Reverberations

The indictment and dismissal of Professor Al-Arian was immediated seized as a vindication by many of his accusers, so much so that Tampa Tribune staff were miffed by O'Reilly's attempt to hog the credit. The situation had become so emotional that many observers could discern only two sides to the conflict: pro-Al-Arian versus anti-Al-Arian; any more subtle position (like ``we believe that the USF Board of Trustees should presume Al-Arian innocent until proven guilty') was lost in the verbal fire. Most of the punditry consisted of I-told-you-so's from Al-Arian's opponents, and one recipient of these declarations was UFF.

Nevertheless, interesting developments came to light. Al-Arian's political activities, particularly his support for the GOP (and vice versa) became a topic of much hand-wringing, while the precise nature of his official mosque and academy duties became the subject of background reports. Meanwhile, Al-Arian started a modified hunger strike: he drank only some breakfast drinks, a compromise between a protest against his arrest, and his diabetes.

• First, from the one positive response (of course): ``Please let me know how I can help you struggle against this terrible injustice.''
• ``One correspondent sent three unsigned missives, which included such lines as ``Your harboring of terrorists within your organization would possibly subject you to criminal prosecution.''
• Sept. 11 came up. One correspondent wrote, ``It's a shame that your organization wasn't meeting in the World Trade Towers on 9/11, where your misguided loyalties could have been appropriately rewarded.'' A ``witness to the fall of the First Tower 9/11'' sent three short e-mails saying, ``The fact that this foreigner has been indicted also indicts organizations such as yours that come to his aid. College professors, tin gods, legends in their own minds, obfuscating the truth to suit their bankrupt needs,'' and ``Flawed arguments are obfuscated by revisionist history to satisfy a left wing agenda. These self aggrandizing teachers lure fresh students to their ideology with the cunning stealth of a pedophile luring fresh prey. And you promote their cause, and the cause of those that hate America,'' and ``In view of the fact that this hateful individual has been indicted, your websites section on Due Process questioning what this foreign born enemy is accused of is dated.'' (The last line is about the Issues page on law and due process, which the correspondent notes, is obsolete. It became out-of-date with the publication of the second Letter of Termination on Aug. 21, 2002, and the webmaster ... hadn't gotten around to it yet.)
• Some correspondents didn't buy the freedom of expression or academic freedom arguments. ``The first amendment of the Constitution is the most abused and hidden behind argument in the world. Jefferson, Monroe, Adams, and their brethren did not forsee a time when foreign nationals would spend their lifetime working to destroy the very country that we have created.'' And: ``This is not about freedom of speech (on which there are limits) but about al Arian's fitness to teach. If breathing were not an autonomic reflex you all would have suffocated at birth.'' And: ``Perhaps you should chose your battles more carefully and wisely. Defending the `free speech' of terrorists (murderers) is a sticky moral ground. Those who protect the rights of such people are not to be taken seriously when a legitimate issue of free speech is raised.''
• We heard from USF alumni and students. ``I am not sending any more funds to usf and have removed my alumni sticker from my car.'' Another wrote: ``The United Faculty of Florida's stance on his termination by USF is an embarrassment to civilized society. The UFF should get their heads out of their respective asses and realize that Sami Al-Arian is nothing more than a bad seed that deserves nothing more than a 9x9 prison cell for the rest of his miserable, pathetic, and wretched life.'' And another: ``I am appalled by the ultra liberal views of your organization and your unwarranted support for Sami Al-Arian. What do you think of him now? I am well aware that a US citizen is considered innocent until proven guilty, but aren't your a tad bit afraid of having blindly supporting a potential Arab terrorist?'' A USF graduate student who says he hasn't learned a thing from graduate school here writes: ``I am embarrassed that Genshaft did not take the lead and actually fire YOUR beloved acused terrorist. I am embarassed that the media attention has been on the alleged infringement upon academic freedom and not on the remarks and actions of terrorist Sami Al-Arian and the hate crimes he has perpetrated against the Jews of the world. I am embarrassed at the liberal professors who claim to be open minded but are concerned with one thing....THEIR ACADEMIC FREEDOM. They are not concerned with seeing justice done! They are only concerned that THEIR ACADEMIC FREEDOM may be at risk. Oh boo hoo. Let me cry for you!''
• And from a fellow union member: ``You should take the UNION out of your name, you have soiled the name UNION. You are a organization that supports terrorists and this will come back to haunt you, the day this happens I will contact you to remind you it was your fault. In the meantime I will contact my UNION headquarters and the AFL-CIO too see what steps can be taken to notify all other outstanding unions of your position.''
• Some did not like pointy-headed professors. ``Academic Freedom is not to seek the violent overthough of the US Government. Academic Freedom is giving up your reserved, convenient parking space to a student who dares not speak out in your class.'' And: ``It's very scary to me that in a few short years, I will have to send my two boys to a University probably filled with the same pathetic left liberals that most Americans must endure sending their children to.'' And: ``But then this is not about passion for Al-Arian, it's about protecting jobs for worthless low life parasitic liberals. Worthless parasites that suck their living off the American taxpayer as you pump their liberal psycho-babble down on our next generation. Left-wing scum vermin'' from a correspondent whose letterhead contains the maxim ``Out of the graves of Marxism, rises the ugly head of Liberalism.'' And worse of all: ``Anyone can see Al-Arian is a terrorist, and your club decided to back him,'' followed by ``All you lefties out there just do us a favor and leave the country.'' UFF is not a ``club.''
• One was personally afraid: ``Terrorism's message works on me daily as I know the Islamic Terrorist movement hates these innocent members of my family for reasons I will never understand. My old age is being spent in fear for them.''
• One was personally angry. Al-Arian is a``... filthy Muslim terrorist pig who should be executed by our Government. We, as Americans, dream of Sami & his family blessed w. Cancer & AIDS. Oh yes we do!''
• Some thought that now is the time for UFF to eat crow. ``As outspoken as you have been in defense of this terrorist, I anxiously await your admission of error in this matter. Additionally, your plans to clean house at the University should make for interesting reading.'' Or maybe the time has not yet come: ``If there is a trial, we should all find out whether this is an innocent man punished because of his unpopular views. If so, your protestations against claimed violations free speech rights and academic freedom have been well founded. If however he is found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, or if he should plead guilty, your academic community has been harboring and supporting a terrorist.'' And: ``If former `Professor' Al Arian is found guilty, will this site give him the condemnation he deserves?''

