Jurors see through ‘war on terror’

Corporate news outlets, from the New York Times to the Associated Press, are calling the U.S. government’s failure on Oct. 22 to win a conviction in the trial against the Holy Land Foundation one in a series of “missteps” and “setbacks” in terrorism convictions.

The Foundation, described by the Times as “once the nation’s largest Islamic charity,” was charged with giving money to Hamas—the democratically elected representative of the Palestinian people that was labeled a “terrorist” organization by the United States. The jury trial, held in Dallas, ended in one mistrial and several acquittals.

What is most likely becoming clear to the juries who rule on these cases is that they are nothing but cooked-up government persecution and an attempt to whip up anti-Arab sentiment in order to justify the supposed “war on terror,” which is really a colonial war and occupation against the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some of the cases being brought up to justify this war, including the Holy Land case, involve evidence that is decades old—begging the question of why the case is being tried now, if not for political reasons. Andrew C. McCarthy, who led the 1995 prosecution against Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman—defended by attorney Lynne Stewart—told the Times, “There are some of these cases that we did not push ... because we were in a different mindset before 9/11.”

One of the jurors in the Holy Land trial, William Neal, described some of the courtroom profiling. He said prosecutors “danced around the wire transfers by showing us videos of little kids in bomb belts and people singing about Hamas, things that didn’t directly relate to the case.” (New York Times, Oct. 24)

Meanwhile, the U.S. government is still attempting to punish former college professor Sami Al-Arian after his well-publicized acquittal in eight of the charges against him for financially supporting the liberation movement in Palestine—another “supporting terrorism” case. Al-Arian pled guilty on one of the lesser charges to avoid a retrial and has been serving a 57-month prison sentence.

Despite all the government persecution, Al-Arian continued to stand to his principles. When a prosecutor called him to testify in a grand jury investigation going after Islamic charities, Al-Arian refused. He is now being held in contempt of court; on Oct. 17 a judge again refused to lift the contempt citation. He could remain imprisoned until next spring.

The Times reported that some scholars and former prosecutors cite a “lack of selectivity and judgment” in the bringing of these cases. If a real people’s court were to be held, only one organization would be brought to trial, along with its accomplices.

Let that case go to trial, and it wouldn’t take long to convict the biggest terrorist in the world—the tiny group at the top of the U.S. government. Its accomplices—from known terrorists Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch to the very heads of state sitting in the White House—would be locked up and the key thrown away.