This is worrisome and not a little firightening.

Debbie Schlussel has been tracking the Sami Al-Arian case. She doesn't seem to think he's an innocent victim. Rather, she says the prosecution was inept:

we can say that the "prosecution" team was a Marcia Clark/Christopher Darden-style set of incompetent Assistant U.S. Attorneys and the judge was definitely Dancing Itoh material.

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Ouch!

A common comment is that this case was a major test for the Patriot Act. I'd say the HSA and the Justice Dept. had better get their acts together if we want to put a stop to this kind of activity. And as always, we need more judges who understand that the right not to be murdered by terrorists is more important than those "rights" of more recent vintage found lurking in the penumbrae. We can't expect the government to protect us if we don't trust it. And if we can't trust it, then we'd better start electing some different people to Congress. Start with the major RINOS in the Senate. I'd hate to see another 9/11 happen, but I don't see Congress has ever really taken it seriously and the Democrats have lost it. We've been protected since 9/11 but the ACLU and its ilk are making a comeback.