Tuesday May 15, 2007

Column:

The arrest and capture of the terrorist cell in New Jersey was a shock to many people. More significantly, it was a learning experience for most of America.

Most Americans were taken by surprise. A terrorist cell blithely operating in Southern New Jersey, only a stone's throw away from the great New York City and even closer to Philadelphia, was inconceivable, unfathomable and very, very scary.
Lesson # 1: There are American-Muslim extremists who want to destroy democracy and everything democratic values stand for.

And they were shocked by the realization that not all Muslim terrorists hail from the Middle East, that in fact some of the men arrested in New Jersey were European.
Lesson # 2: Muslim terrorists really do come in all shapes, sizes, colors and sexes and it is a serious and potentially dangerous mistake to assume that one region produces all terrorists.

And then they were struck by a combination of outrage and disbelief to learn that these people, undeniable terrorists, were only charged with the crime of conspiracy to murder United States servicemen.
Lesson # 3: The United States legal system is not set-up to handle acts of terror, still not, still not over five years since 9-11-2001.

Western countries in general, the United States very specifically, are nearly powerless to defend themselves against terror because laws are not yet properly in place to adequately deal with terrorists.

The United States still looks at terror like any other crime and that is a serious mistake. And because the United States looks at terror like any other crime it makes it almost impossible to crack down on terrorists. And because it is almost impossible to crack down on terrorists the rate of convictions for terrorists in the United States is abysmally low and punishments for the handful of terrorists actually convicted in the US rarely go over five years incarceration.
Lesson # 4: The United States must lower the bar in order to appropriately convict terrorists of the crimes they are perpetrating.

I'm not advocating an eye for an eye, I am saying to US lawmakers create a RICO act for terror.

I'm saying allow for easier convictions and relax the standards on collecting information.

I'm saying that these six men have been charged with crimes that do not carry much jail time and I am saying that America will once again be astounded when the case comes to trial because these six men will probably not serve any time at all even if they are convicted.

The key informant in this case was actually the leader of the group. He is the person who clearly admits to having experience in weapons, the person teaching the other terrorists to be terrorists. He is the person with the plan and most importantly, he is the person that everyone else wants to please. That, fellow Americans, is entrapment.

Entrapment is best defined as being induced or persuaded by law enforcement officers or their agents to commit a crime that one had no previous intent to commit. If the leader was the informant, and every indication so far leads us to assume that he was, the Federal government will have a very difficult time convicting any of these men of anything, certainly of anything substantial.

These men were out to destroy our democracy. Our democracy, in its present legal state, might set them free.
Lesson # 5: Sometimes, even the best of democracies must be modified to meet changing world events.