Hawash's story may be getting legs; it got some coverage on a local (Portland) TV news show.

It's nice that the guy has friends, but that has no bearing on whether he's actually guilty or not.

Ever notice how pretty much every newspaper article about the arrest of a serial-criminal scumbag includes quotes from family or friends about how he was such a good boy, couldn't possibly have done it, etc.?

I'm withholding judgment on this one for now.

Good thing he has white friends in high places, otherwise you'd have never heard of him. There's (I believe) thousands of people in his same situation right now, I'm reckon only a small percentage of them are 'guilty'.

Kind of hard to guess at whether he's guilty when he hasn't been charged with a crime...

"There's (I believe) thousands of people in his same situation right now, I'm reckon only a small percentage of them are 'guilty'."

If someone's being held as a material witness, by definition they're not being charged with a crime, so they are neither guilt nor not guilty -- just a perceived flight risk.

Thousands of people in his situation? Very unlikely.

Unlikely? Where have you been? Well maybe not thousands, but there were at least hundreds of brown folk arrested a few months ago and detained in nearly the same manner. It was big news amongst the people who actually pay attention to this stuff. If I recall correctly, it was hundreds just in California, where many of them were probably detained because a junior INS employee tossed out stacks of forms because there was too much work to do. Google around for it. Lisa Rein has a lot on her site.

Papaya, it's not a question of judging him one way or the other. If he committed a crime, he should be arrested for that crime, tried, and if convicted, punished. However, our Constitution forbids holding people indefinitely without charges no matter what they are or aren't guilty of. Whether he's guilty of anything or not has no bearing on whether he should be detained indefinitely without being charged.

If he's guilty of something heinous, then perhaps in a sense he deserves what he's getting, but it's still wrong for the government to treat him this way.

Wasn't Kevin Mitnick held for years without being charged for anything? While that's pretty obivously fucked up, it's not necessarily unconstitutional I think? I think the problem with these Disappearances is the way they are processed outside of the normal legal procedure, so that it is difficult or impossible for the detainee, their lawyers or their loved ones to find out what's going on, or where they're being held. It's all very fascist and Patriot Act II is promising even worse things.

"Thousands of people in his situation? Very unlikely."

I agree that it's unlikely that the number is that high. However, we can't even know for sure, because even the number is being claimed as secret by the FBI.

As jleader says, it doesn't really matter if he turns out to be the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, the guy who killed Jimmy Hoffa, and/or the Wicked Witch of the West. Holding people indefinitely without charges - even as "Material Witenesses" whatever the hell that legal fabrication is supposed to be - goes contrary to multiple explicit passages in both the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights. Not only does this sort of thing go directly against both the law and spirit of the USA, but it turns out that there's a *really* good reason why the founding fathers took the time to enshrine those rights in the documents that created this country.

Any real American will certainly be able to establish the importance of those rights on their own. I suggest that anyone who's so scared by a few pissant terrorists that they're willing to sell out core American values should start looking for another country to move to, because living in this country means accepting a responsibility to defend it against all enemies internal and external.

>Good thing he has white friends in high places

Yes its a VERY good thing. Who would you bet has the better chance of taking the USA PATRIOT act to the Supreme Court? A few expensive lawyers backed by an Intel bigwig or some public defender without the backing to even put in a proper appeal?

Sorry, but that's how the US legal system tends to work. Connections, money, and publiciy are simply a means to an end.

Just deport the terrorist.

If you have information that he actually *is* a terrorist, you should get in touch with the FBI, Jill.

Mr. Jones, FBI already knows he's a terrorist. You're a fool for falling for his cover.

Jill, you're a fool for thinking that the FBI would detain someone rather than arrest him if they had any credible evidence.

Are you people so brainwashed and paranoid over what FBI does??? Someone has seen too many episodes of X-Files methinks!

FBI is not some huge, unaccountable, monolithic organization. It is composed of people like you and I. Your neighbor could be working for FBI for all you know.

Call me crazy but I trust more FBI than some Palestinian called "Mike" who donates money to terrorist organizations that are using his money to murder children and civilians.

Shame on him!

"Jill" wrote: "Call me crazy..."

No - just a troll.