp in Afghanistan that prosecutors say he completed in July 2000
using the name "Abu Abdullah al-Mujahir." They also say it bears his
fingerprints.

Padilla's lawyer said his client's fingerprints appear on only on the outside
pages, suggesting it may have simply been handed to him, Natale said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0705150082may15,1,7753899.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed



-- 
L'Chaim

Mimi

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—Hugh G. Gallagher, 1998

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