Suspicious Suspects In South Carolina Traffic Stop

This has been a developing story since the weekend, and it would appear that more light needs to be shined on the situation.

Two men were arrested near a US Navy base for speeding, and in the course of a search of the vehicle, the situation became far more serious, as potential explosives and other suspicious materials were discovered. Indeed, two pipe bombs were discovered. What were they up to and why were they near a US Naval facility, which is used for training submarine naval personnel and is also where a US brig is situated?

Authorities say two Middle Eastern men arrested near a Navy base had several pipe bombs in their car.

Authorities say 24-year-old Ahmed Abda Sherf Mohamed and 21-year-old Yousef Samir Megahed were charged Monday with possession of an incendiary device.

An FBI spokeswoman says a joint state-federal investigation is under way to see if there was any terrorism connection but no link had been found yet. The Navy base is the site of a brig where enemy combatants have been held.

According to an affidavit with his arrest warrant, Mohamed admitted he made the pipe bombs from items he bought at Wal-Mart.

Defense attorney Dennis Rhoad says Mohamed and Megahed have a reason for having the devices, but he declined to comment further during their bond hearing.

I'd be real interested in knowing what legitimate reason these two could have for possessing a pipe bomb. Dan Riehl notes that the two are being charged with felonies that could land them 2-15 years in prison. Dan's earlier coverage is here.

Jammie Wearing Fool has been all over this story from the outset, and he noted a report that stated that the two men weren't citizens and were attending the University of South Florida. For those keeping score, that is home to Sami Al Arian, who has been implicated in providing funding for Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Jammie and Hot Air have more details.

UPDATE:
Ace has been more circumspect on the reports claiming discovery of pipe bombs, especially if they're made of PVC. I'm not an expert in explosives, but if you have a given amount of explosives and place it in a sealed PVC pipe, that would technically be a pipe bomb, the purpose of which is still a mystery.

Things get more interesting when you read that Mohamed admitted to purchasing the materials for pipe bombs at a Wal Mart.

This remains a very curious situation that continues to develop.

Bracing for the Next Step

What will Israel do in response to yesterday's terrorist that killed nine Israelis and wounded over 65 at a Tel Aviv restaurant? That's the question of the day. Will military raids be enough? Some analysts don't think it is.

I think speeding up the construction of the security fence, and threatening that for every attack against Israel, Israel will not only move the barrier further into areas that Palestinians might have once called their own had they accepted the 2000 deal at Camp David, but annex such territory as a claim of right under international laws of war as being part of the next step. Military action is a given, and the range of targets should be more than just the bomb factories. Terrorist leaders have gotten used to the fact that they can get away with whipping their followers into a frenzy without facing the repercussions of their actions. That has to change. Threats to Israel's security should translate into action against the terrorist leadership directly.

Hamas has declared war on Israel - and has done so not only as a terrorist organization, but as the head of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas needs to be taught that their actions bring serious repercussions and the lesson must be unequivocable and thorough. Half measures and giving Hamas and the Palestinian Authority any kind of break is a losing strategy. After all this time, Hamas still thinks it can win and destroy Israel. They must be disabused of that notion, along with all the other terrorist groups operating in the territories. Jay Tea also notices.

Meanwhile, Norway is looking to recapture its Oslo glory by playing host to Hamas. Inexcusable. The only dialogue that should be going on is demands on Hamas to unconditionally surrender or face destruction of the Palestinian Authority and all the terrorist organizations once and for all. Giving into the demands of a terrorist group will lead to no good. There is no way to negotiate with such a group - they do not bargain in good faith, and their ultimate goal is the elimination of Israel and reestablishing an Islamic state where Israel once stood.

UPDATE:
This NY Sun editorial wraps up the events of the past 24 hours quite nicely. Starting with the bombing in Israel, it wends through the anti-Semitism and terrorism apologists to the Sami al Arian case.

Anyone with doubts about Hamas's intentions can consult its charter, which contains such gems as "Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors." Or that "enemies... used the money to establish clandestine organizations which are spreading around the world, in order to destroy societies and carry out Zionist interests. Such organizations are: the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, B'nai B'rith and the like. All of them are destructive spying organizations...Their scheme has been laid out in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion." Or they can consult the words of one of Hamas's financial backers, President Ahmadinejad of Iran, who has repeatedly vowed to wipe Israel off the map. Iran was just voted vice chairman of the United Nations Disarmament Commission, Fox News's Brit Hume reported last night.

The Times ad claims "Many Americans do not understand that Hamas is a typical anti-colonial insurgency responding to an Israeli occupation and what amounts to government terror against Palestinian civilians. It is not at all related to al-Qa'ida or 9/11." In fact Hamas represents colonialism by Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood in the West Bank and Gaza. Its ideology reeks of Al Qaeda and bin Laden. Americans don't need the New York Times and Hamas to tell them what they don't understand. They know that the victims slain yesterday at a felafel restaurant in Tel Aviv are no different from those slain on September 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center. They are casualties in a war being levied by an enemy that aims to reestablish the caliphate and enforce Islamic law worldwide, an enemy that kills civilian women and children while Western sympathizers make ill-timed excuses.

Sami al Arian To Be Deported

Former Florida university professor Sami al-Arian has pleaded guilty to aiding the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad and agreed to be deported, U.S. officials said on Monday

Al-Arian and three co-defendants were charged in 2003 with helping the group carry out attacks in Israel. In December, a federal jury in Tampa found al-Arian not guilty on eight charges and failed to reach a verdict on nine others after a six-month trial.

Prosecutors, whose failure to convict al-Arian after the jury trial was seen as a stiff blow to the U.S. government's attempts to prosecute terrorism suspects, hailed the plea bargain agreement as a victory.

