Posted on 01/06/2006 5:09:37 PM PST by Ramius
The FBI had a recent muslim convert, an attorney with close affiliation and contact with terrorist organizations-- who's fingerprints (at the time) appeared to match fingerprints left in the Madrid bombing.
In whose alternate universe are those not "dots" worthy of "connecting"? Of ~course~ he should have been investigated and interrogated. As it would happen the case went nowhere because the fingerprints were not a match-- but they'd been sufficiently close to fool several experts. Well... it's a chance in a million but it happens.
This Portland group is not without other reasons to keep an eye on. They're not finished, I don't think. Remember that Portland is the only city in the U.S. where the mayor and chief of police are not cleared for classified briefings or information from Homeland Security. They already announced their allegiance to the other side.
And it was...A SECRET WARRANT!!!! (duh duh DUUUUHHHH!)
ONE mistake.
Thank God FDR or Lincoln didn't have to live up to that standard.
I'm not even sure it's fair to "blame" the lab or anybody else on this one. Apparently the fingerprints were all extremely similar such that a few different sets of expert eyes all were fooled for a while.
In the end though, the fingerprint differences were discovered and this guy's prints were excluded. That's not a mistake, that's just how investigations sometimes work. Yes, one can say that they were mistakenly identified... but it wasn't a procedural or process error-- it was a re-analysis of prints that at first genuinely appeared to match.
To call any of this a "problem" at the FBI suggests that the FBI or anybody else in the investigation should have acted any differently given the information they had at the time. They should not have.
Two lousy weeks in jail, big deal. I've been in there longer than that when I was innocent. At least this was for a good cause. I'd much rather 3,000 innocent people spend two weeks in jail than 3,000 of them die permanently in an hour.
And there are people on FR who think it is virtually impossible for an innocent person to be convicted. No convition here, but a screw up for sure. Law enforcement is government and government can screw anything up. All you doubting Thomas' out there remember this screw up.
Yes... it's too bad any innocent person might ever have to spend any time in jail. It does happen, and it is not ever going to be completely avoidable.
I don't think many people, FR or otherwise, think it is "virtually impossible" for an innocent person to be convicted. Of course it happens all the time, and it always will.
But it didn't in this case. Not only was he not convicted but the investigation ultimately cleared him. What screw up?
Freedom, schmeedom.
The lab screw up. Didn't you read the story before you posted? (Sometimes I don't either).
So the lab should have just ignored fingerprints that appeared to match?
That would have been a screw up deserving of headlines. As it was the fingerprints were very close and matched in enough ways to be worth pursuing. Later they found out that the prints, while close, were not in fact a match.
What should they have done? Just ignored it then?
Waco. Ruby Ridge. Joe Schwartz. And so on.
I'm talking about in this specific action--rounding up terrorists.
If we are going to call out every agency because of past errors in other cases, why not just close down the whole government? I'll bet the terrorists will be really scared of us then.
What bothers me the most about this is a US citizen was "secretly held as a material witness for two weeks". This stuff isn't supposed to happen in America.
Just wait until Hitlery and AG Schumer redefine "terrorist" to mean "gun owning American".
If we are going to call out every agency because of past errors in other cases, why not just close down the whole government?
Fewer mistakes would happen if the folks responsible for previous mistakes were held accountable. Instead, they are promoted.
You're right. Because of this one mistake we should dismantle the FBI.
People are held in custody during an ongoing investigation sometimes, and it is supposed to happen in America. Without it, prosecutors would just lose people overseas the second they caught wind of the investigation.
It doesn't have to be used all that often, but when it does, it is necessary.
Yah, Ruby Ridge sucked. Got it. I think so too.
But it doesn't mean everybody in the FBI is always wrong in every case. Believe it or not sometimes they even get stuff right.
If the FBI had connected the dots before 9-11 and arrested the 19 terrorists before they had a chance to hijack the planes, the 19 would have all filed civil rights lawsuits by now. Jamie Gorelick would probably be one of the attorneys.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.