Government announces arrest of man suspected of plotting a terrorist attack [more details]

AP | June 10, 2002 | Ted Bridis

[m1911]

You might be right, I'm not ruling anything out. That still doesn't (imho) cover the "why now" question. Since there seems to have been a tight lid on this, why the sudden need to tell everyone?

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

The liberals have already started that,"he's an american citizen cr*p"!From now on check to see if any of these terrorists are citizens then take all documents,shred them and say they aren't.We sure don't need the courts interfering in this!

[Grut]

The liberals have already started that,"he's an american citizen cr*p"!

May you be mistakenly arrested under the new regime.

[foreshadowed at waco]

President Bush, based on recommendations from Ashcroft and White House councel Al Gonzales, designated the suspect as a combatant in papers signed late Sunday

The fact that this guy was only designated as an unlawful combatant last night would seem to be the reason that the story is out today...prior to yesterday he was being held for questioning...verification...he was found to be carrying detailed plans for a 'dirty nuke'...since he's an American citizen they had to be sure that they had all their ducks in a row before they could re-designate him for a military tribunal...I wonder if they plan to charge him with treason or if they have to strip him of his US citizenship to try him...the re-designation allows them to hold him indefinitely and to limit his access to an attorney...

He's a Brooklyn Hispanic guy who became a Muslim in the joint...go figure.

[McGavin999]

Maybe to beat the civil libertarians who would make a fuss about it. The decision to make him eligible for the military tribunal was probably just made and the man has been transferred to a military base.

The administration has been burned pretty bad about not "telling" us things.