The U.S. Justice Department has sued Arizona over its law that allows police to determine the immigration status of people when a reasonable suspicion exists they are here illegally. The law so outraged some Californians that they are boycotting Arizona.
Things must be slack at Justice if that's the big issue, because in August 2009, when the Scottish government released convicted mass murder Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi, they were too busy to request extradition and Californians were too disinterested to boycott Scotland.
Al-Megrahi was serving a life sentence for the 1988 Pam Am bombing that killed all 259 passengers and crew, 190 of them Americans, and 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland. It took 11 years to get him out of "house arrest" in Libya and to trial, but he spent only eight years in jail.
Scottish authorities released al-Megrahi on "compassionate grounds" claiming cancer gave him less than three months to live. He returned to a hero's welcome in Libya and he's still alive. President Obama's strangely subdued reaction puzzled me at the time, "...we object to this," he said. "We thought it was a mistake."
Recently there were allegations that BP, of oil-leak fame, lobbied the UK and/or Scottish governments for the release to improve prospects for oil projects in Libya. BP admits some of it, the UK government admits some of it, but the Scots claim to know nothing.
With an election coming up, the president is finally indigent. Reportedly, Mr. Obama now says he was, "surprised, disappointed and angry at the decision." It's a long jump from objection and mistake to disappointment and anger and it's more than a little late.
Eleven months ago, I wrote the U.S. government either knew, or certainly should have known, that this was coming. If the president was surprised, he should have demanded the CIA and State Department answer for this gross lapse in intelligence. BP knew about it and the BBC reported the likely release at least six days in advance. President Obama should have been angry with Justice for not attempting to gain custody of this terrorist.
I can't prove the U.S. government agreed not to make a fuss, but I believe so. I bolster my argument with the very strange case of the U.S. Justice Department and Imam Ahmad Wais Afzali.
Afzali, 38, is a citizen of Afghanistan who came to the United States with his parents when he was 8 or 9 years old. He lived in Queens, New York. On September 9, 2009, Najibullah Zazi, also a citizen of Afghanistan and a legal resident of the U.S., began a drive from Denver to New York City intending to detonate explosives on the city's subway during rush hour as one of three coordinated suicide "martyrdom" bombings at the direction of al-Qaeda.
The police were already on to Zazi and his gang. They went to Afzali, an occasional informant, and asked him to identify individuals in photographs. He said he recognized Zazi and others.
The next day Afzali spoke by telephone with Zazi and Zazi's father, telling them about the police visit and warning them they were under surveillance. When Zazi learned that he was being watched, he abruptly flew back to Denver; he was arrested days later.
In February, Zazi pled guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiring to commit murder and providing material support to a terrorist organization. He said he was recruited by al-Qaeda in Pakistan for a suicide "martyrdom" attack against the U.S., and his target was the subway system.
Two of Zazi's high school classmates who had traveled with him to Pakistan, his father, his uncle, and Afzali were also indicted on related charges. U.S. Attorney General Holder referred to the planned attack as "one of the most serious terrorist threats to our nation since September 11th, 2001."
Not only did Afzali tip off the terrorists that they were being watched, he also lied to the FBI about having done so in two subsequent interrogations. Who knows what we missed because of the tip off?
Nonetheless, in a plea deal brokered by Justice, Afzali was sentenced to time served - four days in jail. He was given 90 days to leave the country voluntarily or be deported. On July 6, 2010, the very day Justice sued Arizona, he departed the U.S. a free man. He and his wife Fatima took off on a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight to Jeddah.
According to the AP, a caravan with the family and two casualty dressed customs agents traveled to JFK Airport where the agents accompanied Afzali and his wife to the gate and watched them board.
Forget my original suggestion, let's not boycott Scotland; let's boycott the U.S. Justice Department. They seem to be the big problem.
Marty Richman is a Hollister resident.
Marty Richman Got a question or a comment? Send us an email.
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