Suspected al Qaeda terrorist arraigned today

[Skywatcher]

CNN
A Somali in immigration custody in Cincinnati has been indicted in an alleged al Qaeda plot to bomb an Ohio shopping mall, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said Monday.

“Now, current credible intelligence indicates that al Qaeda wants to hit the United States, to hit the United States hard,” Ashcroft said in a news conference at the Justice Department.

“We know our enemies will go to great lengths to lie in wait and to achieve the death and destruction they desire if at all possible.”

Ashcroft identified the Somali as Nuradin M. Abdi, 32, who has been indicted on four charges of providing material support to al Qaeda.

Ashcroft said Abdi had a relationship with Iyman Faris, an Ohio truck driver convicted last year of providing material support to al Qaeda.

“It is alleged that Abdi, along with admitted al Qaeda operative Faris and other co-conspirators, initiated a plot to blow up a Columbus-area shopping mall,” Ashcroft said. “It is also alleged that in pursuit of this plot, Abdi received bomb-making instructions from one of those co-conspirators.”

Naturally, his family is rising to his defense.

Detroit Free News
“He really hated terrorists,” Mohamed AbdiKarani, 17, told The Associated Press. “You know how (President) Bush hates terrorists? I think he hates them more.”

His brother, Nuradin Abdi, has a son and daughter and his wife is pregnant, he said.

“He loved it here. He never had as much freedom,” AbdiKarani said. “He said it’s good to raise his kids here.”

Perhaps Nuradin Abdi doth protest too much.

[Colophon]

@Jeff Olsen

Perhaps Nuradin Abdi doth protest too much.

Or perhaps he’s another victim of the “arrest anyone who sounds Arabic” pogrom. Let’s wait for some facts.

[ftg]

Given the recent abyssmal history of the US prosecuting terrorist “suspects” we can expect:

1. He is already known to the FBI as innocent but they’ll hold him for a year until he confesses. (Unless he is a lawyer, like the guy in Portland, who got out after “merely” a month.)

2. They refuse to reveal their sources and so they repatriate him. (One guy on their top 40 terrorist list was sent back home to Syria rather than prosecute him.) Now this is one hell of a way to fight terrorism folks!

3. The case just gets thrown out as too weak. Happens a lot.

4. Found to be a “well connected Saudi”. Best “get out of jail free” card in the US.

etc. etc.

I figure that at least 9 out of 10 such announcements are just political smoke. Almost 3 years later and the system has become more politicized (and therefore far less effective). Talk about moving backwards.