The Guantanamo diversion

Civilian trials of the 9/11 suspects should not be held hostage to a deal to close the detention facility.

March 13, 2010

In the first week of his administration, President Obama announced that he would close the Guantanamo detention facility within a year -- part of a larger repudiation of George W. Bush's policies in the war on terror. Today, however, Guantanamo is still open, and Obama is reportedly considering reneging on what would be the most powerful assertion possible of U.S. commitment to the rule of law -- civilian trials for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other alleged 9/11 conspirators. If this is a trial balloon, it deserves to be punctured.

When Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. announced in November that Mohammed and his confederates would be tried in a civilian court, he emphasized that the accused would "be brought to New York to answer for their alleged crimes in a courthouse just blocks from where the twin towers once stood." Placing so much emphasis on the venue of the trial was a mistake, and not just because of the subsequent backlash from, among others, Mayor Michael Bloomberg. As we noted at the time, the "where" of the trial was less important than the "what" -- a proceeding that would show the world that the United States was confident enough in its system of justice to afford the defendants the full protections of American law.

Lately, however, the administration, which has planned all along to try other terrorism suspects before military commissions, has been hedging on whether there will be a 9/11 civilian trial anywhere. The political reasons for such a reconsideration are obvious: Obama has been savaged by conservatives who oppose the idea of civilian trials for his supposed lack of resolve against terrorists.

Enter Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who reportedly has a deal for the administration: Move the 9/11 trials to military commissions, and Graham will help the administration resist moves in Congress to block the closing of Guantanamo.

This is an offer that Obama can, and should, refuse. Though a great improvement over the system established by Bush, the commission process provides fewer rights to defendants. For example, it allows hearsay evidence and, in some cases, coerced confessions. Equally important, however, commission trials would be viewed around the world as a continuation of Bush's policy of establishing a "legal black hole" for detainees. What's more, it isn't even clear that Graham can persuade other Republicans to support closing Guantanamo.

In recent days the president has abandoned his passivity on healthcare legislation and led the charge for comprehensive reform. He needs to display a similar stiffening of the spine when it comes to Guantanamo and terrorism trials.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-gitmo13-2010mar13,0,6402079,print.story

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EDITORIAL

Protecting the vile

Distasteful protests by a fringe religious group at military funerals are still protected by the 1st Amendment.

March 13, 2010

The word "vile" is inadequate to describe what members of the Westboro Baptist Church, a fringe group obsessed with homosexuality, did on the day of the memorial service for Marine Lance Corp. Matthew A. Snyder, who was killed in Iraq in 2006. The question for the Supreme Court is whether their despicable conduct is protected by the 1st Amendment -- and the answer is yes.

That day, Westboro's pastor, Fred Phelps, and six relatives staged a protest near the church where services were held, though they remained at a distance. They carried signs reading "God hates the USA," "God hates fags" and "Thank God for dead soldiers," reflecting Phelps' bizarre conviction that deaths of U.S. personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan are divine retribution for this nation's tolerance of homosexuality. Westboro also posted on its website absurd accusations that Snyder's parents "raised him for the devil" and "taught him that God was a liar."

Snyder's father sued for defamation, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. But an appeals court ruled that he isn't entitled to $5 million in damages, a judgment the Supreme Court agreed this week to review.

Ugly as it was, the protest was an exercise of the same right of free speech that protected protesters who burned the American flag and Nazis who sought to march in Jewish neighborhoods in Skokie, Ill. In 1988, in a case in which the late Jerry Falwell sued Hustler magazine over a tasteless parody, the Supreme Court ruled that emotional-distress lawsuits must be judged in light of the 1st Amendment's protection for "the free flow of ideas and opinions on matters of public interest and concern." Deranged as Westboro's view of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq may be, it satisfies that definition.

As we have observed before, the 1st Amendment doesn't require that mourners -- or others -- endure face-to-face intimidation or trespassing on private property. The court, for instance, has upheld buffer zones around abortion clinics. In 2006, Congress enacted a law establishing similar zones around military cemeteries during burials.

But the Constitution doesn't allow the government -- including courts in a private lawsuit -- to muzzle political speech, however crass, nonsensical or disrespectful. In fact, it is often the most outrageous opinions that require the protection of the 1st Amendment. Popular and patriotic sentiments seldom lead to reprisals.

