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Friday, March 8, 2013

Decision To Try Bin Laden Relative In U.S. Criticized

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, left, is seen with Osama bin Laden in a video image released by Al Jazeera in 2001.

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, left, is seen with Osama bin Laden in a video image released by Al Jazeera in 2001.

Authorities say a senior al-Qaida leader and son-in-law of Osama bin Laden who was recently captured overseas spoke at length to U.S. officials.

U.S. prosecutor John P. Cronan said Friday in federal court in New York that Sulaiman Abu Ghaith made an “extensive post-arrest statement” that totaled 22 pages. Cronan gave no details about what Abu Ghaith said.

Abu Ghaith pleaded not guilty during the 15-minute proceeding to one count of conspiracy to kill Americans. Defense attorney Philip Weinstein says attorneys met with their client “several times before this proceeding.”

Bail was not requested at the hearing and none was set. The judge says he will set a trial date at the next conference in the case, which is scheduled for April 8. Prosecutors say a trial is expected to last about three weeks.

Guest:

  • Greg Miller, covers national security for The Washington Post.

We welcome comments from all of our listeners. Post below. Please stay on topic and be civil. Comments may be moderated by us, but you are solely responsible for the content of your comments.

  • Nicholas

    This is all part of the show of the “war on terrorism”.
    The Obama Regime is desperate for new enemies to round up and prosecute.
    This is all like a soap opera to these fanatics in Washington.
    Look to the person’s past and you have a script for the future.
    What is next? Round up the hundreds of others in the bin Laden family and run them through the court system in New York City.
    Sounds like all the lawyers in NYC need a job doing something.
    And when the government runs out of “foreign terrorists” to locate and convict, they can turn on those millions of American who Obummer and Holder find to be a threat to U.S. national security. Welcome to the Police States of America.

    “Enemies are necessary for the wheels of the U.S. military machine to turn.”– John Stockwell, former CIA official and author
     

    “There is no war on crime. There is no war on drugs, no war on terrorism. There is only the ongoing effort by the federal government to collect as much information on as many people as possible.”   — Jim Redden, author of Snitch Culture: How Citizens Are Turned Into the Eyes and Ears of the State 

    Plenty of money for this fake war, but little for the American people.
    You got the government you deserve.

  • Teh

    This is true, the show will go on with the clowns in Washington to find ways to keep the American people frightened, dazed, confused, sedated and plain ignorant of the facts.
    Its the role of the mainstream media to sell the Administration line on terrorism.
    Sorry, but I don’t buy it as do many of my friends.
    So, am I a terrorist sympathizer?
    I guess I will find out when my residence a subject of a drone strike.

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