Another Bush Buddy pleads guilty

Bush with his terrorist pal


Ex-professor pleads guilty in Florida Jihad case
Mon Apr 17, 2006 10:44 PM BST14

By Robert Green

TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - 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.

Link

Amusingly, Powerline uses the guilty plea to take a swipe at Jamie Gorelick:

I wrote a lot here about al-Arian's prosecution, which followed promptly after the adoption of the PATRIOT Act and the removal of "the wall" between intelligence gathering and law enforcement.

You see, it's all Clinton's fault. Meanwhile, David Horowitz takes a shot at the ACLU, Salon.com, and all the other usual suspects.

And the WaPo wins the "party affiliation that dare not speak it's name" award:

Al-Arian, a Kuwaiti-born Palestinian, was a visible Muslim activist and U.S. campaign contributor.

UPDATE: Maybe the WaPo was right. Al-Arian contributed to both D's and R's.