This does not a terrorist make

Wow! These guys aren’t terrorists? Who could have guessed… Oh, yeah. John did!

Defense attorneys outraged as terror case switches to fraud

Lawyers for three Texas men once accused of plotting to blow up the Mackinac Bridge claim the government is bailing out an overzealous prosecutor by bringing unprecedented charges.

Until Wednesday, even the FBI said the business of buying and altering cell phones — as the men claim was their only motive — was a legal enterprise, and that the only issue was whether proceeds end up in terrorist coffers.

But now, the FBI and U.S. attorneys in Bay City say the entrepreneurial behavior of three Americans of Palestinian descent amounts to fraud, not terrorism.

“Our research shows us that this prosecution is the first of its kind under these circumstances,” the trio’s Dearborn defense attorney, Nabih H. Ayad, and his team said. “This is absolutely out of the realm.

“They’re just trying to get out of the hole they dug for themselves,” he added, referring to a judge’s dismissal Wednesday of the state terrorism charges brought by Tuscola County Prosecutor Mark E. Reene.

“It’s unfortunate for a credible agency like the FBI and the U.S. attorney to bail out a buddy because they goofed.”

Isn’t it funny how I only ran across this today, days after the fact, buried away from the front page.



  1. SN says:

    I hate to toot my own horn, but I totally called it. From comment #12:

    “I live near the thumb area in Michigan and all the party stores are owned by middle easterners and all the party stores sell those cheap phones. I have no doubt, whatsoever, that their intent was to resell those phones in their stores and make a bunch of money.”

  2. sirfelix says:

    Another example of bad intelligence and the media jumping the gun with their lack of fact checking.
    Anyone remember the “Coal Miners are Alive” fiasco last year? Its easier to bury the real story then to admit to being absolutely clueless and a virtual front to government propraganda.

  3. Drew says:

    Anyone who thought this *was* terrorism should be ashamed. Surely they wouldn’t be that stupid to throw up so many red flags by buying 1,000 cell phones at Wal Mart.

  4. sirfelix says:

    3. “Anyone who thought this *was* terrorism should be ashamed.”
    Our government has no shame. And the scary thing is that many people blindly follow what the media and government tell them.
    Think for yourselves America! Its time for a revolution.

  5. Anon says:

    There already was a revolution – sense and reason were publicly executed and 51% were collaborators.

  6. Tim Harris says:

    National Media is just propaganda, so you aren’t going to see something like this in the news. But this story was covered weeks ago in the local news in Texas, so there was no coverup by the “media.”

    Hey Dvorak !

    I had seen an article in Yahoo news about a week ago, covering a sniper who had gone wild by picking off people driving on highways. What happened to this case ?

  7. Ascii King says:

    This smacks of the Leonard Peltier case. The real issue here is that they are STILL trying to prosecute these people. Now they are charging them with fraud and they keep bringing up the idea that the money might be funding terrorist activity. ANY job we have could be used to fund terrorist activity.

    It’s disgusting that the FBI should be allowed to persue this case against innocent people simply to prevent the loss of face. It helps that the prosecuted are brown.

  8. Smartalix says:

    One day we’ll sit around and reminisce about the freedoms we’ve lost.

    In private.

    If that still exists by then.

  9. Fabrizio Marana says:

    It’s just a sign of the times that the FBI does not come out and say:
    “OK, we’ve goofed! Sorry! Here is compensation xxx$ for having to put you through all this.”

    Of all the ones that reacted (or want to react to this) think about the last time you said “Hey, sorry! I made a mistake!”

    🙁

    Fabrizio Marana

  10. Mr. H. Fusion says:

    I am trying to remember the number of times the Bush Administration has admitted making a mistake.

    After several years and everyone already knowing it to admit there were no WMDs in Iran.

    FEMA wasn’t prepared and blew Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

    When the Presidential Library burned down, Bush lost both books he had been working on. It was later confirmed that he hadn’t even started coloring the bigger one.

    Gee, I can’t think of any other mistakes.


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