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"As the jury was neither instructed that such a relationship was a required element of the offense, nor did the government offer evidence that Ressam's explosives were used to facilitate his false customs declaration, his conviction on Count 9 must be reversed," Judge Pamela Ann Rymer wrote for a split three-judge panel.
"We vacate the entire sentence so that the district court can resentence in light of this decision."
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Feds Defend Partnership With Islamic Group Under Scrutiny
January 16, 2007
Federal government agencies are defending their continuing cooperation with a high-profile Islamic organization at a time when its alleged ties to terrorists have come under renewed scrutiny.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has historic links to a U.S.-based group charged with terrorist funding, and several individuals associated with CAIR have been jailed for terror-related offenses (
Its critics also charge that while CAIR officials condemn terrorist attacks, they commonly refuse to condemn terror groups by name, particularly the Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese-based Hizballah.
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http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200701/NAT20070116a.html
WASHINGTON -- Fighter jet parts and other sensitive U.S. military gear seized from front companies for Iran and brokers for China have been traced in criminal cases to a surprising source: the Pentagon.
In one case, federal investigators said, contraband purchased in Defense Department surplus auctions was delivered to Iran, a country President Bush has branded part of an "axis of evil."
In that instance, a Pakistani arms broker convicted of exporting U.S. missile parts to Iran resumed business after his release from prison. He purchased Chinook helicopter engine parts for Iran from a U.S. company that had bought them in a Pentagon surplus sale. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents say those parts did make it to Iran.
Sensitive military surplus items are supposed to be demilitarized or "de-milled" - rendered useless for military purposes - or, if auctioned, sold only to buyers who promise to obey U.S. arms embargoes, export controls and other laws. Yet the surplus sales can operate like a supermarket for arms dealers.
"Right Item, Right Time, Right Place, Right Price, Every Time. Best Value Solutions for America's Warfighters," the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service says on its Web site, calling itself "the place to obtain original U.S. Government surplus property."
Federal investigators are increasingly anxious that Iran is within easy reach of a top priority on its shopping list: parts for the precious fleet of F-14 "Tomcat" fighter jets the United States let Iran buy in the 1970s when it was an ally.
In one case, convicted middlemen for Iran bought Tomcat parts from the Defense Department's surplus division. Customs agents confiscated them and returned them to the Pentagon, which sold them again - customs evidence tags still attached - to another buyer, a suspected broker for Iran.
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