The FBI has reached out to muslim clerics and is turning them into informants in its war against terror.

In response to the Sept. 11 attacks, the F.B.I. and other counterterrorism authorities have pursued a campaign to recruit Muslims like Mr. Konaté as informers. As part of this effort in New York, the agency recently created a "citizen academy," where more than two dozen Muslim clerics and business leaders completed a course of eight evening sessions in January. Although they are not considered full-fledged informers, they have helped the F.B.I. chase down terrorist suspects by posting their pictures in mosques.

Not all of the clerics are eager to participate.

Concerned about implicating innocent people and perhaps alienating the faithful who look to them for counsel, some Muslim clerics say they are also put off by an awareness of the F.B.I.'s history, especially its surveillance of black leaders during the civil rights era. Their mistrust has only deepened since the government made accusations against mosques in the New York City area — notably Al Farooq in Brooklyn, which was said in a federal affidavit last month to have funneled money to Al Qaeda.

There's also a chilling effect on the mosque members.

Already, some mosques in the area say they are noticing a drop in attendance, and some worshipers who still go say they no longer feel at liberty to engage in discussions for fear they are being spied on.

As one iman quoted in the article said, his advice for other imans is, "Be very careful"--about trusting the F.B.I.

The New York Times has an article Sunday, replete with examples, of how the 1996 law making it a crime to provide material support to terrorist groups has become the J ustice Department's new darling in the nursery--its "statute of choice."

In several dozen cases both high profile and little noticed, the law has become the Justice Department's main weapon in pursuing people it contends are linked to terrorists. Part of the appeal for prosecutors is that they do not have to prove that the defendants actually supported terrorist attacks, only that they helped a group tied to terrorism. Civil libertarians and defense lawyers, however, are increasing their criticism of the law and the department's aggressive use of it, saying the prosecutions smack of a McCarthylike notion of guilt by association. Critics say the law is so overly broad that people with no intention of helping terrorists are being prosecuted. Moreover, they accuse authorities of using strong-arm tactics to force pleas.

A Judge on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has held parts of the law are unconstitutionally broad. It is an issue that likely will reach the Supreme Court.

David Cole, a Georgetown law professor who represents a group challenging the law, argued in a brief in the appeal that the law made it a crime for a Quaker to send a book by Gandhi to a terrorist to persuade him to forgo violence, or for a person to write an op-ed article advocating on behalf of a "banned" group. "This smacks of the cold war era and Communist lists," Mr. Cole said in an interview. "And there's been an extremely broad chilling effect."

The law has been used to obtain convictions against the Buffalo Six and in a North Carolina case. Charges of violating the law are pending against the six defendants in the Portland, Oregon case, attorney Lynne Stewart in New York, and a professor in Tampa, and several others. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer told a group of international lawyers the other day that the Court is preparing to hear terrorism cases that will require it to decide whether the Government has gone too far in its war against terror. While the first cases likely will involve the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, closed immigration hearings and the tracking of foreigners, cases involving the material support statute may be next.

We know that terrorism is a problem. We also know we live in a country that wants to protect basic civil liberties," Breyer told the American Society of International Law in Washington. He said courts, including his own, "are fully aware of mistakes that have been made in American history." Among those, he cited the holding of 100,000 Japanese Americans in camps during World War II -- which the Supreme Court upheld in 1944 -- and the punishment of critics of World War I.

We hope the High Court lives up to its responsibility when the time comes to judge these new cases. Articles like these also remind us of how important it is that the Democrats not allow Bush to pack the federal courts with ultra-conservative ideologues and judicial activists.

We want to extend a warm welcome to our international readers. In recent weeks, there has been an increasing number of comments posted on TalkLeft by readers who are from other countries and for whom English is either a second language or one they are struggling to learn.

Writing in a language other than one's own is hard. Some of these commenters have expressed concern that we will think they are dumb because they do not write in fluent English and make spelling and grammar errors.

We appreciate these readers and their comments. We are flattered that they take the time to express their thoughts here. We would ask our U.S. readers (still about 80% of you) not to chide them for their poor grammar or spelling. If you disagree with their ideas, by all means say so, but please don't discourage them from reading or posting comments. Diversity is great.

We have followed the investigation into the death of JonBenet Ramsey since her murder on December 26, 1996. We've provided continuous legal analysis on the case for the cable tv news networks and maintained our own webpages on the case-- JonBenet Ramsey: The Media Unlynch Mob Page and Cases in the News. We have taken the position that the police rushed to judgment in the case and that there is no evidence the Ramseys were involved in JonBenet's death. And that the Boulder police botched the crime scene and were blinded by their belief the Ramseys were guilty, resulting in their failure to look at other possible suspects, which in turn has allowed the real killer to remain free among us, possibly to kill again.

