Not "Sami, we hardly knew thee," but "Sami, we know thee all too well"
Just think of how much money the investigation and prosecution of this unscrupulous abetter of murderers has cost the American taxpayers.
He was investigated for years, beginning in the early 1990s or even earlier. Steven Emerson had the goods on him by the mid-1990s. The investigations continued. There are the salaries of the investigators. The costs involved in the investigations: travel, equipment, legal work, who knows what else. Then the trial dragged on for months, and ended unsatisfactorily. And then there was the guilty plea, in which Al-Arian admitted his guilt in no uncertain terms. And now there will be an appeal.
$500,000? A million? Even more?
Is this a good way to spend American resources? I am not saying he should not have been investigated and tried. I'm saying that we could spare ourselves an immense amount of time and expense if we developed a more focused line of defense, based on a recognition that the jihad ideology is the enemy, and those who hold it are likely to be working for our destruction or subjugation. The first step would be to stop allowing adherents of that ideology into the country: asking them hard questions, and criminalizing any action that indicates they were lying in their answers to those questions.
I believe that the money lavished on getting this execrable dissembling mujahid out of the United States would have been better spent on research to find alternative energy sources. He shouldn't have been allowed in, or he should have been deported as soon as his jihadist sensibilities became clear. What do you think?
From AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
TAMPA, FL (AP) -- Sami Al-Arian, a former Tampa professor, will appeal a judge's decision to sentence him to additional prison time for his role in a terrorism financing case.Attorney C. Peter Erlinder says he filed the notice of appeal to keep Al-Arian's options open, but he says that it's not clear if Al-Arian will want to pursue an appeal.
I'm betting he will. Perhaps he and Moussaoui are trying to pursue a courtroom jihad, wasting our time, tying up our manpower, draining our money, and diverting our attention with endless courtroom reconsiderations and recriminations.
corrupt judiciary + spinless legislature = greater jihad
How about this? No additional prison time, but he and his entire family leaves the US immediately.
For good.
"Sami, Nobody Wants to Know Ye".
Why is this crook in our country in the first place? Eliminate all immigration of Muslims. Today. Stop it. Say, yea, we're bigots, but, we don't want to be another France.
Shouldn't 911 have changed anything? But, the only thing it changed is the publicization of Islam, starting with Dhimmi Bush and the shoes off in the Mosque act; and the religion of peace stuff. No, 911 could not have been prevented by Bush, but shouldn't he protect our borders, see the need to guard our own country's border with Mexico, to rebuild out own institutuions, lines of defenses, infrastructure and alternative energy program. Islam should be recognized as the enemy, that it is not our job(nor is it even possible)to reform the middle east by democracy, invasion or pr campaigns. Rather, our job is to recognize the menace, pick our fights from 40 thousand feet in the air, promote dissention within the Islamic world, and strongly support countries and peoples with homelands and wannabe homelands within the Islamic universe . . . like India, Kashmir, France, Israel, Kurdistan, Armenia, and Copts. Shouldn't W have something to say about the harrassment of the Copts in Egypt?
Are they not his Christian brothers as much as Bandar Bush is his soulmate, or am I so jandiced I'm missing something.
As for Sami, send him to Gitmo while he exhausts his appeals . . . better yet, how bout that Supermax facility underground in Colorado.
Ick! There's a graven image that should be banned.
I definitely think we're seeing a the tactic of using our legal system and its protections against us, from Ramsey Clark defending Saddam Hussein, to the dhimmi lawyers bringing cases on behalf of Gitmo detainees, and of course, Moussaoui and Al-Arian.
Moussaoui lucked out by already being in the regular penal system when 9/11 happened; otherwise, I expect he'd be in a military prison like José Padilla. Still, I don't know why we didn't move him out of civilian courts when the nature of what he was part of became clear.
Same with Al-Arian. 9/11 made for a whole new ballgame, but since he was already in the system, he's been allowed to toy with the system as if it were frozen in time on 9/10/01.
That should have changed in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, when there was momentum to make it happen. Now, it'll probably take another attack for Washington to jump through whatever legislative hoops it needs to (if there aren't already provisions that just aren't being used) in order to be able to deal effectively with threats to national security like Moussaoui and Al-Arian.
they should put any terrorist supporter and suspect at Gitmo, and if he doesnt want to go to Club G'itmo, he can go for shark food off cuba! for all the blood he has on his hands, he is damm lucky he is not jailed in the the middle east!
www.jpost.com CAROLINE GLICK...After declaring the death of the ideals on which the United States is founded, Ahmadinejad explained that "people around the world are flocking towards a main focal point - that is Almighty God." He then challenged Bush, "Do you not want to join them?"
Experts on Islam in Washington have noted that since Ahmadinejad advocates Islamic fundamentalism as the only true religious path, his question to Bush was in fact an ultimatum to convert to Islam or face the consequences. Islamic scholar Robert Spencer put it carefully on his weblog Jihad Watch when he wrote, "this letter could be - but is not necessarily - a prelude to an attack."