• The Mar. 1 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asked *Is the professor a terrorist? in an editorial that looked at many anomalies in the case, concluding, ``If al-Arian broke no laws, then he probably is guilty of nothing more -- or less -- than gross insults and ingratitude to the country that has sheltered him for nearly 30 years.''
• The Mar. 1 St. Petersburg Times reported that Jailed Al-Arian taken to hospital after a physician ``physician saw symptoms that `caused him concern.''' Asked if the symptoms could be related to Al-Arian's on-going hunger strike, Hillsborough Chief Deputy David Gee said, ``It is possible that it's related to that.''
• The Mar. 1 Tampa Tribune reported that Al-Arian Taken To Hospital, Returns To Jail After 2 Hours.
• The Mar. 1 Tampa Tribune reported that WFLA Defends Al-Arian Stories As Objective. To complaints that WFLA gave the story too much coverage, WFLA News Director Forrest Carr said, ``America is about to go to war over issues related to terrorism. In the wake of 9/11, we can't imagine an issue more important to our country and our community. That is why we devoted so much time and attention to this case.'' To a complaint, ``Am I the only one who thinks the poor guy is being railroaded? I am a Christian, 4th generation Floridian and a Vietnam-era vet who is very concerned that the U.S. Justice Department is running roughshod over our civil liberties,'' Carr responded that, ``We closely attributed every allegation against Al-Arian to its source. We included in our reporting a wide range of viewpoints, including those sympathetic to Al- Arian.''
• The Mar. 2 St. Petersburg Times Washington Journal noted Suspected terrorist, White House guest? with more about Al-Arian's 2001 visit to the White House. Quoting California Rep. Henry Waxman: ``It appears that a suspected terrorist under investigation by the FBI was allowed access to the White House complex.''
• On Mar. 2 St. Petersburg Times columnist Robin Blumner wrote that Ashcroft line on Al-Arian doesn't fly. Ashcroft had said that before the PATRIOT Act, intelligence data was kept from the Justice Department, and so the evidence for the indictment had not been available to the FBI until then. Blumner counters with a precedent for using intelligence data prior to the PATRIOT act, and argues that it was FBI incompetence, not the legal situation, that prevented an earlier indictment. Note that there is a slight confusion between the FBI, which traditionally handles Western hemisphere intelligence, and the CIA, which traditionally handles the rest of the world.
• The Mar. 2 Sarasota Herald Tribune ran a background story on Feds write rules on laundering, describing the nuts and bolts of money laundering.
• On Mar. 3, Insight Online ran an article on Khan Says He Didn't Open Door to Al-Arian, said that Al-Arian was invited to the White House for events for which the guests were chosen by the American Muslim Council, described in the article as a ``radical Muslim group.''
• On Mar. 3, Newsweek ran a story on Hiding in Plain Sight: Did a Muslim professor use activism as a cloak for terror?, and went from Al-Arian's quote ``I think I personally played a big role in electing Bush,'' to Khaled Saffuri, chairman of the Islamic Institute, saying, ``If these charges are true, then he's betrayed me--and a whole lot of others in the Muslim community.''
• The Mar. 3 USF Oracle ran a story on Al-Arian's hunger strike: Taking a slow toll, describing the history of such hunger strikes: ``maybe the most comparable to Al-Arian's case was the world-famous 1981 hunger strike by members of the Irish Republic Army. Imprisoned as terrorists, the prisoners began to starve themselves, reportedly because they wanted to be considered political prisoners. The British government refused to concede, and by the end of the strike, ten people were dead from starvation.''
• The Mar. 3 University of Pennsylvania Daily Pensylvanian columnist David Copley wrote about A colleague who does not deserve support, wrote of the USF Chapter of UFF's statement that, ``defend his rights related to his job on campus, as we do for all faculty members'': Copley responds: ``Amazing! At a minimum, you'd think a group of our nation's leading academics would condemn the slaughter of innocent civilians. Or express concern that a professor had been using his position to obtain U.S. visas for Islamic Jihad members.''