The politics involved in the case have been enormous. It thus gives us great pleasure to report on a 93 page decision by a federal judge in Atlanta this week dismissing a defamation suit against the Ramseys, in which she ruled there was no evidence to suggest the Ramseys killed their daughter and abundant evidence JonBenet was killed by an intruder.

The Judge also sharply criticised the media campaign engaged in by the police and FBI to blame the Ramseys.

Finally, the Judge censured former Boulder Detective Steven Thomas, author of a book theorizing that Patsy Ramsey killed JonBenet and Darnay Hoffman who represented the plaintiff in the case before her. She also praised the efforts of retired homicide detective Lou Smit.

The investigation into the murder of JonBenet Ramsey may be the epitome of "The Politics of Crime." For this reason, we are writing three more detailed posts about the case tonight, immediately following this one.

Our congratulations to the Ramseys and their dedicated attorney, Atlanta libel expert Lin Wood. This has been a long time coming. No one has been as vilified in the court of public opinion as John and Patsy Ramsey. They lost a daughter to a cruel and brutal murderer. They did not deserve to be tried and convicted in the absence of charges and evidence by the media, police and the public.

As we so often say, trials should be conducted in courtrooms, not living rooms.

An Atlanta federal judge has dismissed a civil lawuit against the parents of JonBenet Ramsey. In the 93 page opinion, the Judge "criticized police and the FBI for what she said was a media campaign aimed at making the family look guilty."

U.S. District Court Judge Julie Carnes in Atlanta said in the ruling this week there was no evidence showing the parents killed JonBenet and abundant evidence that an intruder killed the child.

You can read the 93 page opinion here. The Ramseys were represented in the case by Atlanta attorney and libel expert Lin Wood:

"I just find it, from A to Z, a total, unequivocal victory for John and Patsy Ramsey," Wood said. "The court has done what I've urged the public to do from day one. Look at the evidence. ... If you look at the evidence, you will reach the same conclusion Judge Carnes reached. This is a family that has been horribly and wrongfully accused of the murder of their child." Wood said that since Boulder County District Attorney Mary W. Keenan took office, she has rejuvenated the investigation into JonBenét's murder. Characterizing Keenan's investigation as "very active," Wood said investigators "are doing things in that case that have never been done before," including testing foreign, male DNA that was found in JonBenét's underwear.

The Plaintiff, Chris Wolf, who had sued the Ramseys for defamation, was represented by New York Lawyer Darnay Hoffman, who has been on a crusade to charge and convict the Ramseys for years, at one point even threatening to move to Boulder and run for District Attorney.

In her 93 page opinion, Atlanta federal Judge Julie Carnes found abundant largely uncontested evidence that an intruder killed JonBenet Ramsey, including:

• At least seven windows and a door in the Ramsey home were found open or unlocked after JonBenét disappeared. The alarm was off and windows were accessible from the ground level, including three that opened into the basement.

• Evidence suggested that an intruder climbed through a basement window and walked through the room where JonBenét was found.

• JonBenét's body was bound with complicated rope slipknots and a garrote that the order described as "sophisticated bondage devices" by someone "with an expertise in bondage." No evidence suggests the Ramseys knew how to tie such knots.

• Black duct tape found on JonBenét's mouth was never found in the Ramsey home, although evidence suggested "it came from a roll of tape that had been used before."

• Nothing in the Ramsey home matched dark animal hairs found on the duct tape and JonBenét's hands.

In dismissing a defamation suit against the parents of JonBenet Ramsey, Atlanta Federal Judge Julie Carnes praised the efforts and experience of investigator Lou Smit while expressing sharp criticism for the work and experience of Boulder police detective Steve Thomas.

Carnes reserved special criticism for Thomas, the former Boulder detective upon whose theories the Wolf complaint was based. "Whereas Detective Smit's summary testimony concerning the investigation is based on evidence, Detective Thomas' theories appear to lack substantial evidentiary support," she wrote. "Indeed, while Detective Smit is an experienced and respected homicide detective, Detective Thomas had no investigative experience concerning homicide cases prior to this case. In short, the plaintiff's evidence that the [Ramseys] killed their daughter and covered up their crime is based on little more than the fact that defendants were present in the house during the murder," Carnes wrote.