Ahmadinejad's letter was delivered on Monday. One would think that if the Bush administration was concerned about the signals Teheran was sending that Bush and top administration officials would be at pains for the next several days to ensure that Iran and the rest of the world understood that the US would not be surrendering any time soon to the dictates of its sworn enemies.
(read the whole thing)
They can ask, but is there any guarantee that Sami or Zak will be granted leaves to appeal? And, if so, are appeals in US courts any different than they are in British and Canadian courts, where the subject matter can only be errors in law or conduct of the trial on the part of the judge (as opposed to a re-trying of facts)? Al-Arian's sentence hardly seems to be "cruel and unusual punishment" given the activities the court found him guilty of conducting.
In Al-Arian's case, you'd think he wouldn't want to risk another judge or panel of judges like the one who heard his trial and chewed Sami up and spat him out in fine little pieces, describing him as the monster he is.
As for Moussaoui, given the comments of the forewoman on his trial as posted on DW, isn't he running a significant risk of getting the death penalty instead of life?
The American judicial system was not intended to be, nor should it be, involved in matters of life and death that go far beyond individual criminality. This case, and all such cases, should be tried by separate courts, without juries (as Muslim presences on juries grow and all it takes is one holdout to prevent a conviction, the nightmarish possibilities become clear), and without appeal by the defendant -- but not necessarily without appeal by the government.
This has to be discussed, and legislation introduced. The problem will only get bigger.
As for the gigantic sums now being spent all over the Western world -- millinos of pounds have apparently been spent just on a handful of Afghanis who in England claimed refugee status -on security, on monitoring (what is the real cost, the cost not properl reflected, of worrying about, and monitoring, and also at the same time being so carefuly not to openly worry or express reservations about, which makes the task even more difficult, even more expensive) a Muslim population manyof whose members talk openly, write openly, in the Muslim press in the Muslim world, about Da'wa and demographic conquest of the Infidel lands. This demographic conquest, as the new and main weapon in the Jihad against Infidels, has been a constant theme among Muslims, observable in everyone from Boumeddienne in 1974 at the U.N., to the retired accountant who writes an article in the Pakistani English-language "Daw." But among Infidels, it is the subject that it is impermissible, impolite, simply wrong to bring up. It just won't do. And so it is not. And so do countries and civilizations fall -- in this case, out of embarrassment, out of bashfulness, out of inarticulateness, out of misconceived fear of being identified with the wrong people.
"$500,000? A million? Even more?"
-- from Robert's comments above
Much more.
One would hope that the courts would limit any of Sami's potential appeals to errors in law or judicial conduct as unmercifully and punctiliously as expressed during the Terri Schindler Schiavo case.
A joke, or not? Work with me here, Henry.
henry did you pick up howard deans pipe?
Robert, you are a Man after My own heart; If they can fly to the moon, they can find alternative fule sources, and buttress the borders,
If they, I mean we (the American public.)
The Bush administration said from the beginning that these people do not belong in American courts. It's the left that opposes Gitmo and Military tribunals.The nice thing about Military Tribunals is that even if the defendant is found "not guilty" he can still be held by US authorities for the duration of the war.
henry..henry..henri
Either sign off with a sacasm alert or...
Get a grip. Being an understanding and loving Christian does not mean that one needs to be a rube or a sap. Please stay tuned sir, you have a lot to learn. Open your mind and read.
In the days immediately after 9-11, President Bush should have been forthright with the American public and told them that if 9-11 really "changed everything," then here is how America itself is going to have to change. Not a detailed list, but to state an overall vision and philosophy and start a national dialogue and a national debate: Do we need to change how terrorists are tracked, tried and punished? Do we need more restrictions on privacy and civil liberties? Do we need fundamental changes in U.S. foreign policy? Do we need to tighten our belts about imported oil from the Middle East?
Bush didn't discuss any of that in his speeches and press conferences. Instead, Bush tried to be reassuring to Americans that their lives won't really be affected by any of this: "Americans are asking what is expected of us....Go out and shop, live your lives, and hug your children." That's what he said. He didn't say we needed a new energy policy, a new foreign policy, a new way of investigating and trying and punishing terrorists, an all-out effort to wean ourselves of Muslim oil, and ESPECIALLY change how we feel about Islam as a religion as well as a political movement. Nothing. Instead, he confined his rhetoric to talking about al-Qaeda. And he sneaked in a lot of changes quickly without national debate (like the PATRIOT Act), and preparations for war against Iraq, and new domestic surveillance tools, without publicity and even secretly. And so these now end up as hysterical exposes on national newspapers, further weakening American morale and presenting a false impression abroad of America turning into some kind of Fascist dictatorship.