• On Mar. 4, AP reported that *Three accused in terror activity were educated in North Carolina, reporting that in addition to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, charged with being the senior al Qaida operative who masterminded the Sept. 11 attacks, two other graduates of North Carolina A & T University were Al-Arian and Al-Najjar. Mohammed apparently got a degree in mechanical engineering, Al-Arian in computer engineering, and Al-Najjar in industrial management & engineering.
• The Mar. 4 Southern Illinois University (Edwardsville) Alestle columnist Jon R. Pike wrote that *Patriot Act is patriotic propaganda, which began with ``Back in the 1950s, the U.S. government would give information to various friendly organizations and so-called `journalists' to ignite the public against various suspect figures. The government would then prosecute such figures under such thankfully gone measures as the Smith Act, which effectively made dissent against the government a crime,'' and wrote, ``The message from the Bush administration to the academic community became clear on the day Al-Arian was arrested -- if you step out of line, what we did to him, we can do to you.''
• On Mar. 4, U.S. Attorney-General John Aschcroft appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and citing several recent cases, especially Al-Arian's, whose investigations had been facilitated by the U.S. PATRIOT Act, said, ``The indictment charges a total of eight defendants under RICO with operating a racketeering enterprise from 1984 until the present that engaged in a number of violent activities. In addition, the indictment charges conspiracy within the United States to kill and maim persons abroad, conspiracy to provide material support and resources to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, conspiracy to violate emergency economic sanctions, engaging in various acts of interstate extortion, perjury, obstruction of justice and immigration fraud. If convicted, the defendants face up to life in prison.''
• On Mar. 4, the New York University Washington Square News columnist Shankar Gupta wrote that Florida prof is no political prisoner, writing, ``Every step in this sordid tale has been greeted with a stink from al-Arian’s assorted supporters — and, up until his recent arrest, their objections to al-Arian’s treatment have been perfectly justified. Before last week, al-Arian’s detractors were attacking him solely for his controversial public statements and vague, unsubstantiated claims of terrorist involvement.'' But now, ``more concrete allegations have surfaced — concrete enough to warrant a federal indictment, in fact — questions of academic freedom and politics need to be put to rest. Al-Arian’s arrest and his subsequent dismissal were not motivated by politics.''
• On Mar. 4, New York Post columnist John Podhoretz wrote in Wile E. Democrats - Another `Gotcha' Ploy Fails that Al-Arian's arrest is a blow to Democrats in general and Bob Graham in particular.
• The Mar. 4 St. Petersburg Times ran a background piece on Al-Arian's criminal attorney, described as One lawyer, trying to slay giants: Nick Matassini has a long and personal history of fighting the federal government. Now he leads the Al-Arian defense, the case of a lifetime. The story predicts that the primary difficulty for Matassini's small law firm is the huge expenses anticipated.
• The Mar. 4 Tampa Tribune reported that FBI Agent Who Refused To Tape Al-Arian Is Suspended, reporting that agent Gamal Abdel-Hafiz refused to tape a telephone conversation with Al-Arian in 1998. The story reported that Abdel-Hafez refused to record another conversation, and prevented a third conversation from being recorded.
• The Mar. 4 Weekly Standard editorialized in Al-Arian Nation that although Al-Arian ``will have a full and fair trial,'' he already ``has made an abject fool out of every non-terrorist friend he has ever had.'' The Standard is amazed that this ``very, very bad man has somehow managed to retain a significant body of institutional support in the United States,'' and points to two groups: academic organizations (specifically UFF and the AAUP) and Muslim- and Arab-American organizations (specifically the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the American Muslim Political Coordination Council, the Arab American Institute, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee). The Standard concludes: ``Even from a jail cell, it seems, Sami Al-Arian's poison spreads.''

