Found in this magnificent quote from Mark Steyn.

"If 9/11 was really an inside job, you wouldn't be driving around with a bumper sticker bragging that you were on to it. Fantasy is a by-product of security: it's the difference between hanging upside down in your dominatrix's bondage parlor after work on Friday and enduring the real thing for years on end in Saddam's prisons."

Exactly.

And similarly, if the Bush Administration were truly the fascist regime the anti-war crowd keeps claiming it is, those making the claim would have long since been imprisoned or executed for the audacity of their claims.

H/T Right Wing News

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Dare I state that I don't care that he was detained, searched and inconvenienced? It happens to average Americans every day.

BRITAIN'S first Muslim minister said he was "deeply disappointed" yesterday after being detained at a US airport where his hand luggage was tested for traces of explosive materials.

Shahid Malik, the MP for Dewsbury and an international development minister, was returning to Heathrow after meetings and talks on tackling terrorism, when he was stopped at Dulles Airport near Washington yesterday morning.

He was searched and detained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) - the department whose representatives he had been meeting on his visit.

You, sir, at least fit the profile of a terrorist. We regularly see nuns and Medal of Honor winners searched at random as a condition of air travel. Why should you be treated any different? And if, as you claim, all of those getting the special search that day were Muslims, it appears that someone may have been awake to the fact that Muslims are the folks who have been committing the bulk of terrorist activity over the last 20 years or so.

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A new site dealing with the threat of Islamic terrorism has opened -- Kafir Canada.

If the first major post (second overall) is any indication, the site will become an important one in the fight against those who would do violence against us in the name of the Muslim faith, as well as those who object to efforts to combat Islamic terrorism. Provided, of course, the Canadian government doesn't try to shut it down for speaking the truth.

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Too bad – I might have considered breaking my pledge not to vote for John McCain if he had.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain told workers of small weapons factory that he not only wants to catch Osama Bin Laden if elected, but said he "will shoot him with your products".

"I will follow Osama Bin Laden to the gates of hell and I will shoot him with your products," McCain said.

You know, I like the image of an American president personally dispatching the archfiend of al-Qaeda to Hell with an American-made weapon. Heck, IÂ’d vote for Hillary if she would make that commitment. Especially if she promised to do it live on national television.

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Hence his call for the disparate factions in Iraq to unite.

Osama bin Laden called for Iraqi insurgents to unite and avoid divisive "extremism," speaking in an audiotape aired Monday and apparently intended to win over Sunnis opposed to al-Qaida's branch in Iraq.

In the audiotape broadcast on Al-Jazeera television, bin Laden said insurgents should admit "mistakes" and that he even advises himself not to be extreme in his leadership.

So, will the cut-and-run-and-surrender crowd that has been crowing that the war is lost finally admit that it is not?

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It looks like the Holy Land Foundation case will need to be retried in Dallas, given yesterday's bizarre happenings when the verdict was read.

A deadlocked federal jury here did not convict any leaders of a Muslim charity who were charged with supporting Middle Eastern terrorists, and the judge today declared a mistrial in what has been widely viewed as the governmentÂ’s flagship terror-financing case.

* * *

The case involved a total of 197 counts, including providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, years of investigation and preparation, almost two months of testimony and more than 1,000 exhibits, including documents, wiretaps, transcripts and videotapes dug up in a backyard in Virginia.

After 19 days of deliberations, the jury acquitted one of the five individual defendants on all but one charge, on which it deadlocked. A majority of the jurors also appeared ready to acquit two other defendants of most charges, and could not reach a verdict on charges against the two principal organizers and the foundation itself, which had been the largest Muslim charity in the United States until the government froze its assets in late 2001.

It seems pretty clear that this case will be tried again. Here's hoping that it is better presented to the jury with a clearer narrative that will bring about a conviction. After all, money is fungible -- therefore any money given to a terrorist organization has the effect of paying for terrorism, even if it is earmarked for "charitable" purposes.