Given the court's past defense of what Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. called the "expression of opinions that we loathe," it's unsettling that the justices have agreed to review the appeals court's decision. We hope that, after reflecting on the importance of free speech, they will affirm it.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-funeral13-2010mar13,0,764840,print.story

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From the Wall Street Journal

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For the Love of Islam

A Second American Woman Is Arrested in Cartoonist Case

Last Easter, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, a 31-year-old mom with a $30,000-a-year job as a medical assistant, announced to her family that she had converted to Islam. A few months later, she began posting to Facebook forums whose headings included "STOP caLLing MUSLIMS TERRORISTS!"

On Sept. 11, she suddenly left Leadville, Colo., a small town in the Rocky Mountains, for Denver, then for New York, to meet and marry a Muslim man she connected with online, her family says. Ms. Paulin-Ramirez, who is 5-foot-11 and blonde, phoned her mother and stepfather in Leadville, providing them with an address in Waterford, Ireland, they say.

Ms. Paulin-Ramirez's interest in Islam "came out of left field," said her mother, Christine Holcomb-Mott, in an interview at her home Friday, wearing a blue sweatsuit with a silver cross around her neck.

"I'm angry with her right now," Ms. Holcomb-Mott said. "I'd like to just choke her. But I'm worried about her, too. I love my daughter."

Nearby was a stack of photos of Ms. Paulin-Ramirez, with a sparkling smile, and her son, who has brown hair and eyes. Her mother looked at the images over and over, as college basketball played on the TV.

Ms. Paulin-Ramirez had been in contact by phone and email with her mother, stepfather and an aunt, her relatives said. But none of them has heard from Ms. Paulin-Ramirez in recent days, they said.

Ms. Paulin-Ramirez is the second American woman to be linked to an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who made fun of the Prophet Mohammed. An indictment was unsealed this week against Colleen R. LaRose, 46, a suburban Philadelphia woman who authorities said used the Web alias "JihadJane."

Ms. LaRose was accused of plotting to kill the cartoonist and attempting to recruit jihadis via the Internet.

She was arrested in October and later charged with providing material support to terrorists.

The Justice Department kept its case under wraps until this week while investigators in the U.S. and Europe pursued their investigation against other potential suspects in the U.S. and abroad.

The main contact for Ms. LaRose is believed to be one of the men in Irish custody, an Algerian, who has a relationship with Ms. Paulin-Ramirez, according to a person close to matter.

A person close to the Irish police couldn't confirm whether Ms. Paulin-Ramirez and the Algerian are married.

Ms. LaRose spent roughly two weeks in Ireland last fall, a person familiar with the matter said.

The Irish police are holding four men and three women, including three Algerians, a Croatian, a Palestinian, a Libyan and a U.S. national, according to a person close to the police.

They are being questioned and haven't been charged.

A U.S. official familiar with the matter confirmed that Ms. Paulin-Ramirez is the U.S. national. The Justice Department declined to comment.

The seven people in custody, whose ages range from the mid-20s to the late 40s, can be held for seven days without charges, under Irish law. They are being held in four different police stations, Waterford, Tramore, Dungarvan and Thomastown, and are being questioned, according to the source. A spokesman for the Irish police said the arrests took place in Waterford and Cork, but he declined to provide further details.

The seven were arrested as part of an investigation into "a conspiracy to commit a serious offense (namely, conspiracy to murder an individual in another jurisdiction)," according to a police news release on Tuesday.

"We are very concerned about what she's into, and concerned about her well-being," said Cindy Holcomb Jones, an aunt of Ms. Paulin-Ramirez, who lives in Independence, Mo.

Another of Jamie's aunts, Sheena Holcomb McCarty, of Overland Park, Kansas, said she had been in contact with Ms. Paulin-Ramirez by email as recently as earlier this month.

"When I saw pictures of that woman [Ms. LaRose], I thought—that's what Jamie is doing. Jamie is wearing the same outfit that woman is wearing," Ms. Jones added.

In the months before Ms. Paulin-Ramirez left Leadville, taking her 6-year-old son but little clothing or other belongings, she began "wearing the black garb so you can only see her eyes," her aunt said.

"We knew that she was dabbling in the Muslim religion. But for her to disappear like this was from left field—we weren't expecting it at all," said Ms. Jones, who until last fall would speak to her niece on the phone almost every day.

