Good News From the Dockets

Yesterday's Supreme Court ruling was a serious setback for the nation and how it handles those enemy combatants it captures on the fields of battle around the world. For those individuals picked up in the US, they face a civilian criminal justice system that sometimes misses the mark as well.

Today wasn't one of those days.

Today two decisions/deals were reached that found suspects guilty of engaging in terrorism against the US.

The first is University of South Florida student Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, who entered into a plea deal with prosecutors and admitted to being a terrorist.

In the court document, he admits to providing material to support terrorists. He also acknowledges that a YouTube video he produced was to be used in "preparation for or in carrying out the killing of employees of the United States," including uniformed personnel.

Mohamed and Youssef Megahed were arrested August 4, 2007, in Goose Creek, South Carolina after a traffic stop. Authorities recovered a number of items from the car which constituted explosive materials.

Megahed remains in custody.

I expect Mohamed to turn on Megahed in what would likely be characterized by Megahed's attorney's as Mohamed giving testimony in exchange for a lighter sentence down the road (that's how these things usually work). CAIR initially came out and claimed that these two were victims, but I doubt we'll be hearing from CAIR again on this case.

The second case was a trial of three men in Toledo, Ohio, where a jury found all three men guilty of plotting terror attacks against US troops overseas.

Mohammad Amawi, Marwan El-Hindi, and Wassim Mazloum, all of whom are Muslim, were convicted on all counts of conspiring to kill or injure people outside the United States and face sentences of life in prison.

Prosecutors said the men were learning to shoot guns and make explosives while raising money to fund their plans to wage a holy war against U.S. troops.

“Today’s verdicts should send a strong message to individuals who would use this country as a platform to plot attacks against U.S. military personnel in Iraq and elsewhere,” said Patrick Rowan, acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security, in a written statement.

“This case also underscores the need for continued vigilance in identifying and dismantling extremist plots that develop in America’s heartland.”

Defense attorneys charged that the three defendants were manipulated by a government informant.

So much for the defense attorney claims. The jury didn't buy them.

Closer to home, Brian Morgenstern , who broke open the Fort Dix Six terror plot after overhearing the conspirators talking at a Circuit City where Morgenstern works, was honored by the New Jersey Senate. The trial on five of the six people indicted is to go forward with jury selection in September. The sixth member, Agron Abdullahu, entered into a plea deal separately from the other five and is serving 20 months in prison on weapons charges.

UPDATE:
Michelle Malkin wonders which would get more media coverage - the R. Kelly child porn case verdict, or the terror trial outcomes. Does she really think that the media would focus on the terror trial, especially with guilty verdicts or plea deals involved?

Remember also, that Megahed and Mohamed had claimed that they were in the vicinity of the Goose Creek Naval Station to play with fireworks.