Posted by: Greg at 09:37 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You know, if they really think that those who use it to go after terrorists are violating the Constitution and international law.

Beginning in 1995, the Clinton administration turned up the speed with a full-fledged program to use rendition to disrupt terrorist plotting abroad. According to former director of central intelligence George J. Tenet, about 70 renditions were carried out before Sept. 11, 2001, most of them during the Clinton years.

I'll take serious the Democrat complaints about rendition when they demand that Bill Clinton be turned over to an international court for prosecution.

Let's start pressing senior democrats on this point -- including the current front-runner for the Democrat nomination.

Heck, let's start asking how the Democrats can consider selecting a nominee known to be, by their standards, an international criminal and human rights violator.

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Explaining once again why "Palestine" can never be permitted to exist as a state -- and why the world needs to accept that the only viable solution to protect Israel is to remove the Terrorstinians from Gaza and the West Bank and resettle them around the Arab world.

Palestinian gunmen planned to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert when he came to the West Bank in August to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a security chief told Israel's Cabinet on Sunday, a meeting participant said.

Shin Bet security police director Yuval Diskin said gunmen loyal to Abbas' Fatah movement planned to attack Olmert's convoy as it entered the West Bank town of Jericho on Aug. 6. Israel notified Palestinian authorities and they arrested an unspecified number of Fatah militants, the participant said.

It was not clear why Israel, whose military operates freely in the West Bank, left it up to Palestinian security sources to apprehend would-be assassins if they thought Olmert's life was in danger — or why they allowed the trip to proceed.

Although the men admitted they planned the attack, the Palestinian Authority released them last week, the meeting participant said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose details of closed-door meetings.

This catch and release strategy for terrorists does not work -- and proves that none of the Terrorstinian leadership is serious about real peace.

Posted by: Greg at 09:19 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Most Americans are unfamiliar with "Azzam the American", a US citizen from California who is now an active member of al Qaeda and who serves as the terrorist group's spokesman. Well, thanks to the efforts of Senator Ron Wyden, this traitor who is in the highest echelons of the enemy we fight may not be wiretapped like any other terrorist leader due to his citizenship. The New York Times applauds this extension of protection to our enemies in time of war.

There were bright spots in the week. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon managed to attach an amendment requiring a warrant to eavesdrop on American citizens abroad. That merely requires the government to show why it believes the American is in league with terrorists, but Mr. Bush threatened to veto the bill over that issue.

No doubt these same people think the deaths of American soldiers in enemy hands because of warrant requirements is hunky-dory, too.

Analysis of th rest of the editorial from Jammie Wearing Fool, Riehl World View, The Van Der Galiën Gazette

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But the judge is out of town, so we have to wait until Monday to see if the case against these supporters of terrorism was proven beyond a reasonable doubt to the jury.

In an unusual twist in the closely watched and long-running trial of a Muslim charity accused of financing Palestinian terrorists, jurors reached a verdict on Thursday, but their decision was sealed until Monday because the presiding judge was out of town.

Paul D. Stickney, a magistrate judge who accepted the verdict from the jury forewoman about 3:15 p.m., said that he did not have the authority to read it and that it would remain sealed until the return of Chief Judge A. Joe Fish.

Judge Fish is at a conference in West Palm Beach, Fla., his office said in an e-mail message.

The jury spent 19 days considering 197 counts against the Holy Land Foundation, which at one time was the largest Muslim charity in the United States, and five of its organizers and supporters. The case is widely seen as a test of the governmentÂ’s tactics in trying to cut off what it says is American financial support for terrorist groups.

Here's hoping for a guilty verdict Monday morning, sending the clear message that funding terrorists will not be tolerated, whether directly or indirectly.

Next up -- indict the unindicted co-conspirators in this case, including CAIR.

