According to Fox News suspected terrorist and former University of South Florida professor, Sami Al-Arian, has been found innocent of supporting terrorists (more specifically on 8 of the 17 charges against him).

Jury acquits Al-Arian on key charge (Orlando Sentinel):

TAMPA -- A former Florida professor was acquitted on a key charge today that he helped lead a Palestinian terrorist group that has carried out suicide bombings against Israel.

In one of the biggest courtroom tests yet of the Patriot Act's expanded search and surveillance powers, the jury acquitted Sami Al-Arian on eight of the 17 counts against him. The jury deadlocked on the others.

Al-Arian, a former University of South Florida computer engineering professor, wept after the verdicts and his attorney, Linda Moreno hugged him. He will go back to jail until prosecutors decide whether retry him on the deadlocked charges.

There is still a lot more to come in the case of Sami Al-Arian but I wouldn't call this a set back in the war on terror.

Chad Evans, the anti-terror guru, is also covering this story.

Michelle Malkin provides a complete breakdown.

The St. Petersburg Times has a long article which also details the life of Sami Al-Arian.

Related:
Sami Al-Arian's Lawyers Playing the Race Card

Originally Posted at

Posted by: Chris Short at 04:23 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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1 Not a setback? Are you kidding? This will have terrible consequences.

Posted by: Ariya at December 06, 2005 05:41 PM (+sjRV)

2 This calls for a Star Chamber.

Posted by: Jesusland Carlos at December 06, 2005 05:49 PM (8e/V4)

3 Yes, from the surface it might seem like a setback however, Sami Al-Arian is in prison in Florida tonight facing nine other charges. I can't honestly say that's a setback.

Posted by: Chris Short at December 06, 2005 05:57 PM (0OCQY)

4 Those 9 other charges aren't quite as serious as funneling $ to IJ or whomever.

Posted by: Ariya at December 06, 2005 08:34 PM (+sjRV)

5 Dagnabbit Rusty! I'm pretty faithful to Jawa. Pretty darn faithful and I so missed the infamous post in question now gone. Poof! And, I can't even comment up there. This really stinks. I miss everything.

Posted by: thirdee at December 06, 2005 09:35 PM (HxrNJ)

6 From reading what the local paper has to say about it, the St PetersburgTimes the government was able to produce only a weak case. When only 2 or 3 jurors are voting guilty on only some of the charges it would seem doubtful of an attempt to retry him on the charges they did deadlock on. http://www.sptimes.com/2005/12/06/Tampabay/Not_guilty__but_not_o.shtml

Posted by: john Ryan at December 06, 2005 11:04 PM (ads7K)

7 I am not sure if that hot link will work, but the article is in the google news section covering the trial

Posted by: john Ryan at December 06, 2005 11:05 PM (ads7K)

8 I was there for the One Brief Shining Moment the post was up.But...I'm a jawa fan Great job Team Jawa!!!!!! Remember, there is no "A" in "Team Jawa". Intelligence: [pause] Yes, there is.

Posted by: Brad at December 06, 2005 11:14 PM (6mUkl)

9 Either hang the muslim dip shit or deport him.

Posted by: greyrooster at December 07, 2005 04:24 AM (OvTKg)

10 Stick a tracking device somewhere in him and turn him loose and track him until he hooks up with a terrorist cell, then BAMMO!

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at December 07, 2005 10:01 AM (0yYS2)

11 He was denied US citizenship in 1996. Why? Hmm...

Posted by: huh@huh.com at December 07, 2005 01:29 PM (FGT5K)

12 Arian made a false statement on his application for citizenship and was denied. I also know he voted in 1994 without being a citizen. I assume the false statement was that he hadn't voted.

Posted by: Oyster at December 08, 2005 06:46 AM (YudAC)

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Possible SAM launch at an airliner:

FBI agents and Homeland Security officials spent the weekend investigating the report of a possible missile fired at an American Airlines plane taking off from Los Angeles International Airport.

According to the article, the FBI seems to think that it is either a flare or a bottle rocket.

I dunno, most airline pilots are ex-military, I'm sure they can tell the difference between a flare and a SAM. As far as a bottle rocket? Please. I fired hundreds, possibly thousands of those things in my youth, I hardly think they would be mistaken for a SAM by even the most green of pilots.

However, at this early point in time, the door to all possibilities remains open.

Another odd thing is that the date underneath the headline is 11/28, 4 days ago.

I just found this story at Drudge a couple of minutes ago, and I did a Google news search and found only 2 stories, dated today.

Interesting.

As the big boys say, developing....

UPDATE:

Yup, already. The Blog Grandfather was on this earlier.

He links to this from Bill Quick:

UPDATE: I just talked with an FBI spokesman from the Los Angeles bureau who told me that the sighting was of "a contrail." The spokesman added that "all investigative leads were vetted and the results were negative." The investigation is now closed.

A contrail? A pardonmyfrenchgoddamncontrail?

A contrail results when water vapor in the air is heated by the friction of the airplane and then immediately condenses in the cooler air behind it (or something like that).

If this was a contrail....Where was the airplane that made it? Are they suggesting he saw his own plane's contrail?

UPDATE II: Further surfing shows that WitNit has been on this for some time now.

Granted, I wasn't there at the time it happened, but really, the explanations being put forth don't make much sense.

Posted by: Vinnie at 11:02 PM | Comments (22) | Add Comment
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