Politics: ...Does Not Hold Water...

I am not saying that these guys are innocent of all charges. But the Constitution (maybe we should be sending copies of the Constitution out to prosecutors and Justice Department officials) says that you're innocent until proven guilty. And if a judge -- who has a duty to evaluate these sorts of things, you understand -- says that the case against a defendant is flimsy, then there is something in that whole "innocent until proven guilty" bit there that leads a judge to try his or her level best to avoid depriving a person of his or her liberty.

You'll recall that Justice Department has decided that a dozen Arab-Americans entertaining themselves with paintball in the woods of Virginia is an apparent violation of the USA Patriot Act. (Incidentally, I have never engaged in the sport of paintball, but I'm still surprised to find this widely accepted non-Arab people sport is off limits to us Arabs and Arab Americans.)

The story from the Times:

But the men remain in custody, pending appeals that the prosecutors vowed to bring in federal court. Prosecutors also persuaded another judge today to keep a fifth defendant in custody despite an order this week that he, too, be freed.

The five men, along with six others, were indicted last week on terrorism-related and weapons charges for reportedly organizing a paramilitary training group in the Washington area in support of a "jihad network" committed to driving India out of Kashmir.

The men, nine of whom are United States citizens, have depicted themselves as victims of anti-Muslim harassment, and defense lawyers accused the Justice Department in court today of exploiting their Islamic backgrounds and their passion for engaging in paint-ball war games in rural Virginia to unfairly portray the men as terrorists.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, federal judges have given the Justice Department wide latitude in incarcerating terrorism suspects without bail as their cases progressed in court. Hundreds of illegal immigrants and several people the government has declared "enemy combatants" were also held in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks, prompting accusations from civil liberties advocates that they had been denied due process.

In bringing a criminal case against the reported Kashmir separatists, prosecutors were met with often skeptical questioning from Judge Jones.

The judge, saying that the government's argument about the danger posed by one of the defendants "simply does not hold water," ordered the four men released under electronic monitoring to ensure they cannot flee the area. He did not require them to post financial bond.

If you think I'm picking out the paintball evidence and playing it up because it's funny, check out this tidbit from the Post item regarding the arrest of the 11 men -- 9 of whom are American citizens:

There is no evidence that the men were planning attacks in the United States, law enforcement officials said. But the indictment says that the men had "an intent to serve in armed hostility against the United States" and that one of them, Masoud Ahmad Khan, had a photograph downloaded from the Internet of the FBI headquarters building in Washington.

I don't think it's necessary to point out for anyone reading this that pictures of buildings aren't hard to come by. The FBI's website featured this picture on its history of the HQ page. The CIA used the picture again here, on its children's page. CNN carried this image of the building in 1998, ironically in a story about a new counterterrorism center that opened that year. Conveniently enough, CNN even tells you which floor the center was on: five. The BBC carried this photo of HQ in a 2001 story about the appointment of Robert Mueller as FBI Director.

So these guys were indicted for paintball and knowing how to use Google?

Wait, there's more:

The men also are accused of gathering at the Dar el Arkum mosque on South Washington Street in Falls Church "to hear lectures on the righteousness of violent jihad in Kashmir, Chechnya and other places around the world and to watch videotapes of mujahideen engaged in jihad."

The Fairfax County home of a Muslim scholar who has lectured at the Falls Church mosque, Ali al-Timimi, was searched as part of the investigation, according to court records. He is not charged in the indictment, and federal authorities would not comment on his role in the case.

So they went to their mosque? Did the search of the Imam's home yield any interesting evidence, G-Men? Was it interesting to see what a monotheistic religious leader's home looks like? Probably just a house in Falls Church, about four miles from where I'm sitting right now, huh? That's what I thought.

Oh. I almost forgot, they possessed legal handguns as well. I think you can ask the folks in the Virginia Citizens Defense League (who I must pause and deride as totally insane, thanks) whether possessing guns is a crime. Or you can ask the more than 100,000 concealed carry permit-holders in the Commonwealth. As long as you don't mind getting shot at.

But seriously. These indictments are all about being Arab. I don't know these guys, and I don't want to know them. I deplore guns and I'm not a Muslim, merely an Arab-American. Hell, I think paintball is stupid. But like the judge who tried to send these guys home without bail, I smell something fishy here. Everyone knows a grand jury is a prosecutor's show. You can tell those folks just about anything. Empanel a grand jury in Northern Virginia and show them pictures of scary Arab guys in the woods with guns and tell me they won't see that tired al-Qaida recruiting tape flickering across the screen.

These guys played paintball, travelled to India, went to the mosque, used Google. Show me evidence, show this judge some evidence, and maybe we can try this again. But right now, taxpayer money and government resources look like they're being sent down a hole to railroad some unfortunate paintball players. And America can't afford the false sense of security that kangaroo courts and pig-circus trials leave us with.