Lawmakers Ask Ashcroft Why Suspect Freed ( What is going on)

[jbfam4]

Lawmakers Ask Ashcroft Why Suspect Freed
By JOHN SOLOMON
Associated Press Writer

June 30, 2004, 9:22 AM EDT

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-terror-suspect-deported,0,1772418,print.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

WASHINGTON -- Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike are demanding to know why the Bush administration chose to release to Syria a terror suspect when several prosecutors and FBI agents had collected evidence for a possible criminal case.

The circumstances surrounding Nabil al-Marabh's release, detailed in a recent Associated Press story, are "of deep concern and appear to be a departure from an aggressive, proactive approach to the war on terrorism," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote Tuesday in a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft.

"Al-Marabh was at one time No. 27 on the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) list of Most Wanted Terrorists," wrote Grassley, who leads the committee that controls federal spending and also is a member of the Judiciary Committee that oversees the Justice Department. "He appears to have links to a number of terrorists and suspected terrorists in several U.S. cities."

The Iowa Republican repeatedly cited the AP story and demanded that Ashcroft answer 19 questions about al-Marabh's case, including why the Justice Department didn't prosecute the man they had in custody for nearly two years either in a military tribunal or through a secret court proceeding that could protect intelligence information.

Grassley also asked Justice to detail what has happened to other terror suspects that appeared on the same post-Sept. 11 terrorism list as al-Marabh.

[Demeter]

1. Why Badger the AG Now?

Kick a man when he's down, why don't you? With court and jailtime staring him in the face, Ashcroft probably felt compassion on his fellow terrorist (or got a good payoff from Syria towards his legal defense fund). It's simple--one hand washes the other. We are a nation of WASP men, not laws!

[Demeter]

dupe

[Demeter]

2. dupe

[chiburb]

3. Good piece on this here...

Snip:

Prosecutors in Detroit and Chicago were working hard to bring indictments against al-Marabh that would have kept him in custody for years. But according to the Associated Press story linked above, "Those indictments were rejected by the Justice Department in the name of protecting intelligence."

I'm interpreting that to mean al-Marabh was released because he knew something the Bushies didn't want found out. And al-Marabh may not be the only one:
One of Ashcroft's top deputies, Chris Wray, recently told Congress that he was concerned some terror suspects rounded up after Sept. 11, 2001, were now being deported because prosecutors were having a hard time making terrorism cases or couldn't expose sensitive intelligence information during court proceedings.

Let's see if I've got this straight. If some guy -- let's call him Osama -- is in federal custody, but Osama knows stuff that might be considered "sensitive intelligence information," then instead of prosecuting him we just turn him loose? Are we making sense?

http://www.mahablog.com/

[OldCurmudgeon]

5. No

they're not claiming that the "alleged terrorist" knows sensitive info, they're claiming that to prosecute him they'd have to use sensitive info.

Still the story stinks on ice; they're holding a lot of people on flimsier evidence without charging them.

More likely, they want the Syrians to torture this guy and see what they can squeeze out of him.

[Miss Authoritiva]

6. Well, this is going to be the Catch-22 in every terrorist trial.

In trying terrorists, there is always going to be the need to reveal or the risk of revealing sensitive information. The DOJ and DOD are going to have to work out some strategies, or else why bother scooping up and detaining these guys. Also, the long delay involved here -- nearing three or more years for some detainees -- decreases the value of this sensitive information. This stuff must go stale pretty fast.

Somehow, the US government doesn't seem to be illuminated by the brightest bulbs in the country, if you know what I mean.

[tom_paine]

4. I assume that this terrorist and murdered was a Bushevik Ally

Hell, he might have recruited Mohammed Atta for Bush-Cheney and put him onto Rudi Dekkers (also a big Bush-Cheney pal) for Flight School.

So, he must NEVER see the inside of a courtroom.

That's my guess, anyway, and it seems reasonable based onthe level of corruption and investigation-tanking we've seen from the Imperials.