When the Chicago terror case against Daood Gilani, aka David Coleman Headley and Tawawwur Hussein Rana first came to light, the most striking fact was that Headley had two prior heroin convictions and bargained his way out of heavy time for both by cooperating for the DEA. After 13 years of on and off again cooperation, he wasn't a newbie at the cooperation game, and he was well known to his handlers. Yet the DEA dropped the ball on Headley big time. And no heads have rolled.

In 1988 Gilani/Headley was busted at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, when a customs officer asked to check his belongings. Finding 2 kilos of heroin inside, he called for a D.E.A. agent stationed nearby and who arrived at the scene? Derek Maltz. Maltz, who has since been promoted to head of DEA Special Operations, is 48 now. (He still crows after every big bust, but he's been focused more on Mexico and South America lately, it seems. Here's a You Tube video of him a few months ago, pleased as punch with his new perps. Or read this description of one of his many talks.

He's been with the agency 25 years (his father also spent his career in drug enforcement). He would have been 25 when he was stationed in Frakfurt and made Headley's bust. Within two days (probably on the flight home) Headley agreed to cooperate. Two days later, he was back home at his apartment in Philly, all wired up for his first snare. [More...]

It's a busy TV night: Three hours of Survivor, two hours of Celebrity Apprentice, a two hour Desperate Housewives finale and a new episode of The Killing.

For those of you with other things on your mind, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The Wall St. Journal has new details on the sex assault charge against IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

First, he's being represented by Ben Brafman (great choice.) Next, the maid accusing him identified him through a photo identification known as a "show up."

The accuser informed hotel security officials, who showed her a photo of the suite's occupant. After she identified Mr. Strauss-Kahn as her attacker, hotel officials then called police.

[More...]

Defense Secretary Robert Gates was on "60 Minutes" tonight. He said he had doubts about the intelligence information that Osama bin Laden was at the Abbouttabad compound.

While he had confidence in the SEALs before the mission, Gates told us he was very nervous about the intelligence on the mission. "I was very concerned, frankly. I had real reservations about the intelligence. My worry was the level of uncertainty about whether bin Laden was even in the compound. There wasn't any direct evidence that he was there. It was all circumstantial. But it was the best information that we had since probably 2001," he explained.

"And did you feel you had to strike while the iron was hot, if you will?" (Katie) Couric asked. "I think everybody agreed that we needed to act and act pretty promptly," he replied.

Gates also had a lot of praise for President Obama: [More...]

As many predicted, Mike Huckabee announced he won't seek the Republican nomination for President in 2012.

Was it his clemency record? As I wrote here, listing his many clemency decisions:

Huckabee granted a lot of deserved pardons while in office, particularly for drug offenders serving excessive sentences. A Governor's use of clemency and pardon power is a good thing. The problem with Huckabee's exercise of the power is that several of his decisions make no sense, he refused to explain his decisions, and he injected his religion into it.

It's a quiet Saturday afternoon here. What's going on in your world? Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Jury selection begins next week in the Chicago terror trial of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, charged with participation in the 2008 Mumbai bombings, the planned attack on a news agency in Denmark, and providing matierial support to Lashkar e Tayyiba (LeT.) The Second Superseding Indictment is here. Both Rana and the Government's star witness, former DEA informant David Headley, who cooperated in exchange for taking the death penalty and extradition to India and Pakistan off the table, insist they were receiving instructions from Pakistan's ISI and military. While the Judge won't let the information about ISI and Army in the front door, it's bound to come in the back door.

Today the Court entered a minute order directing Rana to respond to the Government's motion to exclude his expert witness, Marc Sageman. Sageman is a counter-terror expert, former CIA agent and psychiatrist who is the leading proponent of the theory that al Qaeda as a central organization is no longer a big threat, that Pakistan houses the main terror groups in the region. Here's his 2009 testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Global terror is more of a grass-roots thing in recent years, composed of leaderless jihadis. They may be affiliated with or inspired by al Qaeda but al Qaeda, the core group, is too weak to provide much more.

So why does Rana want to call Sageman, and why does the Government object? [More...]

Pakistan's intelligence chief, Ahmed Shuja Pasha, appeared before the country's Parliament today. He acknowledged their intelligence failure over Osama bin Laden, offered to resign and blasted the U.S. for invading Pakistan's sovereignty to conduct the raid. He also denounced U.S. drones in Pakistan. After his appearance, Parliament passed a resolution that condemned the raid and called for a re-evaluation of Pakistan's cooperation with the U.S. and revamp the security agencies so there would be no repeat.

The resolution expressed support for Pakistan's military and demanded the U.S. cease sending drones into Pakistan. And called for an independent inquiry into the raid at Abbouttabad. [More....]

In In re Sommers and Caggano, Bankruptcy Judge (in the Southern District of New York) Cecilia Morris denied the United States Trustee's motion to dismiss the joint bankruptcy petition of a gay couple, who were married in Vermont, on DOMA grounds. The judge wrote:

[T]he constitutionality of DOMA has been questioned by two cases filed in the district courts of this Circuit. [cites omitted] The Department of Justice also concluded that DOMA would not withstand constitutional analysis under heightened scrutiny. See Letter from Tony West to Judge Barbara S. Jones (Feb. 24, 2011) [. . .] (containing as an attachment Letter from Eric H. Holder, Jr. to John A. Boehner (Feb. 23, 2011)). In Windsor v. United States, which is currently pending in the Southern District of New York, the Assistant Attorney General filed a letter stating that "heightened scrutiny is the appropriate standard of review for classifications of sexual orientation" and that "[s]ection 3 of DOMA may not be constitutionally applied to same-sex couples whose marriages are legally recognized under state law; and that the Department will cease its defense of Section 3 in such cases." See Letter from Tony West to Judge Barbara S. Jones (Feb. 24, 2011) (Docket No. 10), Windsor v. United States, No. 1:10-cv-8435 (S.D.N.Y.).

[MORE . . .]

The news will have to wait for me today, so here's a place to discuss the day's news and other topics.

Never in a million years could I ever imagine writing about Kim Kardashian (pictured) and her sister Kourtney going global; but here I am. - Link

Donald Trump's decision to play the "I may run for President" publicity card and amp it up to 11 this year is doing serious damage to the Trump brand. This is significant to the Trump business interests as the reality is the myth of of Donald Trump, Master Builder, business genius, is a fabrication. Donald Trump has successfully built a licensing business - he licenses the Trump name. In that sense, Trump is a business genius the way Kim Kardashian is - though in fairness to the Kardashians, they did not start out with a family fortune, just some vague celebutante status. Today, the New York Times reports:

“I have made myself very rich,” [Trump said] recently, sitting in his palatial suite at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. “And I would make this country very rich.” But regardless of whether Mr. Trump ultimately seeks the presidency, his attempt to promote himself as a savvy financial manager who can lead America out of its economic rut is bringing new scrutiny to his own business practices.

This scrutiny is revealing that Trump is a flim flam man. More on the flip.

Pakistan allowed U.S. officials to interview the three wives of Osama bin Laden who were at the compound in Abbottabad during the raid that killed Osama.

The wives were described as "hostile." Why wouldn't they be? All three lost a husband, one (or two, depending on which inconsistent report you believe) lost a son, and one was shot in the leg.

Reportedly, the eldest of the three wives spoke for the group. That would be Khairia Saaba, otherwise known as Umm Hamzah, who is 7 years older than Osama and the mother of the missing or dead or captured Hamza bin Laden. [More....]