In the first issue of U.S. News & World Report magazine since 9-11, they had an article that said approvingly that "President Bush is reassuring the baby-boomers that we can fight terrorism effectively while still enjoying our lattes at Starbucks." That they could actually say that seriously as if it were a good thing, is an indication of how America won't face new realities--partly because our Commander-in-Chief didn't ask America to face new realities.
How about this? No additional prison time, but he and his entire family leaves the US immediately.
Sanguine optimist.
Here's how that deal would go: Sami moves to Jordan, engages in some hot sweaty fast-breed jihadism, 3 or 4 brand new Sami's are plunked out, and 18 yrs later an aged (but very prestigious Stanford-bred) Condi imports the new Samis right back into America to serve lesser jihad duty as "college students" or whatever Tim Russert decides to call them.
$500,000? A million? Even more?
Having done a year-long consulting gig in a major city DA department, I can assure you that $1 million would be an extreme low-ball estimate. More like somewhere in the $5 million to $10 million range, at least.
They should just deport this freeloader. We've paid to feed, clothe, and house it for long enough. There's no doubt there will be another terrorist to take his place in the jailhouse.
Set this ferret bat on a plane headed for its beloved Gaza Strip, and remember to tag one of those gigantic ears so we can make sure it never pollutes the United States with its presence again.
Here's the REAL QUESTION: Who is paying Al-Arian's legal fees?
The feds need to advertise that they are going to retry him and when they will release him in front of the hole that was the twin towers.
Works for me.
UMM Henry: "Like, if we worship the same god as the muslims do, then allah = Jesus - that's not so bad. Can we say it is untrue?"...Are you kidding??
Yes Henry, we can say it is untrue...If you worship the same god Allah, as the muslims do, you are not worshipping Jesus, or the true, real, actual , one and only GOD. Allah is not God. Allah is the Lord of Matter, or evil...his religion is the religion of never ending, ever expanding harm. Mohammad included Jesus as a Prophet in his new (then) religion, Islam, to gain credibility and superiority over Christianity and local Christians. Jesus is not God to muslims because if Jesus is God, Allah is not.
Henry sez: swami many churches say that we worship the same God
Henry...Those churches are wrong.....For starts...Allah says he has no son...YHVH says he has one and is proud of him. Either this is two 'different gods' or the one God is confused.
Then we can get intowami many churches say that we worship the same God the name...The 'word' God, is not a name, it is a title. The word Illah, the Arabic 'word' for God, is also a title. This is because God has no name. When Moses asked God his name, God avoided the name issue, the reply was, 'I AM THAT I AM', which is also not a name...It means 'existence is existence', or pure existence. Only 'things' have names. God is not a 'thing' and has no name. Allah is a 'name' of two words...Al-lah, The-god. A duality, not singular and one, as is the true God. As a duality, Allah is the Lord of Matter, or the grossest end of spirit into matter. Since all evil happens in matter, Allah is the Lord of Evil as well...
Henry...sorry about the first line above...copy paste got confused also.
Then there is the whole issue of Allah as a moon god...a rock that held a high position in the ka'aba in Mohammads time. There were over three hundred rocks there as idols. Hubal was the biggest and baddest rock. Mohammad smashed them all except Allah, thus combining the many gods into one.
When Mohammad first started his religion, Islam, he refered to God as 'Lord'. Later he changed it to Ar-Rahman and finally to Allah. Will the real God please stand up...Mohammad told a big lie. He said...'There is no illah but Allah', and Mohammad is his messenger. Because Allah, is a 'thing', he is secondary to God (Illah). Mohammad reversed it. It should be 'there is no Allah but Illah'. The Romans had a saying...'Deus est demon inverses'. The demon (Satan) is God in reverse or inverse. Mohammad put the demon in charge, by putting it first.
That is Allah, and Allah is not God...Finally the entire subject was invented by Mohammad. There is only his word for any of Allahs words. No one else heard this stuff. His child bride remarked that,'You see things I do not'.
In reality, Mohammad was a dispicable character.
If he was alive today, you would not buy a used car from him, so why would you believe his version of God???
Politicians are the same everywhere. A few days back, I saw a freak of a muslim watching a temple for several days. He was so outlandish, that we (my friends were with me) approached him. And we were right, he did not speak Hindi. He was a bangladeshi illegal. Well he lashed out at me but my Sensei downed him with four blows.(I am a student of martial arts). There was quite a lot of hue and cry. Eventually, the police carried him away. Now, he is eating food 3 times a day from the tax honest Hindus pay and living a luxurious life in jail until the deportation squad comes along. He crossed the Line of Control, he should have been shot immediately. Thanks to these politicians, more than 10 million bangladeshis are in India as of now. Seems this is all that we have,politicians,not Leaders.
henry he can not be the same god because muslims belive jesus is a muslim,but jesus was a jew...its that simple.