Back to the Contract

The Public Employees Relations Commission was petitioned twice last Fall to rule on whether USF had to recognize the union and the contract. Both times, PERC decided that the time was not yet ripe for a ruling. Now it is March, the time is past ripe, and PERC has a third petition to respond to. There are several parallel efforts:

• The union would like to declare that the union still represents faculty, and that the old contract must be followed by a successor contract.
• The union has offered to join USF in petitioning for an ``amended certification,'' which would delcare that the union still represents faculty, and that the old contract must be followed by a successor contract.
• If the Board of Trustees refuses to recognize the union, the union has collected enough faculty cards to compel USF to hold a certification election on whether the union represents faculty.

• The Mar. 5 USF Oracle reported that PERC reviewing certification for unions. The Oracle quoted UFF USF Chapter President Roy Weatherford saying, ``So far, management has even refused to talk about negotiations.'' The Oracle also paraphrased a statement by PERC General Counsel Steve Meck: ``Meck said the commission has moved along with the governance changes in Florida, but had to wait to see what role the BOG would take,'' and then quoted him: ``We knew they were going to take on a role since November, but we didn't know what role they were going to take on ... I really think this is about as fast as it could have been done.''

• On Mar. 5, Fox News showhost Bill O'Reilly had a *Follow-Up Interview With Former FBI Agent Gary Aldrich, Former FBI Assistant Director Bill Baker, about an FBI agent who allegedly refused to record conversations with several Muslims, including Al-Arian.
• On Mar. 5, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) Michigan Daily columnist Kashif Sheikh wrote of Desperate times and desperate measures, connecting the prosecution of Al-Arian with Bush's campaign to drum up support for his confrontation with Iraq.
• On Mar. 5, Salon.com columnist Joe Conason described how While Sami Al-Arian was under FBI investigation for ties to terrorist organizations, the GOP was courting him and his Muslim voting bloc for the 2000 election, and says that many Republican are laying the blame for the increasingly ballyhooed Al-Arian-Bush connection at the door of Americans for Tax Reform lobbyist Grover Norquist.
• The Mar. 6 Financial Times reported that *Looser laws catch bigger fish in hunt for terrorists: Thanks to the Patriot Act, the FBI has wider powers and al-Qaeda is paying the price. Viet Dinh, an Ashcroft aide identified as ``the chief author of the USA Patriot Act,'' said that without that act, terrorists ``would have been able to plan and carry out catastrophic attacks.'' The article listed the arrest of Al-Arian as one of the ``small victories'' that the Patriot Act made possible.
• On Mar. 6, Fox News show host Bill O'Reilly had a *Follow-up: Did a Muslim FBI Agent Refuse to Tape a Fellow Muslim Being Investigated?, where Attorney Dave Schippers said of FBI Agent Gamal Abdel Hafiz's allleged refusal to record a conversation with Al-Arian, ``you know it's what I call the Clinton mode.''
• The Mar. 6 Tampa Tribune reported that 4th Defendant In Al-Arian Case Brought To Tampa, saying that Ghassan Zayed Ballut had been transferred from Illinois to the Orient Road Jail. The paper also reported that Jail Commander Col. David M. Parrish said that Al-Arian was taking a nutritional drink in his fast, and that he was taking medication for his diabetes. Al-Arian's attorney said that Al-Arian has lost 15 pounds.
• On Mar. 7, AP reported that *Arrest of 9/11 mastermind brings unwelcome attention to A&T, city. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, suspected for masterminding the Sept. 11 attack on New York and Washington, is a North Carolina A&T University alumnus (graduated 1986). So is Al-Arian, who also graduated in 1986. Hmm, said observers, inspiring NCATU spokesperson Mabel Scott to respond: ``North Carolina A&T has graduated over 40,000 alumni who are all over the world making significant contributions ... It's our mission to provide the best academic education possible, and we hope and pray our graduates do the best thing when they leave the university.''
• The Mar. 7 USF Oracle reported that Al-Arian taking nutrition drink, but hunger strike continues: every morning, Al-Arian has a (apparently chocolate-flavored!) breakfast drink with his medication. Orient Road Jail commander David Parrish said that he is making plans for intervening if Al-Arian's condition becomes critical.
