Call it three-bagger injustice. Three “bad guys” in one week include one wrongfully arrested, another forced to plead guilty though innocent, and a third convicted without having committed a crime.
In America, criminal justice works that way more times than not. It’s especially true when targeting Washington’s enemy of choice. When Department of Justice (DOJ) vigilantes choose victims, innocence is no defense. Guilt by accusation is policy.
Post-9/11, praying to the wrong God was criminalized. Doing so violates inviolable First Amendment rights. War on terror priorities take precedence.
So do hate, institutionalized racism, and rage to fill homeland gulag beds. America’s prison/industrial complex demands it. DOJ vigilantes have to prove they’re protecting us. Media scoundrels cheerlead all false arrests, convictions, and incarcerations. Justice isn’t part of their vocabulary.
On October 18, DOJ’s Minneapolis Division headlined “Federal Jury Convicts Minneapolis Man of Supporting Foreign Terrorists,” saying:
Mahamud Said Omar “faces a potential maximum penalty of life in federal prison for conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim, and injure. He faces up to 15 years in federal prison for each of the remaining charges. US District Court Chief Judge Michael J. Davis will determine his sentence at a future hearing, not yet scheduled.”
On August 20, 2009, a federal grand jury indicted him on five terrorist-related charges. On November 23, they were unsealed.
They said he “conspired with others to provide financial assistance as well as personnel to terrorists and foreign terrorist organizations. (A)llegedly (he also) visited an al-Shabaab safe-house and provided hundreds of dollars to fund the purchase of AK-47 rifles for men from Minneapolis.”
At the time, he was held in the Netherlands awaiting extradition once finalized. He denied all charges. It didn’t help. In terrorism cases, innocence is no defense. He may remain imprisoned for life.
His attorney, Andrew Birrell, called him a “frightened little man.” A Somali national, he struggled to adapt to US life. He lacks basic skills and know-how to organize anything.
Prosecutors based their case on bogus testimonies. Witnesses were pressured to lie. They struck plea bargains for lesser sentences on charges they faced. In return, they framed Omar.
DOJ vigilantes use this tactic repeatedly. They also use secret evidence, secret witnesses, and other underhanded ways to convict. More on that below. Omar was among 18 men charged in related cases. Seven pleaded guilty. Others were presumed abroad.
At least six traveled to Somalia. Foreign travel is legal except when DOJ vigilantes claim otherwise. Charges at times exceed credibility. In a related case to Omar’s, they included allegedly trying to buy missiles able down F-16s. How or why wasn’t explained.
Other cases involved waging war on Fort Dix, NJ, the marines at Quantico, VA, planning to down National Guard jets, plotting to blow Chicago’s Sears Tower, the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building, and other equally preposterous plots. Another notable one is discussed below.
Baseless charges often get American Muslims convicted. Paid informants entrap them. Each time there’s no plot, no crime, or an intention to commit one.
Innocent victims are targeted, persecuted, arrested, imprisoned, kept in isolation, denied bail, restricted on their right to counsel, tried on secret evidence, and convicted by intimidated juries.
They’re given long prison terms for their faith, ethnicity, activism, charity, and/or prominence. They learn the hard way why being Muslims in America at the wrong time is hazardous.
On October 17, DOJ’s Houston Division headlined “Man Pleads Guilty in New York to Conspiring with Iranian Military Officials to Assassinate Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States.”
Manssor Arbabsiar was pressured to plead guilty to an alleged crime. It sounded more like a bad film plot. DOJ vigilantes said plans “never progressed.”
Of course not. There were none. At issue was beating up on Iran. Arbabsiar was a convenient fall guy. He’s a naturalized American citizen. He holds both US and Iranian passports. At the time, Attorney General Eric Holder said he’s “committed to holding Iran accountable for its actions.”
Perhaps he had a hard time keeping a straight face saying it. Accusations against Arbabsiar include “conspiracy to murder a foreign official, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, and conspiracy to commit an act of international terrorism, among other charges.”
It didn’t matter that there was no plot, crime, or intention to commit one. Why Arbabsiar confessed he’ll have to explain. Cooler heads knew the whole scheme was baseless.
