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.''

Statement from Attorney Timothy Floyd on the Execution of Sgt. Louis Jones, Jr.

Louis Jones, Jr. died at approximately 7:00 a.m. on March 18, 2003.

It is a cruel irony that on the day that we go to war, the life of Sgt. Louis Jones, Jr., a consummate soldier, was ended at the hand of the government whom he proudly served -- the same government that failed to acknowledge the impact of nerve agents on Sgt. Jones, the brain damage that it caused, and the fact that jurors could not have known about this at the time of his trial.

As we mark his death, we need to remember his victim, Tracie McBride, and her family. They have suffered an unspeakable loss-a loss caused by Louis Jones. Louis Jones was put to death for a crime for which he accepted responsibility and experienced great remorse until the moment he died.

The act of lethal injection that ended Louis Jones's life came after eight years of legal proceedings and enormous devotion of government resources to a single goal: ensuring his death as an act of retribution. It was a deliberate death carried out by the United States government-carried out on behalf of all Americans, including you and me. Lou acknowledged his guilt and would have pled guilty to a sentence of life without possibility of shortly after he was arrested in 1995. But our national system of capital punishment had targeted him, and the government spent eight years ensuring his death.

The execution of Louis Jones represents the failure of the federal government to understand and be accountable for the impact of nerve agents on the soldiers who are exposed to it in the service of their country-and on others who are affected by the damage done to those soldiers. It is a sad message that goes with our soldiers and their families-if you return from war damaged, the U.S. government won't take responsibility for that damage and its consequences. Indeed, it may not even acknowledge it. And, it's a frightening message for those who may be harmed because of the government's failure to understand and to deal appropriately with the consequences of chemical warfare.

There was much more to Louis Jones's life than the crime for which his life was ended.

Agree or disagree about whether we should go to war Glenn Reynolds makes a good point on his MSNBC blog:

It's pretty obvious that, barring a miracle of some sort, we'll be at war shortly. And my next advice is equally applicable to war supporters and opponents: Keep your eye on the civil-liberties ball, and don't be distracted.
I predicted on September 11 itself (and in this column just a couple of days afterward) that bureaucrats would take advantage of 9/11 to slip through items that had been on their wishlists for years, and they did. There's now a "Patriot II" bill floating around in draft form. I wouldn't be surprised to see someone try to slip it through Congress while everyone's attention is on the war. Most members of Congress who voted on the original "Patriot Act" hadn't even read the bill (which makes them unpatriotic in my estimation -- what about that oath they take?)

Let's not let it happen again. Keep your eyes open.

That was our exact sentiment last month, as we posted here. Watch out, because once surrendered, rights are very difficult to get back.

Our hero of the day: John Mellencamp

TO WASHINGTON
Eight years of peace and prosperity
Scandal in the White House
An election is what we need
From coast-to-coast to Washington

So America voted on a president
No one kept count
On how the election went
From Florida to Washington

Goddamn, said one side
And the other said the same
Both looked pretty guilty
But no one took the blame
From coast-to-coast to Washington

So a new man in the White House
With a familiar name
Said he had some fresh ideas
But it's worse now since he came
From Texas to Washington

And he wants to fight with many
And he says it's not for oil
He sent out the National Guard
To police the world
From Baghdad to Washington

What is the thought process
To take a humans life
What would be the reason
To think that this is right
From heaven to Washington
From Jesus Christ to Washington

Download the song for free here, courtesy of Mellencamp. Thanks to Snowdog for the link.

"Have you ever heard the word 'jihad'? Do you speak Arabic? Are you a member of the National Rifle Association? Have you visited Ground Zero of the World Trade Center? "

These are some of the questions being asked of prospective jurors in the Detroit trial of four men accused of plotting terror activities.

The case is being shrouded in secrecy, which the media and defense find objectionable.

The questions will help choose a 16-member jury that will preside over the United States' first terrorism trial since the Sept. 11 attacks. The jury will be under such close watch that members won't even be allowed outside for lunch. Their names will remain hidden from everyone but a single clerk. The high secrecy and security are attracting objections from The Detroit News and defense lawyers for four men arrested Sept. 17, 2001, and charged with providing material support for terrorism. Legal experts said the unusual jury-selection process could set an early tone for the trial.

The case is expected to test the Government's ability to prove terrorist claims.

Eighteen months after a raid on an apartment uncovered what prosecutors say was a conspiracy to support terrorist strikes in Jordan, Turkey and the United States, four men charged in the case are coming to trial today. The trial will be one of the first for an alleged terror cell in this country since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and it may test the government's ability to prove accusations about terror plots in the making. "The government has not yet been compelled to show its hand in these cases," said Juliette Kayyem, a terrorism expert and professor at Harvard University. "There have been a lot of press conferences and indictments, but those are not facts."