Terrorist or No?

The New York Times reported that on Tuesday December 6, a Florida jury failed to return any guilty verdicts on 51 counts against a former professor and three co-defendants. The men were accused of operating a North American front for Palestinian terror group, The Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The former professor, Sami Al-Arian was known for his passionate calling for Palestinian Independence and his anti-Israeli stances.

This was a political prosecution from the start, and I think the jury realized that," Linda Moreno, one of Mr. Arian's defense lawyers, said in a telephone interview. "They looked over at Sami al-Arian; they saw a man who had taken unpopular positions on issues thousands of miles away, but they realized he wasn't a terrorist. The truth is a powerful thing.

The great question was if Al-Arian's support for Palestinian independence had crossed the lines of freedom of speech and had become illegal support for terrorists. Prosecutors that had been collecting evidence against Al-Arian for ten years claimed that he had financed terrorist attacks in Israel, the Gaza Strip and the west bank. He was found not guilty on criminal counts associated with aiding terrorists, perjury, immigration violations and conspiring to kill people overseas. It was a result of the Patriot Act.

This is similar to McCarthyism in the nineteen forties. In 1940, the Alien Registration Act was passed. Its main goal was to undermine the American Communist Party and other left wing parties. Many people were blacklisted in Hollywood until they faced the House of Un-American Activities Committee. There were over three hundred and twenty names on that list. This is similar because under the patriot act people who are suspected terrorists are being detained. The nation believed that there was a great threat to the nation from communism in the nineteen forties as is believed now that there is a great national threat from terrorism.