Posted on 12/29/2007 5:59:21 AM PST by ricks_place
Given that hard evidence is often scarce in trials of unsuccessful terrorists, prosecutors in Miami no doubt felt fortunate to be trying defendants who participated in a ceremony pledging allegiance to al Qaeda — and it was captured on video.
Add to that ironclad proof that the leader of the cell requested — from a man he believed to be a terrorist financier — boots, uniforms, vehicles, machine guns and $50,000. Several of the defendants took surveillance photos of government buildings. Just in case the reason for the request was unclear, Narseal Batiste stated — on tape — that it was for creating an "Islamic army" to wage a "full ground war" and commit an attack that would be "as good or greater than 9/11," such as blowing up the Sears Tower.
It wasn't enough. He wasn't convicted.
In a stunning defeat for common sense, a Miami jury couldn't convict seven defendants on a single of the 28 total charges. One of the seven, who had moved to Atlanta months before the arrests and had severed ties with the group, was acquitted entirely. The jury deadlocked on all charges brought against the other members of the "Liberty City Seven."
Though prosecutors are retrying the remaining defendants next month, odds of success the second time around are just as dicey. Put simply, it appears that several jurors didn't want to convict, in spite of the evidence.
Consider that Mr. Batiste's explanation should have prompted laughter, not doubts about his guilt: He claimed he did it for the children. Taking the stand, the group's leader testified that he was actually trying to con the undercover informant to get money to build a community center.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Too bad the Nazi didn't have an effective spokes group during WWII (/sarcasm)
As are the majority of the suicide bombers and jihardists. YOu think SANE people do these things?
So let them loose to continue acting out their fantasy...yeah, that'll work.
Note to prosecutors: get a change of venue. Never try terrorists in Miami, which is no longer part of the U.S.
The useful idiots are the jurors.
Proof positive many in the general population are unqualified to be on a jury ... and more importantly, vote.
Our Federal system has evolved into a continuous battle over which of the two political parties gets primary control over a pool of almost 3 trillion dollars a year to buy votes with. On this path, the country is finished.
The solution to this problem not that complicated. We must return to our Constitutional roots. The Federal Government is supposed to be constrained by a system of checks and balances provided by a separation of powers between 3 independent branches. But governance especially at the Federal level has become nothing more than a continuous episode of Power Mad Fools Gone Wild. Many sensible people scratch their heads and wonder how this could have happened. Why does the separation of powers no longer work?
The separation of powers between the departments of the Federal Government was never intended to be the sole or even the primary check on the power of the Federal Government. The separation of powers was only intended to check the power of Federal government in the context of a union of sovereign States.
The sad reality of the day is that the States have been reduced to little more than corrupt supplicants of a totally corrupt and unconstrained Federal government. Until the supremacy of the States is restored our nation is doomed to continue its tragic downward spiral.
Electing Republicans, even "good ones" cannot solve what is at its heart a systemic problem. The worthless years of Republican rule should be sufficient to convince all but the most tragically naive among us that something deeper than the names of the rulers has to change if we are going to save the nation.
True. It's a war on Jihadists, when it should be a war on Jihad.
bump
Terrorists, leftists, obessive American Liberals...have at least this much in common.
So how do we save the nation?
It is not going to be easy. We are going to have to start in the schools. In fact, the single most important change we could make would be to eliminate government schools. There is no greater confusion amongst the citizenry than the myth that universal education requires government schools. The voucher movement is at least a useful beginning here.
Next we need to make it harder to vote. Citizens should be forced to register, in person, with valid photo ID, several months before every election with no automatic renewal of the privilege. This simple change would remove from the political calculus the mass of the essentially disinterested. There is nothing the politicians of both stripes like better than voters who only pay attention for a few weeks around election time. Similarly there is nothing the politicians fear more than voters who pay attention all the time. Witness the immigration debate.
As a side benefit, eliminating the easily swayed from the political process by making it harder to vote represents the ultimate campaign finance reform. There is no point raising and spending money trying to sway uniformed voters who can't cast a vote.
But the main reform must come in the 50 state capitals. We need a grass roots movement to elect at the State level candidates who believe in the Founder's vision of the nation. Once empowered, the States can challenge the overreaching of the Federal government.
None of the above will be easy. And I am not postulating that it will happen. The odds currently favor our demise. But you asked me what we can do so I felt obliged to share a couple of the more simple remedies that can be applied.
I’m beginning to think that we should be sending Americans caught in the US to Gitmo. Our legal system is far too screwed up to judge a slip- nd-fall case, much less terrorism.
These guys are idiots.... I don’t think they could pull off anything
Or Tampa.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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