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US judge denies bail to terror suspect who claims misgivings
By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press Writer
MIAMI
A judge denied bail Thursday to a seventh member of a group accused of plotting U.S. terror attacks despite the man's claims that he had misgivings about group's direction and attempted to break free by moving hundreds of miles (kilometers) away.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Garber, ruling on the same day British authorities foiled a major terror attack involving U.S.-bound airliners, agreed with prosecutors that 31-year-old Lyglenson Lemorin should remain in custody while awaiting his trial in March.
Lemorin and the other six are accused of conspiring to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and government buildings in Miami, New York, Washington and elsewhere. Authorities have said their plot never got beyond the planning stage and that they never acquired any explosives or weapons for the attack.
Garber ruled that Lemorin, a Haitian immigrant, would be a danger to the community and a risk to flee if released on bail. His co-defendants, including alleged ringleader Narseal Batiste, are also being held without bail.
Lemorin gave a statement to the FBI after his June 26 arrest in Atlanta indicating that he moved because he wanted nothing more to do with Batiste's group after he and the others took an oath of loyalty to al-Qaida. The ceremony included a Middle Eastern man the group thought was an al-Qaida operative, but who was actually an FBI informant.
Lemorin's lawyer, Joel DeFabio, said Lemorin was not part of Batiste's inner circle and did not take an active role in any attack planning or reconnaissance.
"At best, they have Mr. Lemorin taking an oath, with nothing more. There are no overt acts," Lemorin said.
Federal prosecutor Richard Getchell said a video of the al-Qaida oath ceremony shows that Lemorin went first and showed no hesitation in joining "the most fearsome terrorist organization in the world."
"That's what is truly frightening about this case _ the willingness to stand up, just like that, and say 'Yes, I'll help al-Qaida destroy buildings and overthrow the government of the United States,'" Getchell said.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Hizbullah declares victory
In latest video aired on Al-Manar TV terror group says it ‘defeated the invincible army’
Roee Nahmias
Hizbullah did not wait for the official UN Security Council announcement on a ceasefire and launched its own media campaign declaring it had 'won the war against Israel.'
In the latest video aired on Al-Manar TV the terror group says it “defeated the invincible army” and “July-August 2006: Legend shattered.”
These clips, which are aired between regularly-scheduled programs, include excerpts from Hassan Nasrallah speeches in which he had promised victory; similar videos were aired during the IDF’s withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese government is preparing for war’s conclusion; Prime Minister Fouad Siniora met with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabi Berri to discuss the deployment of the army in the south. Some reports said a Hizbullah member also took part in the meeting, but Berri’s associates denied the reports.
It was also reported that Arab League and Lebanese representatives met in New York with US and French officials.
It appears that Lebanon will agree to the compromise offer according to which the IDF will gradually pull out of the country.
Last Wednesday Nasrallah said in his speech that Hizbullah supported a decision by the Lebanese government, which includes a Hizbullah minister, to deploy 15,000 troops to the border if that would bolster Lebanon's calls for the resolution to include a demand for Israel's immediate withdrawal from the south.
"If everyone sees that deploying the army will help find a way out politically that would result in the halting of aggression ... This for us is a national and honorable way out," he said.
Lebanese officials estimate that Iran and Syria will not oppose a ceasefire deal; this seems reasonable in light of the fact that the two countries have repeatedly called for a ceasefire, apparently in a bid to keep Hizbullah from collapsing so that it may take part in future confrontations with Israel.
Tel Aviv Univ. Poll: 67 Percent Backs Retaliation
05:24 Aug 11, '06 / 17 Av 5766
(IsraelNN.com) Two-thirds of the Jewish population in Israel back continued retaliation against Hizbullah terrorists, according to a new poll issued by the University of Tel Aviv.
Almost half of the respondents also said they support staging negotiations with the Hamas terrorist organization, while slightly more than one-third backs talks with Hizbullah terrorist leaders in order to return two kidnapped IDF soldiers.
The Arab sector overwhelmingly favors talking with Hamas and Hizbullah and only one-quarter said that Israel's retaliation is justified.
Olmert cannot remain in the prime minister's office
w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
Last update - 11:24 11/08/2006
By Ari Shavit
Ehud Olmert may decide to accept the French proposal for a cease-fire and unconditional surrender to Hezbollah. That is his privilege. Olmert is a prime minister whom journalists invented, journalists protected, and whose rule journalists preserved. Now the journalists are saying run away. That's legitimate. Unwise, but legitimate.
However, one thing should be clear: If Olmert runs away now from the war he initiated, he will not be able to remain prime minister for even one more day. Chutzpah has its limits. You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power. You cannot bury 120 Israelis in cemeteries, keep a million Israelis in shelters for a month, wear down deterrent power, bring the next war very close, and then say - oops, I made a mistake. That was not the intention. Pass me a cigar, please.
There is no mistake Ehud Olmert did not make this past month. He went to war hastily, without properly gauging the outcome. He blindly followed the military without asking the necessary questions. He mistakenly gambled on air operations, was strangely late with the ground operation, and failed to implement the army's original plan, much more daring and sophisticated than that which was implemented. And after arrogantly and hastily bursting into war, Olmert managed it hesitantly, unfocused and limp. He neglected the home front and abandoned the residents of the north. He also failed shamefully on the diplomatic front.
Still, if Olmert had come to his senses as Golda Meir did during the Yom Kippur War, if he had become a leader, established a war cabinet and called the nation to a supreme effort that would change the face of the battle, a penetrating discussion of his failures could be postponed. But in blinking first over the past 24 hours, he has become an incorrigible political personality. Therefore, the day Nasrallah comes out of his bunker and declares victory to the whole world, Olmert must not be in the prime minister's office. Post-war battered and bleeding Israel needs a new start and a new leader. It needs a real prime minister.