Here in Washington, Congress seemed extremely normal today. We got to the Longworth building at 8:30 am. There were metal detectors at the building's entrances, but no lines, no dogs, no national guard, just local cops and guards, and not too many of them. Maybe 2 or 3 per entrance. It took under 30 seconds to go through security. No hand searches of briefcases, no removing shoes, belts or being hand-scanned by the "wand." The detectors don't seem to be set as high as they are in federal courthouses or jails. We walked in and out several times over the morning and neither us nor anyone else set off a detector.

What a contrast to our visit during the Clinton Impeachment trial. Now that was some high security. You couldn't go up or down an elevator without a special pass. Think about that, the elevators were guarded. At one point, the trial was stopped with no reason given and the cops/guards abruptly evacuated the chamber--we thought it was for a closed-door discussion, but when we got out in the hall, the buzz was that a "package" had been found. Most likely untrue, but you couldn't even leave to go the bathroom and come back without losing your seat and going to the back of the line and starting again. And this was the special line--not the public line-- as we had passes from the White House Counsel's office. Today was entirely different, You would never know there was anything critical taking place in the world.

This morning, once inside, we spent 45 minutes in a meeting with other defense lawyers who. like us, had flown in to lobby on the Innocence Protection Act. Our "group" included Larry Goldman, the President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Past NACDL President Jerry Lefcourt (you may remember him as Abbie Hoffman's lawyer in the Chicago 8 trial), us (we're Secretary of the Organization), Kyle O'Dowd, NACDL's Legislative Director, two members of the Board of Directors and one past member of the Board. Also at the meeting was Peter Loge, Executive Director of the Justice Project.

The atmosphere in the large Longworth cafeteria was very relaxed and lively--no hint of tension in the air. No tvs that we were aware of and the only people glued to their cell phones were some of the lawyers at our table. (Not us.)

We didn't see any extra cops or security inside the buildings. In fact, at one point we needed to ask directions to get from Longworth to someplace in Cannon and we asked a guy walking by in the hall. He spent over 2 minutes telling us how to get there, like it was a very important question and he had plenty of time. He turned out to be a Congressman.

Medical Marijuana Patients won a partial victory in the Maryland House today.

The Marijuana Policy Project also reports that on March 12, a bill passed the State Senate in Oklahoma which would impose a $500 fine rather than jail time for up to 17 ounces of marijuana, repeal some mandatory minimum sentences, and authorize community service and treatment instead of jail for some offenders. It is now pending in a House committee.

Denver International Airport Remains Closed

Denver International Airport (DEN) was officially closed at 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 19, 2003, and remains closed at this time. Weather conditions are evolving. Airport personnel, concessionaires, airline personnel and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) are working together to ensure the safety of all stranded passengers and to provide adequate customer comfort.

Due to a tear in the outer layer of the tent roof, all passengers have been relocated from the center of the Terminal, or what is commonly referred to as the Great Hall, into the outer edges of the Terminal. Because of potential safety issues with the tear in the outer layer of the tent roof, all concessions in the Terminal have been closed. Passengers needing concessions and food may go to Concourse B where several concessions have reopened.
The TSA has worked diligently to process security checks with minimum personnel to allow passenger access to Concourse B where concessions are open. The TSA has rapidly responded to changing needs and is working with airport officials to provide customer service.

DEN would like to thank all stranded passengers who have remained calm and very understanding during this major spring storm which has essentially shut down the entire city.

I'll be at Congress today with a group of criminal defense lawyers, visiting individual Congresspersons at their various offices. We start at the Longworth Office Building where we will meet and break into groups of two, go off to our meetings, trying to convince certain Republican members of the House to support the Innocence Protection Act.

I'll be back later to let you know what it was like being in the House office buildings the day war is supposed to break out. In fact, if the blizzard doesn't stop raging in Denver so that planes can fly in, I may be blogging all night from the airport. I hope not. I'm beginning to understand what a stateless person feels like -- Washington is about the last place I want to be today but I can't go home and have no place else to go.

Legal experts say that the terrorism trial now in the jury selection stage in Detroit could have a major impact on the Government's credibility . The defendants were arrested on September 17, 2001, following a raid on an apartment in which the Government was looking for a former cabdriver who was on the FBI's terrorism watch list. They didn't find the cabdriver, but they arrested three other men present, all of whom said they didn't know the cabdriver.

Since then, one potential witness has apparently committed suicide by jumping off an overpass; a potential defendant has become the government's key witness; and the original target of the raid may testify at trial but faces no terrorism charges of his own.

Jury selection has been closed to the public, at the request of the defense. These Dearborn, MI detainees are the first to face a federal terrorism trial, post-9/11.

Prosecutors have called the defendants a "combat operational sleeper cell" and allege they were conspiring to blow up U.S. targets both overseas and in the United States. One key piece of evidence is a videotape of Disneyland and a Las Vegas hotel that authorities describe as the result of scouting efforts in preparation for attacks.