Posted by: Greg at 10:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The best indictment of the Democrats and their obstructionist tactics on wiretapping for national security purposes during time of war that I have ever seen.

H/T Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, DANEgerus, Gateway Pundit, Riehl World View and Right on the Left Coast.

Posted by: Greg at 10:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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After all, being the relative of an accused criminal – even a terrorist – does not make you part of a protected class.

The 12-year-old sister of a Fort Dix terror suspect alleges she was attacked at a township school in an apparent hate crime, an Islamic group said Monday.

The sister of Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, one of six men accused of plotting an attack on the Burlington County military installation, says she was choked and punched at Carusi Middle School in an incident last month, according to the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The assailant allegedly said, "There's a terrorist on the loose," and told the girl, "Your brother will never come back," according to Afsheen Shamsi, a CAIR-NJ spokeswoman.

"It does seem that she was targeted because of the alleged plot that her brother had engaged in," said Shamsi. "It's really sad and terrible."

The civil-liberties group has scheduled a news conference today at its Princeton headquarters to demand that the FBI and state Office of Bias Crimes investigate the alleged attack and find and prosecute the assailant.

Now there is clearly an assault here, and it needs to be dealt with as such. But the attack seems to be based upon her brother’s involvement with the plot to kill American servicemen – not upon this girl’s race, ethnicity or religion, unless one wishes to argue that being a terrorist is part and parcel of being either an Arab or a Muslim. As such, there is no way to call this a hate crime.

More disturbing to me, however, is the fact that it has taken over three weeks for this to be reported to the authorities.

By the way, it is my hope that the attacker is correct in one of his comments – I hope that the terrorist scumbag never sees another day of freedom.

Posted by: Greg at 11:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Absolutely tragic -- but at least this terrorist scumbag didn't do greater damage to even more innocents.

A mother who tried to stop her son from carrying out a suicide bomb attack triggered an explosion in the family's home in southern Afghanistan that killed the would-be bomber, his mother and three siblings, police said Monday.

The would-be bomber had been studying at a madrassa, or religious school, in Pakistan, and when he returned to his home in Uruzgan province over the weekend announced that he planned to carry out a suicide attack, Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said.

Surviving family members told police that the suicide vest exploded during a struggle between the mother and her son, said Juma Gul Himat, Uruzgan's police chief. The man's brother and two sisters were also killed.

Family members said the would-be bomber gave his family $3,600 before telling them he intended to carry out the attack, Himat said.

And another such bomber who lost his nerve accidentally detonated his vest while taking it off before turning himself into the police, resulting in only his own death. I'm curious -- does he still get his virgins?

Also, this information needs to be proclaimed worldwide -- after investigation of allegations against US troops in Afghanistan made recently, the following has been determined.

There was no desecration of the Quran or any religious symbol by U.S. forces.

Now, if the Muslim world would become more interested in the desecration of their faith by terrorists, the outrage over this non-incident could be directed to better ends.

Posted by: Greg at 11:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The US Constitution does not apply to those outside the US. And it certainly does not apply to enemies who are actively fighting our men and women in uniform. But a warped view of the Bill of Rights seems to have cost some soldiers their lives earlier this year.

In the early hours of May 12, seven U.S. soldiers - including Spc. Jimenez - were on lookout near a patrol base in the al Qaeda-controlled area of Iraq called the "Triangle of Death."

Sometime before dawn, heavily armed al Qaeda gunmen quietly cut through the tangles of concertina wire surrounding the outpost of two Humvees and made a massive and coordinated surprise attack.

Four of the soldiers were killed on the spot and three others were taken hostage.
A search to rescue the men was quickly launched. But it soon ground to a halt as lawyers - obeying strict U.S. laws about surveillance - cobbled together the legal grounds for wiretapping the suspected kidnappers.

Starting at 10 a.m. on May 15, according to a timeline provided to Congress by the director of national intelligence, lawyers for the National Security Agency met and determined that special approval from the attorney general would be required first.