"Al-Arian has now admitted providing assistance to help the Palestinian Islamic Jihad ... as the government has alleged from the start," Assistant U.S. Attorney General Alice Fisher said in a written statement.

The United States has designated Islamic Jihad a terrorist organization. When the charges against al-Arian and the others were made public three years ago, then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said the group was responsible for over 100 deaths in Israel, including two Americans.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed nine people and wounded 60 outside a restaurant in Tel Aviv on Monday.

Arian gets deported, which means he's no longer able to do his business in the US, but count on him shilling for Islamic Jihad overseas. So far, there's no indication of where he's going to end up.

Others blogging: Texas Rainmaker and Stop the ACLU. Wizbang has photos of Islamic Jihad's latest handiwork (that would be today's suicide bombing in Israel that killed nine and wounded over 65). It shows just who and what al Arian was involved in, and none of it any good. He supported mass murderers who sought to commit heinous acts of violence.

Anger Grows at Brandeis University

Brandeis University's refusal to address concerns about possible ties between a prominent Palestinian Arab scholar, Khalil Shikaki, and the terrorist organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad is prompting outrage in the Jewish community and among some Brandeis alumni.

Calls are mounting for an investigation into Mr. Shikaki's documented associations with known terrorists. Mr. Shikaki was named last year as a scholar at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. One of Palestinian Islamic Jihad's more notorious acts was an April 1995 bombing in Israel that killed a Brandeis student, Alisa Flatow.

As The New York Sun reported last month, government wiretaps of conversations between Mr. Shikaki and the current leader of PIJ, Ramadan Abdul lah Shallah, and between other alleged terrorists, show that Mr. Shikaki distributed money in the West Bank for associates of a Florida professor accused of operating the American wing of PIJ, Sami Al-Arian, who raised the funds in America.

Is this someone who we want teaching in college, let alone anywhere else?

This follows episodes at other colleges around the country where terrorist sympathizers, or even former terrorists themselves, have managed to become tenured professors in a wide range of disciplines.

Students for Academic Freedom and Campus Watch both track these incidents.

Not Good

Sami al Arian, a professor from South Florida who faced 17 charges relating to terrorism and funding terrorist operations, was found not guilty on 8 charges, while the jury deadlocked over the remaining charges. The jury had been deliberating for about three weeks.

Two of the three co-defendants in the terrorism conspiracy case were acquitted of all charges against them.

The two co-defendants acquitted are Sameeh Hammoudeh and Ghassan Zayed Ballut.

The third, Hatem Naji Fariz, was found innocent of 24 counts and jurors deadlocked on the remaining eight.

The jury deadlocked on the others including charges he aided terrorists.

Al-Arian will go back to jail until prosecutors decide whether to retry him on the deadlocked counts.

Here are the charges:
Not Guilty
Conspiracy to commit racketeering
Conspiracy to murder and maim people abroad
2 counts of conspiracy to support a foreign terrorist organization
2 counts of mail fraud
2 counts of obstruction of justice

All other counts - no decision

It will be interesting to see how the Justice Department spins this decision, and whether they intend to retry al Arian on the deadlocked counts. It also shows some of the limitations on trying to defend against terrorism through the criminal justice system, although it does show that the government can provide a fair trial to those before it. We have to live by the outcome, which in this case is not favorable to those who think that al Arian is a threat to national security through his acts and deeds.

UPDATE:
Debbie Schlussel had predicted that al Arian would walk. She thinks that the prosecutors bordered on Darden/Clark incompetence, and it appears that she has a point. The fact that so many of the counts resulted in a deadlocked suggests that the evidence could have been presented in such a manner to derive a conviction. I think a different team of lawyers might be more successful in winning convictions against al Arian and his cohorts.

UPDATE:
Also covering the al Arian story: Sister Toldjah and Michelle Malkin.

Daniel Pipes: Are Israel's Critics Correct? Nope!

We stand at an interpretive divide. If Israel's critics are right, the Gaza withdrawal will improve Palestinian Arab attitudes toward Israel, leading to an end of incitement and a steep drop in attempted violence, followed by a renewal of negotiations and a full settlement. Logic requires, after all, that if "occupation" is the problem, ending it, even partially, will lead to a solution.

But I forecast a very different outcome. Given that about 80% of Palestinian Arabs continue to reject Israel's very existence, signs of Israeli weakness, such as the forthcoming Gaza withdrawal, will instead inspire heightened Palestinian irredentism. Absorbing their new gift without gratitude, Palestinian Arabs will focus on those territories Israelis have not evacuated. (This is what happened after Israeli forces fled Lebanon.) The retreat will inspire not comity but a new rejectionist exhilaration, a greater frenzy of anti-Zionist anger, and a surge in anti-Israel violence.

Palestinian Arabs themselves are openly saying as much. A top Hamas figure in Gaza, Ahmed al-Bahar, says: "Israel has never been in such a state of retreat and weakness as it is today following more than four years of the intifada. Hamas's heroic attacks exposed the weakness and volatility of the impotent Zionist security establishment. The withdrawal marks the end of the Zionist dream and is a sign of the moral and psychological decline of the Jewish state. We believe that the resistance is the only way to pressure the Jews."

A Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, says likewise that the withdrawal is "due to the Palestinian resistance operations. ... and we will continue our resistance."

Others are more specific. At a mass rally in Gaza City last Thursday, about 10,000 Palestinian Arabs danced, sang, and chanted, "Today Gaza, tomorrow Jerusalem." The commander of Gaza's Popular Resistance Committees, Jamal Abu Samhadaneh, announced Sunday, "We will move our cells to the West Bank," and warned, "The withdrawal will not be complete without the West Bank and Jerusalem." The Palestinian Authority's Ahmed Qurei also asserts, "Our march will stop only in Jerusalem."