Thomas wrote a book claiming the Ramseys were guilty, was sued for libel and settled the case for an undisclosed sum. Lou Smit, hired as a special investigator in the case, resigned because the police investigation was so biased against the Ramseys.

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We are impressed. Sen. Gary Hart is not only posting on his weblog, he's answering questions posed by readers and soliciting opinions and ideas.

Hart has not decided yet whether he will run for President, but comments like these show he's still giving the idea serious consideration:

The Democratic party has not offered a great idea for more than a quarter century and we risk permanent minority status because of it.

Run, Gary, Run.

It's been a while since we've talked about the "Sniper" case. It's in the news because of leaks about juvenile suspect's John Lee Malvo's supposed confession. The defense has filed a motion to suppress Malvo's statements arguing his rights were violated.

Someone with access to the tapes of Malvo's statements read portions of a summary of the tapes to the New York Times. In an article yesterday, the Timees says the tapes show possible flaws in the statements. Police are worried. They should be. But that doesn't justify leaking the statements to the public in an obvious attempt to prejudice the jury pool.

An investigator involved in the case said today that the sniper task force did not object to the leak because there was a strong likelihood that the statements would will be suppressed anyway. "This way at least the public will know what he said," the investigator said.

In our opinion, this is egregious police misconduct and we hope the Court holds a hearing and imposes some heavy sanctions on the party responsible for the leak. Aside from the general impropriety of leaking a suspect's statements, the Court imposed a gag order on the police back in December that prevents them from "disclosing the existence or contents of any confessions, any discussion about the reputation or criminal history of the suspects or of any prospective witnesses, and any opinions regarding evidence in the case." We wrote at length about the need to gag the police in the case here. In addition to the potential violation of Malvo's rights, there are other problems with the statements:

But the summary of the statements does not provide explicit indication of a confession. Instead, it suggests vague answers to questions that some defense lawyers for Mr. Malvo have speculated were designed to frustrate the task force or to protect Mr. Muhammad.

You can access all of our sniper case coverage here.

On April 1, Attorney General John Ashcroft testified before the Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee in connection with the submission of Bush's propsed budget for the Department of Justice. You can read his testimony here. At times, he deviates from his prepared script.

Ascroft discusses many DOJ projects, listing successes.

Now, I would like to give you a brief overview of the results to date of our integrated prevention strategy to fight the war on terrorism:

First, we are gathering and cultivating detailed intelligence on terrorism in the U.S

Hundreds of suspected terrorists have been identified and tracked troughout the United States

Our human sources of intelligence have doubled

Our counter-terrorism investigations have doubled in one year

Over 18,000 subpoenas and search warrants have been issued;

Over 1,000 applications in 2002 were made to the FISA court targeting terrorists, spies and foreign powers that threaten our security, including 170 emergency FISAs. This is more than 3 times the total number of emergency FISAs obtained in the 23 years prior to September 11th.

Ashcroft also provides details of DOJ's Iraqi Task Force:

Media Horse is back from vacation.

David Neiwert at Orcinus covers increasing threats to anti-war protesters.

Dr. Helen Smith's documentary, Sixes, 6ixes, sixes , on a famous Tennessee case involving juvenile murderers is out with a good review. Dr. Smith is married to Instapundit. At least someone is looking at why these crimes occur instead of just calling for more punishment.

Alternet has an article about Justice in Tulia. [link via Cursor]

Eric Alterman has a new Nation column on Jews and dual-loyalties.

Arthur at Light of Reason on the increased lifting of restrictions on police surveillance.

Atrios is incensed by the news that an Army Chaplain is offering baths to soldiers if they will agree to be baptised. Calpundit is mad about it too, as is Matt Yglesias. Add us to the list.

Sean-Paul Kelley of The Agonist isn't blogging today because...he's getting married. But he promises to be back with his minute by minute war news tomorrow. Jay is filling in for him today. Talk about blogger dedication!

The bodies of eight persons recovered in the raid that rescued Private Jessica Lynch have been identified. Seven of the eight were from Lynch's 507th Maintenance Company, based at Fort Bliss, Texas. The other soldier was with the 3rd Division Support Battalion, based at Fort Stewart, Georgia.

A ninth body had not been identified as of the posting time of the article.

Update: CNN television just reported that Private Lynch's dog tags have been recovered in a private residence behind the hospital. Ammunition and weapons were also found in the house. CNN says the emerging theory is that Lynch was taken there before being put in the hospital. The reporter showed the dogtags on the air. Investigation ongoing.