Two Algerian men charged with membership in al-Qaida appeared in court in Leicester where prosecutors and defense lawyers laid out a timetable for their trial. Baghdad Meziane, 36, and Brahim Benmerzouga, 30, were charged last week with membership in al-Qaida and terrorism-related offenses. British officials suspect the two men were also part of a foiled al-Qaida plot to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Paris. The two Algerians, arrested in Leicester two weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, are the first people charged in Britain with belonging to al-Qaida, an offense under Britain's Terrorism Act.
I suppose it's stoopid or insensitive or something to ask why they weren't in Algeria. Why foul someone else's nest? Is this like dogs peeing on trees? (We're searching for the real root causes here.) |