For an excruciating nine hours and 38 minutes, searchers in Iraq waited as U.S. lawyers discussed legal issues and hammered out the "probable cause" necessary for the attorney general to grant such "emergency" permission.

Finally, approval was granted and, at 7:38 that night, surveillance began.
"The intelligence community was forced to abandon our soldiers because of the law," a senior congressional staffer with access to the classified case told The Post.

"How many lawyers does it take to rescue our soldiers?" he asked. "It should be zero."

Excuse me – the enemy on the field of battle does not have a right to the protection of the Constitution. He does not have a right to have a warrant issued before we intercept his phone calls, no matter where the hub is. And our soldiers do have a right to expect that the full range of American resources will be deployed to rescue them – and that does not include a battalion of attorneys to muck up the process and prevent prompt action.

Any new FISA legislation needs to make this clear. And if it does not, the President should veto it, and follow the precedents set by FDR to engage in intelligence gathering without warrants.

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We may be on the verge of defeating one of our major foes in Iraq -- the local al-Qaeda affiliate.

The U.S. military believes it has dealt devastating and perhaps irreversible blows to al-Qaeda in Iraq in recent months, leading some generals to advocate a declaration of victory over the group, which the Bush administration has long described as the most lethal U.S. adversary in Iraq.

But as the White House and its military commanders plan the next phase of the war, other officials have cautioned against taking what they see as a premature step that could create strategic and political difficulties for the United States. Such a declaration could fuel criticism that the Iraq conflict has become a civil war in which U.S. combat forces should not be involved. At the same time, the intelligence community, and some in the military itself, worry about underestimating an enemy that has shown great resilience in the past.

I'd rather not see a premature declaration of victory -- after all, there are other foes to be defeated in Iraq. But it is good to know that one of the worst is in the process of being crushed -- and it provides some hope that the rest are in similarly dire straights.

Posted by: Greg at 11:38 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Supporters of Islamist terrorism – and enemies of America.

Who Hates Americans? We Do.

                       Your typical American is:

                 Ã˜ A racist. A sexist. A homophobe.

                 Ã˜ An Islamo-phobe.

                 Ã˜ Is willing to invade other countries for oil and pleasure.

                 Ã˜ Is easily manipulated by Rush Limbaugh and Jews.

                 Ã˜ Is the cause of global warming.

Join Us For American Fascism Awareness Day

Place: Washington (Slaveholder) Monument

Date: November 31, 2007

Time: 12PM-2:00 PM

Speakers:

                                        Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, congressmen
                                        Adam Kokesh, Iraq War veteran
                                        Cindy Sheehan, Harry Karry, peace activists
                                        Michael Moore, Sean Penn, film-makers

Sponsors:

Peace and Social Justice Crusade, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Code Pink, Muslim Students Association, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Students for Justice in Palestine, Revolutionary Communist Party, International A.N.S.W.E.R., Moveon.org, DailyKos.com, Indy-Media.org, HuffingtonPost.com, Ivorypower.com

Shameful, disgusting – and reason enough for Ron Paul to be denounced by every other GOP candidate. I'd argue that appearing on this platform approaches -- if not crosses the line -- into treason.

And I'm curious -- will all the leftists and Jewish organizations who have been denouncing Ann Coulter for having the audacity to make a statement compatible with the Christian faith take note of and denounce the explicitly anti-Semitic statement -- which two of our members of Congress apparently endorse -- that "the Jews" are manipulating America?

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That isn't my assessment -- that is the assessment of the Washington Post. And while they insert a few weasel words to make it clear that they don't support the war or the policy, they do concede that those who claim violence and deaths are up are simply wrong.