A May 2011 New York University’s School of Law Center for Human Rights and Global Justice report headlined, “Targeted and Entrapped: Manufacturing the ‘Homegrown Threat’ in the United States.”
It discussed how FBI stings entrap hundreds of American Muslims lawlessly. Washington calls them foiled terror plots. In fact, none exist.
FBI informants are well paid to entrap and lie. Media scoundrels headline them. The validity of charges is never questioned.
The likelihood that Iran or any other country would plan terror assassinations or other attacks on US soil is preposterous. Key is cui bono. Iran and other nations have everything to lose and nothing to gain.
In December 2010, Holder defended entrapment. He called it an “essential law enforcement tool.” It helps uncover and prevent terror attacks, he claimed. Forget about rule of law issues. They don’t matter.
Inciting fear, justifying America’s imperium, filling homeland gulag beds, and fattening bottom lines for greedy war profiteers count most.
Entrapment occurs when law enforcement officials or agents induce, influence, or provoke crimes that otherwise wouldn’t be committed.
It doesn’t apply in willful criminal cases. DOJ vigilantes may legally aid, abet, or facilitate illegal acts when suspects plan them.
Entrapment involves the following:
Government officials or agents must initiate the idea. Individuals are persuaded to commit what they otherwise never planned. Moreover, they had no previous intent or willingness to do so.
Key is that prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that subjects weren’t entrapped. Otherwise, due process convictions are prohibited.
Nonetheless, judicial fairness seldom occurs in cases involving anyone for political reasons. Muslims are especially vulnerable. Once targeted, it’s virtually impossible to escape unscathed.
On October 17, DOJ’s New York Field Office headlined “Joint Terrorism Task Force Arrests Man in Lower Manhattan After He Attempted to Bomb New York Federal Reserve Bank.”
Admittedly, bankers are reviled. Anger doesn’t get aggrieved people mad enough to blow up buildings used for financial war on humanity.
Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis wasn’t helped. He was arrested for allegedly trying to blow up New York’s Fed building. Allegedly, he used what he believed was a 1,000 pound bomb.
He faces charges of “attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al Qaeda.”
Like many other DOJ targets, he was lawlessly entrapped. He’s a 21-year old Bangladeshi. An elaborate sting snared him. In January, he arrived in America on a student visa.
DOJ vigilantes fraudulently claimed he tried making contact with homegrown terrorists. Supposedly it was to carry out an attack. Why wasn’t explained. Charges put words in his mouth like a desire to “attack and kill.”
FBI vigilantes singled him out. He didn’t realize the danger of being Muslim in America at the wrong time. They played him for a patsy. They wanted another victim and got one. They falsely claimed he wanted to be respected by Al Qaeda leaders.
His father, Quazi Mohammad Ahsanullah, is a Dhaka senior vice president banker. He denounced the charges. He called them “a racist conspiracy.”
“The intelligence of the USA is playing with a a mere boy whom we sent for higher study. The allegation against my son is not true at all. He could not even drive a car. How was he caught with a van? He fell into a trap.”
He’s a timid young man, he added. He’s sometimes wary of leaving home alone. He came to America for business administration studies. He said a US degree would advance his career at home.
He added:
“I spent all my savings to send him to America.” He’s “very gentile and devoted to his studies.” He never had ideas about terrorism.
He was ordered held without bail. He was entrapped with fake explosives. New York Joint Terrorism Task Force agents supplied them. How they maneuvered him into an alleged terror plot isn’t clear.
In Bangladesh, he had no known Jihadist ties. He was a shy unassuming student. Why FBI vigilantes picked him as an easy mark they, or others connected to them, will have to explain.
Nafis may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Clearly, he was in the wrong country for any reason. He stood out prominently and was vulnerable. He may end up imprisoned for life.
Others like him got many years behind bars. Every high-profile Muslim terror plot was fake. Innocence each time didn’t help them. One preposterous scheme after another didn’t matter. Once charged, convictions are virtually automatic.
America’s war on terror demands lots of prisoners. Inciting fear requires schemes too extreme to forget. Plausibility doesn’t enter the public mind.
Getting bad guys off city streets alone matters. Guilt by accusation works as planned. Police state America has it down to a science. Growing numbers of Muslims behind bars proves there’s no place to hide.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].
His new book is titled “How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War”
http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
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