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Home Front: WoT
DMN on HLF Fiasc o
2007-10-23
What a disappointment yesterday's mistrial in the Holy Land Foundation federal trial was. What the public wanted was clarity and closure in this long-running case. What the jury delivered after 19 days of deliberation – and an additional four-day delay in unsealing the verdicts – was confusion. So profound was the confusion that Judge Joe A. Fish seemed startled when he opened the sealed verdicts only to discover that the jury had left most counts blank. Even the jury seemed bizarrely unsure of what it had decided. Small wonder Judge Fish declared a mistrial.

Family members of the five defendants in the terror finance case were jubilant after the judge declared the mistrial. But their joy may be premature. Prosecutors have pledged to retry the case. Four of the five defendants likely will have to return to federal court to begin the entire process over again.

The non-verdict on most of the counts was a serious blow to government prosecutors, who have had a decidedly mixed record in terrorist fundraising cases since Sept. 11, 2001. The Holy Land Foundation case was by far their most important prosecution to date. The feds swung for the fences – and missed.

Close observers of the proceedings saw this coming. The government did a poor job making a complicated white-collar case understandable to ordinary citizens who often seemed perplexed and overwhelmed by an avalanche of facts and data. As one trial watcher said, it was like seeing his rural East Texas grandmother struggle through a graduate-level seminar in modern Middle Eastern politics.

Despite the jury deadlock, the trial wasn't a waste of time. Whether or not a crime was committed, evidence from wiretaps and videotapes – for example, the Hamas fundraising skit in which defendant and former Dallas city engineer Mufid Abdulqader chanted, "Death to Jews is precious" – was morally damning for defendants who claimed to be humanitarians. More importantly, the government introduced evidence showing how the infrastructure of many major U.S. Muslim organizations ties together, and how they have their philosophical roots in the radical Muslim Brotherhood.

The preponderance of the evidence strongly suggests that the Holy Land Foundation was no mere charity. That does not – let's be clear – prove criminality. Going forward, the government must change its flawed strategy if it hopes to prevail.

That last paragraph is astounding. So you can collect money to fund Hamas but not have committed a criminal act. We need a new strategy. all right. No prisoner, no torture, no trial.
Well now. Let's be clear that the last paragraph is correct: preponderance of evidence is not enough to gain a conviction in a criminal court. The standard is reasonable doubt, and clearly a confused jury is never going to clear that standard.

Perhaps the government needs to rethink how it puts people on trial. But these folks were either American citizens or permanent residents: a criminal trial with full constitutional protection is their basic right, and one I (for one) won't sacrifice in the WoT. We have been able to gain convictions in American courts for WoT-related crimes; what's required is a vigorous Justice Department and capable federal prosecutors who put the trials on clearly and convincingly for a jury.

This also means we need to work vigorously at the other end: if it's difficult to convict a Hamas-related financial scam in an American court, then deal with Hamas overseas. It's awfully hard for sympathesizers in this country to send money to an organization that's been wiped out.

American citizens have the full protection of our constitution, sometimes to our frustration. But the gunnies in Gaza? Bombs away, baby.
Posted by:Nimble Spemble

#4  This case has to have been in the works for years. Hard to blame it on Gonzo alone. It speaks to systemic problems. One of them is demonstrated by Steve White's attitude, with which I do not necessarily completely disagree. But we can expect to see more OJ type acquitals as muslims use the legal system against us. And be prepared for more extension of dhimmi policies thanks to multi-culti administrators.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2007-10-23 14:03  

#3  I don't have any answers, but I am seeing a general breakdown between our government and the people it is supposed to represent. Good minds need to come up with new solutions to the problem that our enemies have become very successful at using our own system against us. We now face the very real risk that we could lose our freedoms because of the abuse of our freedoms.
Posted by: Unutle McGurque8861   2007-10-23 12:25  

#2  If you want to see a slam-dunk justice department prosecution, just join the border patrol and unholster your weapon...
Posted by: M. Murcek   2007-10-23 11:46  

#1  I'll add my $.02 in that I think all the turmoil at the top of the Justice Dept. contributed to the poor prosecution of this case. With Gonzalez permanently in the hot seat in Congressional hearings, I wouldn't be surprised if most of the gov'ts prosecutions have been disrupted.
Posted by: Seafarious   2007-10-23 11:01  

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