The trend could change quickly and tragically, of course. Casualties have dropped in the past for a few weeks only to spike again. There are, however, plausible reasons for a decrease in violence. Sunni tribes in Anbar province that once fueled the insurgency have switched sides and declared war on al-Qaeda. The radical Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr ordered a cease-fire last month by his Mahdi Army. Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the top day-to-day commander in Iraq, says al-Qaeda's sanctuaries have been reduced 60 to 70 percent by the surge.

This doesn't necessarily mean the war is being won. U.S. military commanders have said that no reduction in violence will be sustainable unless Iraqis reach political solutions -- and there has been little progress on that front. Nevertheless, it's looking more and more as though those in and outside of Congress who last month were assailing Gen. Petraeus's credibility and insisting that there was no letup in Iraq's bloodshed were -- to put it simply -- wrong.

Actually, what it indicates is that there are concrete US successes in Iraq, and that we can win if we maintain the will.

The question is, does America have the will to win. And more to the point, do the Democrats have the will to win if they are victorious in the 2008 elections.

H/T Don Surber, Captain's Quarters

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Via Liberty Papers, I read the following from Atlas Blogged.

Suppose the CIA wants to eavesdrop on Vladimir Putin. They donÂ’t need a warrant. They just listen in on his phone conversations and they are legally within bounds as far as US laws are concerned. Vladimir calls Kim Jong Ill, they listen in. Vladimir calls Osama bin Laden, they listen in. Everything is kosher so far. And then Vladimir calls me. The CIA does not have the legal authority to eavesdrop on my phone calls, but they do have the legal authority to eavesdrop on PutinÂ’s. Can they legally listen to that phone call Putin has with me? Keep in mind that domestic police can legally listen to RammageÂ’s call to me, despite having no legal authority to eavesdrop on my phone calls. The domestic police do not have to drop that call on account of my rights and run out and get another warrant, this one with my name on it, in order to listen in to the conversation with Rammage.

My argument on the matter is quite simple -- if the purpose is to listen to the party from abroad, then national intelligence agencies are well-within their bounds listening to calls made from abroad with parties in America. What's more, they are also well-within their bounds listening to calls from America to parties they are surveilling abroad. Only when the target of the surveillance is within America is a warrant needed -- and the warrants in such cases should be issued to the FBI, not the CIA or other intelligence agency.

Remember, the Constitution only applies in America, folks -- and not to our enemies abroad. Any incidental surveillance of calls to or from the US is permitted on the same basis that both sides of a call may be monitored under a search warrant.

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When terrorists attack from among civilians and US troops respond, whose fault is it when civilians die?

The American military said on Friday that it was vigorously investigating a Thursday evening airstrike on a stronghold of insurgent leaders northwest of Baghdad that also killed nine children and six women. The civilian toll is one of the highest to result from a single American military action since the beginning of the Iraq war.

Rear Adm. Greg Smith, an American military spokesman here, said the killings were “absolutely regrettable,” but blamed the enemy fighters for engaging American forces while using civilians as a shield.

“We do not target civilians,” the admiral said in an interview on Friday. “But when our forces are fired upon, as they are routinely, then they have no option but to return fire.”

By any definition, the US policy is absolutely correct. To argue otherwise is to legitimize hostage-taking and the use of human shields.

The terrorists could end most civilian casualties in Iraq by not using human shields and not targeting civilians with bombs. They choose not to do so because it would result in their military defeat -- and would deny their supporter in America fodder for false claims of war crimes with which to fight the propaganda war.

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Posted by: Greg at 04:53 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Because after all, George Washington was known for intentionally targeting children with explosives hidden among toys.\

A bomb hidden in a cart of toys killed two children and wounded 17 others in a playground in northern Iraq on Friday, the first day of a national holiday to celebrate the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The attack came the day after U.S. forces killed nine children and six women in an air strike northwest of Baghdad targeting suspected al Qaeda leaders. The U.N. mission in Iraq urged U.S. forces to conduct a "vigorous" probe into the strike.