• The Mar. 7 St. Petersburg Times ran an interview: Q&A: University of South Florida police Sgt. Mike Klingebiel. The Times said that ``unlike other cities, there is little violent crime in Klingebiel's patrol area. Instead, he and other USF officers must cope with political protests, stolen goods and drunken college students.'' Asked ``Do you think there are terrorists at USF?'' he responded ``That I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know.'' Asked ``What do you worry about more as a USF officer -- the prospect of terrorists or the reality of fraternities on campus?'' Klingebiel spent five sentences not answering.
• On Mar. 7, the Times Higher Education Supplement reported that *Us Split Over Axed Suspect, quoting AAUP associate secretary Jonathan Knight saying, ``They sentence the person, and then later have some hearing on the matter,'' but also reporting that ``[t]he university's decision was popular on campus,'' quoting Student Government President Mike Griffin saying, ``From day one, I've said we were safer without him.''
• On Mar. 8, the Tampa Tribune explored Al-Arian's hunger strike in Expert Says Al-Arian Likely Won't Starve. According to the report, when Al-Arian first arrived at the Orient Road Jail, he refused all solids and liquids. But he is diabetic, and is supposed to take medication --- and food with the medication. So by now he has Carnation Instant Breakfast three times a day.
• On Mar. 9, the St. Petersburg Times reported that Friends support arrested Muslim: Those who know Hatem Fariz of Spring Hill say he's no terrorist. The Justice Department says otherwise. Fariz is one of Al-Arian's co-defendents.
• On Mar. 9, the Bergen County (New Jersey) Record carried a column by Assistant U.S. Attorney General for Legal Policy Viet D. Dinh on *Taking liberties; Why America needs the Patriot Act, presenting the Al-Arian case as an example of the utility of the act, and reassuring readers about the range of the act.

• The Mar. 11 Federal News Service ran testimony by *Ms. Alice Fisher, deputy assistant attorney general of the Criminal Division at the Justice Department, who was describing surveillance of Al-Qaida when she briefly detoured into Al-Arian, and said that ``Al- Arian attempted to hide his support for PIJ after the group was designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997, but court approved electronic surveillance of his office revealed his continued active support for PIJ long after the designation.''
• The Mar. 11 St. Petersburg Times also described: Friends in high places: Sami Al-Arian isn't the only prominent Muslim leader who posed for chummy pictures with President Bush. Many conservative Republicans are uneasy at the way GOP power broker Grover Norquist curries support from the Muslim community. Former White House speechwriter David Frum wrote, ``That outreach campaign opened relationships between the Bush campaign and some very disturbing persons in the Muslim-American community. Many of those disturbing persons were invited to stand beside the president at post-9/11 events.'' Conservative columnist Frank Gaffney is unhappy with Americans for Tax Reform chairman Grover Norquist's efforts to build bridges between the GOP and American Muslims. American Conservative Union President David Keene reportedly joined Gaffney in accusing Norquist of using ``Stalinist tactics,'' and Keene reportedly wrote, ``The problem is that moderate Muslims control few organizations and have virtually no voice.'' Norquist is described as a co-founder of the Islamic Institute, whose chairman said Gaffney is ``bitter for his lack of access to some important 'political circles,' particularly the White House.''
• The Mar. 11 White House Bulletin reported that *Neo-Cons 'Chilling' U.S. Muslims' Relationship With White House. The lead is: ``Terrorism charges against a Muslim professor who visited the White House and a spat between conservatives over Islamic values have strained President Bush's relationship with Muslims.'' But despite the concern over ``Islamic values,'' the Bulletin reported that Muslims supported Bush not only because of his campaign promise to end the use of secret evidence, but also his stance against abortion and same-sex marriage. Sarah Eltantawi of the Muslim Public Affairs Council said: ``The president is going to have a lot of trouble with the Muslim community in the next election because a cabal of neo-conservatives is consistently working to undermine the president's message.''
• The small Temple Terrace biweekly, the Temple Terrace Beacon, reported in its Mar. 12 - 25 edition that ``Al-Arian drinking breakfast snacks with medication,'' and reported that Al-Arian has vowed to continue his hunger strike through his trial.

