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A record that includes, among other accomplishments: the conviction of "shoe bomber" Richard Reid and the recent indictment of his accomplice for trying to blow up a commercial airliner in flight; the Portland 7 case breaking up a terror cell that was scoping out Jewish schools and synagogues for a terrorist attack; the Virginia Jihad case dismantling still another cell of nine defendants convicted on charges ranging from support of the Qaeda-affiliated Lashkar-e-Taiba to conspiracy to levy war against the U.S.; the guilty plea of Abdurahman Alamoudi for terror funding; the indictment of Florida professor Sami al-Arian for helping run the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization which is responsible for scores of murders by suicide bombers in Israel; the conviction of bin Laden intimate Enaam Arnaout for using his Benevolence International Foundation as a conduit to fund terrorist cells in Bosnia and Chechnya; and the recent racketeering indictment against members of Hamas...Most of the cases I just mentioned were advanced in one way or another by investigative improvements made possible by the Patriot Act.

http://www.nationalreview.com/mccarthy/mccarthy200410180840.asp

http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/terrorismaftermath.html

Next is the unraveling of the Detroit terror cell case, to which the Times devoted nearly 4000 words last Thursday. The paper editorializes about DOJ's "terrible miscarriage of justice" in choosing to "mov[e] against four Middle Eastern immigrants[,]" with the result that "[t]hree of them were convicted and imprisoned — two on terrorism charges — until the government was forced to repudiate its own case."

Here's what the Times doesn't tell you: These particular "Middle Eastern immigrants" were found in an apartment with, among other things, forged green cards and visas, fake passport photos, and 105 audiotapes advocating jihad. Only the charge of material support to terrorism has collapsed. That happened because of overly aggressive tactics by the local prosecution team. It goes without saying that this is cause for great concern and censure. That is precisely why DOJ itself unearthed and brought the misconduct to the attention of the trial judge, who commented that this was an example of "the highest and best tradition" of the Department.

As it happens, three of the "Middle Eastern immigrants" were convicted of fraud and misuse of identification documents. Although it admirably asked the court to reverse those convictions because of its prosecutor's errors, DOJ, far from "repudiat[ing] its own case," will be re-trying the three defendants on the fraud charges — serious felonies founded on strong evidence that will likely result in re-conviction and ultimate deportation.