Police Colonel Abbas Mohammed said a would-be suicide bomber pushed the cart into a play area in the predominantly Shi'ite northern town of Tuz Khurmato. He said the bomber was wounded.

The town's mayor, Mohammed Rasheed, told Reuters two boys aged between 10 and 12 had died and another 17 people under the age of 18 had been wounded in the deadly attack.

Utterly despicable – and sadly typical of the civilized world fights.

I love the little moral equivalency dig in this piece, though. After all, the air strike was targeted at terrorists, with unfortunate civilian casualties. On the other hand, this attack was intentionally directed against the children of Baghdad. Anyone with a moral compass would recognize that the two incidents are not even remotely comparable – which may explain why the al-Reuters report includes such a comparison

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And so are turning against al-Sadr's Mahdi Army --to the benefit of American troops and the new Iraqi Army.

In a number of Shiite neighborhoods across Baghdad, residents are beginning to turn away from the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia they once saw as their only protector against Sunni militants. Now they resent it as a band of street thugs without ideology.

The hardening Shiite feeling in Baghdad opens an opportunity for the American military, which has long struggled against the Mahdi Army, as American commanders rely increasingly on tribes and local leaders in their prosecution of the war.

The sectarian landscape has shifted, with Sunni extremists largely defeated in many Shiite neighborhoods, and the war in those places has sunk into a criminality that is often blind to sect.

In interviews, 10 Shiites from four neighborhoods in eastern and western Baghdad described a pattern in which militia members, looking for new sources of income, turned on Shiites.

But don't say that the Surge is working -- it might upset the liberals, who are in denial about that every bit as much as the Turks are about the Armenian genocide.

Posted by: Greg at 10:53 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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There are times when the security of the nation trumps the right to take the government to court. That is a long-standing legal doctrine -- one which, interestingly enough, the liberals would love to see overturned by the Supreme COourt despite their new-found love of stare decisis and insistence that the Roberts court leave in place the precedents that came before.

Thus they are displeased at the decision by the Supreme Court not to hear a case of a foreign national allegedly taken into custody by American intelligence officials in another country and taken to a third country for interrogation without ever setting foot in America.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday terminated a lawsuit from a man who claims he was abducted and tortured by the CIA, effectively endorsing Bush administration arguments that state secrets would be revealed if the case were allowed to proceed.

Khaled el-Masri, 44, alleged that he was kidnapped by CIA agents in Europe and held in an Afghan prison for four months in a case of mistaken identity.

The administration has not publicly acknowledged that el-Masri was detained, and lower courts dismissed his suit after the administration asserted that state secrets would be revealed if the lawsuit were not blocked. The justices rejected his appeal without comment.

As I mentioned, liberals are apoplectic over the decision to respect precedent, though at least one lefty commentator is glad that the Supreme Court didn't take the case.

The only silver lining to this, I suppose, is that given the current composition of the Supreme Court it might be all for the best to keep it out of their hands. For all we know, they could have ended up expanding the government's power just as easily as they could have decided to limit it. For now, maybe we're better off with the status quo.

Oh, one minor detail -- the state secrets privilege grows out of a case decided by a Supreme Court composed entirely of FDR and Truman appointees. One would have thought that the Democrats would like that pedigree. But I guess not, at least not while George W. Bush is able to use it.

Posted by: Greg at 11:14 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Now they are resorting to Barbie-porn to try to get their asinine message across. Too bad they cannot be troubled to provide a single fact on behalf of their position -- but then again, there are none.

Oh -- I've just committed a felony according to the video. After all, I'm attempting to discredit the Truther Cult.

I guess that not all dissent is patriotism in their eyes.

Posted by: Greg at 02:55 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Because it threatens national security.

Which is why the Democrats will be upset. They want to harm national security for their own political purposes.

The head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission declined to investigate reports that phone companies turned over customer records to the National Security Agency, citing national security concerns, according to documents released on Friday.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin turned down a congressional request for an investigation as a top intelligence official concluded it would "pose an unnecessary risk of damage to the national security," according to a letter National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell sent to Martin on Tuesday.