• The Mar. 12 Jerusalem Post ran a column by Richard Pipes on *FBI fumbles: A tale of mystery, reporting the various different versions of why FBI agent Abdel-Hafiz allegedly refused to record conversations with Muslims, including Al-Arian.
• The Mar. 12 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor Michigan Daily reported that Al-Arian speaks out on father's arrest. Laila Al-Arian spoke at the First Annual Banquet for a Free Palestine after an interview with the Daily, where she said, ``I'm extremely proud of all of the work my father's done. I honestly don't think that he committed anything or that he did anything illegal.'' The Daily also reported in Finkelstein: War looming between Israel, Palestinians that at the banquet, Al-Arian said: ``All my father has ever done is to educate people about these issues.''
• The Mar. 13 Tampa Tribune reported that Al-Arian's Attorney Seeks Prosecution Files, as part of the ``discovery'' process, as part of his effort to make the case for bail.
• On Mar. 16, AP posted two items. One was a background piece on Al-Arian: Terrorist or victim of anti-Muslim bias? (published in the Herald-Tribune as ``Supporters say Al-Arian's being treated unjustly''). Council on American-Islamic Relations spokesman Ahmed Bedier said, ``We're not saying he's innocent or guilty, but we question the timing of the arrests ... It seems like everyone is coming at the Muslim community in America, looking for links to terrorism.'' AP also reported that John Loftus, who was described as ``a former U.S. Justice Department attorney who sued Al-Arian last year as a private citizen,'' said, ``The people that are supporting Sami really don't care what the evidence is ... because everything is justified by the cause.'' AP also posted a *Timeline of events in the investigation into Sami Al-Arian.
• The Mar. 16 New York Post editorialized on *Useful Idiots Redux, which observed, among other connections, that ``Not In Our Name, the major antiwar organizer, relies for its fund raising on the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) - which, in turn, sponsors the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom,'' whose president was Al-Arian.
• The Mar. 16 St. Petersburg Times ran a background story on how Local ties to Islamic school are intricate: Four members of the board of the Islamic Academy of Florida are from Hernando County. Al-Arian founded the Islamic Academy of Florida, and the Department of Justice claims that it was used by Al-Arian for services to the PIJ. Four Hernando County residents are on the Academy board, including Dr. Ayman Osman, whose office manager, Hatem Fariz, was arrested with Al-Arian. Also arrested was the Academy's treasurer, Sameeh Hammoudeh. Chairman of the Anti-Hate Committee for the Greater Florida B'nai B'rith Norman Gross said, ``Where does the money go? There doesn't seem to be any real accountability.''
• On Mar. 16, Sarasota Herald-Tribune columnist John Hammer wrote about Making Ex Post Facto Law: Rules bent to trip Al-Arian, saying of one of the laws used to charge Al-Arian: ``From our national infancy we have insisted that you can't arrest somebody for violating a law that hadn't been passed when he did it. It has a fancy Latin title, and it's right there in Section 9 of Article I of the original Constitution, adopted even before the Bill of Rights was brought up.''
• The Mar. 19 National Review ran a column by Joel Mowbray on how No Mea Culpas: The pre-arrest al-Arian defense team in the media has fallen silent, sharply criticizing columnists Nicholas Kristof and Eric Boelhert, and noting that ``Now that al-Arian is facing multiple felony counts — based on solid evidence including documents and wiretaps — his defenders are no longer singing from the same hymnal.''