Partial Acquittal
I have mixed emotions about the partial aquital of Univeristy of South Florida Prof Sami Al-Arian.
It clearly shows the climate of hysteria promulgated by the neocon crowd is overdone. If we only had a trial like this to examine the evidence before going into Iraq it would have saved lots of lives and money.
The partial acquital also says a lot about America and out commitment to rule of law. It is truly awe inspiring. Given the statements this man has made it would have been very easy for the jury not to give him the full benefit of the doubt to which he is entitled at to have found him guilty on at least some counts.
That said, this is not a person who thinks america is a good place. Perhaps we can't blame him as we support Israel far too much, but is it really such a good thing to have people like this in our country.
Link
It clearly shows the climate of hysteria promulgated by the neocon crowd is overdone. If we only had a trial like this to examine the evidence before going into Iraq it would have saved lots of lives and money.
The partial acquital also says a lot about America and out commitment to rule of law. It is truly awe inspiring. Given the statements this man has made it would have been very easy for the jury not to give him the full benefit of the doubt to which he is entitled at to have found him guilty on at least some counts.
That said, this is not a person who thinks america is a good place. Perhaps we can't blame him as we support Israel far too much, but is it really such a good thing to have people like this in our country.
Former professor acquitted on some charges of aiding terrorist
By MITCH STACY
Associated Press Writer
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- For more than five months, jurors in the case of a former professor accused of helping lead a Palestinian terrorist group reviewed hundreds of documents, heard from dozens of witnesses and watched videos in which the defendants appeared to speak glowingly of suicide bombers.
But it wasn't enough. Sami Al-Arian was acquitted Tuesday on nearly half the charges against him, and the jury deadlocked on the rest in a stinging defeat for the federal government. His case was seen as one of the biggest courtroom tests yet of the Patriot Act's expanded search-and-surveillance powers.
Al-Arian and three co-defendants were accused of being the communications arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, spreading the word and raising money that went toward suicide attacks that have killed hundreds in Israel.
But the jury could not convict any of the four on the charges laid out in a complex, 51-count indictment. Al-Arian was acquitted of eight of the 17 counts against him, including a key charge of conspiring to maim and murder people overseas.
A male juror, whose name was being kept secret by the court, said the case came down to lack of proof: "I didn't see the evidence."
Link
posted by Brian at 5:42 PM
1 Comments:
What is most shameful about America is not that we do such horrible things, but that we feel nothing about repeating them. What happened to al-Arian in the 2000s happened to plenty of Jews in the 50s and plenty of leftists in before that. The great refrain of Vietnam is tha it was the same set of mistakes repeated over and over for decades. If Americans ever wake up to Israel, what will most shock them might be the regularity and longevity of the whole parasitic monstrosity.
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