After all, we have already seen public disclosures of sensitive information in the press that have aided the terrorists. The NY Times and Washington Post are required reading for Osama's intelligence assets. Al-Qaeda doesn't need to penetrate and subvert our nation's intelligence agencies, because the US media already has.

But I will agree with Democrat Ed Markey on one point.

"I believe the agency could conduct its own examination of such reports in a way that safeguards national security," Markey said in a statement.

And he is right -- the FCC could do so. the problem is that Markey and his fellow Democrats, or their staffs, would be quick to leak the report to the media, again allowing al-Qaeda to receive aid and comfort from the opponents of the war.

But let's be real clear about one point. The US government today is doing the exact sorts of things that the Roosevelt Administration did in the 1940s to defeat the Nazi menace. The difference is that the press and the Democrats are no longer on the side of the United States.

Posted by: Greg at 02:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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But please understand -- they don't support terrorism.

Egypt's government is paying for the legal representation of a college student who authorities say was found with pipe bombs near a Navy base, an attorney said Wednesday.

Attorney John Fitzgibbons told a judge he was in talks with the Egyptian embassy in Washington and likely will be hired to represent suspended University of South Florida student Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed.

Ahmed el-Qawassni, an official in Egypt's foreign ministry, said the government is closely monitoring the case and confirmed that an attorney is being hired for Mohamed, who was born in Kuwait to Egyptian parents.

"We are responsible for the sons of Egypt abroad with no exception," el-Qawassni said.

Mohamed, 24, and another USF student, Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, are charged with carrying explosive materials across state lines.

Mohamed also is charged with distributing information relating to explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction. Authorities allege he made an Internet video showing how to use remote-controlled toys to detonate terrorist bombs.

Yeah, he was arrested with explosives, left writings indicating his support for terrorism, and even posted a terrorist-advocating video on YouTube that included bomb-making instructions -- but he isn't a terrorist.

And since the Egyptian government is responsible for "the sons of Egypt" abroad, let's assess them for any damage done to US interests by Egyptian-born terrorists.

Posted by: Greg at 10:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It appears there are still jury problems in the trial of the terrorist-supporting Holy Land Foundation.

The Dallas trial of a charity accused of financing Middle Eastern terrorists took a twist Wednesday when jurors indicated that a member of the panel was refusing to vote.

Jurors in the case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development were called back into the courtroom of U.S. District Judge A. Joe Fish, who told panelists they had a duty to try to reach a decision.

The judge ordered jurors to resume their deliberations, which were in their ninth full day after a two-month trial.

This seems to be a major problem to me, and if you actually have a juror refusing to deliberate, that individual should be removed from the panel OR a mistrial declared and a new trial set. That the judge has failed to do so is troubling.

Frankly, I'm surprised this story didn't receive more coverage nationally -- but want to commend the Dallas Morning News for providing better coverage than the wire report above.

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Terrorists, thatÂ’s who.

On a video posted to YouTube.com this summer, a man speaking Egyptian-accented Arabic instructed viewers how to convert a remote-controlled toy car into a bomb detonator.

The 12-minute lesson was referenced on the popular video-sharing Web site under the search terms "detonator from a distance," "suiciders" and "martyrdoms."

A detonator could "save one who wants to be a martyr for another day, another battle," the man told viewers, according to federal prosecutors.

Last month, authorities identified the instructor as Mohamed Ahmed, 24, a graduate engineering student at the University of South Florida. An Egyptian national, he'd been stopped for speeding in South Carolina on Aug. 4, then arrested with a fellow student for allegedly carrying four pipe bombs in the trunk.

This is one of the folks that CAIR has declared to be innocent of all charges and the subject of persecution by the US government. However, this video showing Ahmed makes it pretty clear that he is a terrorist.

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