Feeble law hurts war on terror

Human Events, May 6, 2002 by Jeffrey, Terence P

The feeble anti-terrorism law Congress passed last fall is hurting the United States on the most important front in the war against terrorism-the one that runs through every town in America.

Federal District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin revealed the weak point in an opinion last week.

The Clinton-appointed Scheindlin is a liberal. Her most noted ruling before now held that the 1st Amendment required the Army to sell pornography. Ironically, in the present case, she could have protected U.S. security interests with a little judicial activism. Instead, she gave the law a strict-and correct-- construction. As a result, a bin-Laden-photo-- collecting, box-cutter-owning, 21-year-old Jordanian who gave "confused" grand jury testimony about his association with September 11 terrorists was first freed from custody and then from an indictment.

The story starts in the parking lot of Dulles International Airport.

Not long after terrorists Nawaf AI-Hazmi and Khalid Al-Mihdhar helped fly United Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon, federal agents searched the car Al-Hazmi left at Dulles. They discovered a paper marked with the name "Osama" and a seven-digit number.

It was the old San Diego-area phone number of Osama Awadallah, a Jordanian with a U.S. immigration visa whose father and brothers had also immigrated to the U.S.

On September 20, eight agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation confronted Awadallah outside his apartment. He signed consent forms (while confused and intimidated, he later said) allowing them to search his apartment and cars. He also agreed to an interview.

In the interview, he identified hijacker Al-Hazmi from a photograph. He said he had seen him many times in various innocent circumstances. He also said Al-Hazmi was often accompanied by another man whose name he could not recall.

The agents asked him to take a polygraph. He agreed, and it was done the next day.

An FBI agent asked him: "Did you know beforehand of any specific plans to destroy any of those U.S. targets, on 9/11/2001?" Awadallah answered: "No." The agent asked him: "Did you participate in any way in any of those attacks against U.S. targets, on 9/11/2001?" Awadallah answered: "No.

"When the lie detector tests ended," Judge Scheindlin wrote in a preliminary ruling, "the FBI agents accused Awadallah of lying although the record does not indicate any basis for this accusation." Awadallah has insisted he told the truth, and has condemned the 9/11 attacks.

Following the polygraph, an assistant U.S. attorney instructed the FBI to arrest Awadallah as a material witness in the terrorism investigation being conducted by a grand jury in New York. A federal judge issued a warrant for the arrest.

A perjury indictment later filed by then-U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, a Clinton Administration holdover, said a search of Awadallah's car "uncovered videotapes entitled `Martyrs of Bosnia,"Bosnia 1993'...

The search of his apartment, said the indictment, "yielded computer-generated photographs of Usama bin Laden."

FBI agents said they found a "box cutter" in Awadallah's car. Judge Scheindlin described it as "a push-up razor" that Awadallah said he "had used `to cut the carpet he recently installed in his apartment.'"

In ordering Awadallah's detention, a federal magistrate ruled: "The material witness is not charged with committing any crime. There is, however, probable cause to believe he possesses material information in connection with a crime of horrific violence, the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon.... [T]his factor weighs in favor of detention."

Awadallah testified in the grand jury on October 10 and 15. He was charged with two counts of perjury for his testimony there: for claiming he did not know Khalid Al-Mihdhar, or anyone named Khalid; and for claiming he did not write Khalid's name in a bluebook submitted to his English teacher.

Here's part of the testimony: Q: "Do you recognize the name Khalid Al-Mihdhar?" A: "No. . .." Q: "And you testified earlier that you did not know anyone named Khalid, correct?" A: "Yes."

Here's another part of the testimony: Q: "When did you prepare this examination booklet?" A: "... Like a month ago. Q: "And you testified earlier that you did not know anyone named Khalid, correct?" A: "Yes." Q: "I am looking at the next-to-last page of the document.... [I]t says . . . `One of the quietest people I have met is Nawaf. Another one, his name is Khalid. They have stayed in San Diego six months. . . .' Did I read that correctly?" A: "This handwriting is not my handwriting. All of them is my handwriting except `his name Khalid.' I wouldn't write 'Khalid', like that ... Hold on. Wait a minute. No `Nawaf,' no, it is not my handwriting."

Before Awadallah's second day of testimony, an assistant U.S. attorney told his lawyer the government believed "Awadallah had lied to the grand jury."

According to Judge Scheindlin, Awadallah then amended his testimony, but did not concede he had spoken falsely. "Awadallah," she wrote, "contends that he was 'confused' or he 'forgot' or that the photocopy of the examination booklet was not clear, but has not admitted that his testimony was `false.'"