Defense attorneys have indicated in court filings and courtroom statements that they believe the government's key witnesses are unreliable, and they say that much of the rest of the evidence presented by the government is circumstantial at best. Three of the defendants say they were simply caught in the wrong place -- the Dearborn apartment -- at the wrong time, just six days after Sept. 11.

Attorney General John D. Ashcroft and other top officials have repeatedly cited it as an example of their war on terrorism.

"This case is going to be very closely watched both locally and nationally," said David Moran, a law professor at Wayne State University. "If the government is not able to convince a jury that these men were an actual terror cell, that will have real impact. . . . If it can't actually produce the goods here, the government's credibility will be hurt nationwide."

It looks to us like we're getting one step closer to detention camps. The FBI is about to start rounding up 10,000 American Iraqis for for interrogation:

The FBI is beginning a sweeping wave of 10,000 interrogations of Iraqi nationals in the U.S. to prevent a terrorist attack as war looms on the horizon.

In a sweeping wave of interrogations beginning with the start of war, the bureau will visit over 10,000 Iraqi nationals living in the U.S. including "students," "defectors," "permanent residents," "visitors" and even a few recently-naturalized U.S. citizens.

The bureau is also seeking to expel several more Iraqi diplomats like the two suspected intelligence agents who were kicked out of Baghdad's U.N. delegation in New York arlier this month. Officials will detain all immigrants from 34 suspect countries seeking asylum.

What will they do with the ones that don't answer questions to their satisfaction? We'll take an educated guess and say they're headed to Guantanamo.

From GaryHartNews.com:

As Gary Hart moves closer to a decision, supporters continue to spread the news of his appearances and potential candidacy. Some of these supporters have initiated meetings across the country through an online site called Meetup.com.

Meetup.com is an online venue where Hart supporters can connect and initiate meetings in over 450 cities across the country. Meetup.com is not officially affiliated with Gary Hart, but it is a great way to learn about his ideas and to discuss them with others. Sign-up is easy and free. As a Meetup.com member, you can participate in monthly meetings (including planning if you so choose), you can communicate with other supporters and you can find out how to best utilize the web as a way to build interest.

The first national Gary Hart Meetup.com day is April 3. To participate, log into:

http://garyhart.meetup.com/ Please let your friends know as well!

Also of note: TV appearances in the next two days -

March 19, 2003: CNN - American Morning with Paula Zahn, 8:00 AM EST

March 20, 2003: PBS - The Charlie Rose Show (check local listings for
channel and time.)

Looks like the feds case against Moussaoui is falling apart even further. CBS reports that captured Khalid Mohammed backs up Moussaoui's innocence with respect to Sept. 11 and says he's a small fry.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the al Qaeda leader captured earlier this month in Pakistan, has told U.S. intelligence officials that Moussaoui was not involved in the Sept. 11 hijacking plot. This supports what Moussaoui for months now has been telling anyone who would listen: he's al Qaeda, all right, but wasn't supposed to be the "20th hijacker." He was a terror conspirator but not a part of the devastatingly coordinated conspiracy that resulted in the death of nearly 3,000 people.

We've argued this for many months. It's time for Justice to bite the bullet on this one: let Moussaoui plead to providing material support to Al Qaeda and drop the death penalty demand. Save us all a few million dollars in prosecution costs. If Supermax is okay for "Shoe-bomber" Richard Reid, it's okay for Moussaoui as well. Why believe Mohammed? Tha Government has to, says CBS, and we agree:

If the feds come out and say that Mohammed is wrong about Moussaoui, then why should anyone be expected to believe Mohammed when he says anything about anyone else?

That's one of the problems with informants--its can be like buying a pig in a poke and they don't always tell the truth --but once the Government gets in bed with them, they're pretty much stuck with the first story--at least the first one that's taped or recorded or transcribed.

Iraq Body Counter: The worldwide update of civilian casualties in the war on Iraq.

We just added one to the left side of TalkLeft. It's free, easy to download and install. (link via Tower of Babel).

The Senate filibuster holds over the judicial nomination of Miguel Estrada. The 55-45 vote today marked " the first time in the Senate's history that three votes to move to the confirmation of a president's nominee had failed on the Senate floor."

Smoking Gun has the charges in the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case. You can read them here. If you just want the alleged facts supporting the charges, start here.

"Civil-rights groups and immigration advocacy organizations are protesting one element in the government's security procedures announced yesterday in anticipation of war in Iraq--a decision to jail asylum seekers from dozens of mostly Muslim nations while officials check out their claims of persecution in their home countries."

"It's a shocking development,'' Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil-rights group, said of the asylum policy. "Many asylum applications can take years. It seems unfair to put people in jail who are escaping persecution and who have done nothing wrong just because they are from certain countries.''