Ms. Paulin-Ramirez had begun spending more time on the computer, her mother complained to the aunt. "All of a sudden, she stopped talking to me and she disappeared," Ms. Jones said.

Relatives of Ms. Paulin-Ramirez said they're distressed because her son was with her in Ireland. The boy's father is Mexican and hasn't seen the child in about 5 years, said George Mott, Ms. Paulin-Ramirez's stepfather, who lives in Leadville with her mother.

Ms. Paulin-Ramirez and her new husband had recently changed the child's name to Wahid. Mr. Mott said he believed the boy is in the care of the Irish authorities, but would like him returned to Leadville.

Born in Kansas City, Mo., and raised in nearby Blue Springs, Ms. Paulin-Ramirez had relocated with her mother to Colorado.

She was working as a medical assistant at the Eagle Valley Medical Clinic in Edwards, Colo., before she left, Mr. Mott said.

Ms. Paulin-Ramirez had married several times over the years—some of her relatives estimated she was married four times.

Her aunt Ms. Jones said she had expressed an interest in Christianity, and had asked to borrow or have her grandmother's bible.

In 2008 or 2009, Mr. Mott said, Ms. Paulin-Ramirez enrolled in an online course about Islam.

By Easter 2009, she had informed her mother that she was a Muslim. At her father's May 2009 funeral in Kansas, her aunts had to plead with her not to cover her head and hair with a hijab.

Over the summer, her family says, she was spending increasing time on the computer and had begun to dress in the traditional garb, covering not only her hair and face but also her hands.

Her current Facebook page lists her as Jamie Paulin, with a photo in which all that is visible are her eyes peering from slits in her full-face veil.

Last year, Ms. Paulin-Ramirez had told her aunt she wanted to study to become a doctor, and she signed up for nurse-practitioner courses. She took out new student loans of roughly $3,000 last fall, according to her mother and stepfather.

Her mother now believes she used that money to get to Ireland.

On Sept. 14, Ms. Paulin-Ramirez's mother called Leadville police. She informed an officer that her daughter was missing and that she had switched the code on their joint bank account so that Ms. Holcomb-Mott couldn't access it. She said her daughter had left for Denver on Friday, Sept. 11, to meet an unknown friend, was supposed to be back by Monday, but had not returned and was not answering calls or text messages.

Ms. Holcomb-Mott feared the little boy was "in training" to become a terrorist, according to Sgt. Saige Thomas of the Leadville police, who conducted the investigation.

Mr. Mott, a convert to Islam himself, says he went to Denver to find his stepdaughter but couldn't track her down.

The police found Ms. Paulin-Ramirez's car, a 2005 Pontiac Bonneville, at the Denver International Airport in the long-term parking lot.

Mr. Mott said that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents showed up at his door and questioned him, and took his stepdaughter's computer. She had added a keyboard with Arabic keys, he said.

"Jamie took off just like JihadJane took off on her boyfriend," Mr. Mott said. "We have been trying since September of last year to get her back here and get that baby back here."

A few months before she disappeared, her stepfather says he confronted her: "What are you going to do, strap a bomb on and blow up something?" he asked her. He recalled that she responded: "If necessary, yes."

"She never liked who she was," her mother said. "She was always looking for something."

"I thought this was just a phase she was going through, that she was trying to find herself," said Ms. Paulin-Ramirez's older brother, Michael Holcomb, 36, who lives in Houston. "Now I'm angry. And disappointed. She had a good job and she gave it all up. It's beyond me."

He said he was "actually relieved" she had been arrested because it may help them get her son back. "My only concern is getting her son back. Other than that, I don't care what happens to her."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704131404575118103199708576.html#printMode

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From Fox News

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The Ford Police Interceptor Concept car is seen. (Ford Motor Co.)

Ford Revs Up to Retain Hold on Cop Car Market

Ford Motor Co. wants to remain the top gun in the U.S. police car market with a new cruiser due out next year, but its competitors are in hot pursuit

DEARBORN, Mich. -- Ford Motor Co. wants to remain the top gun in the U.S. police car market with a new cruiser due out next year, but its competitors are in hot pursuit.

Ford revealed its new Police Interceptor sedan Friday. The car, based on the Ford Taurus, will replace the Crown Victoria-based cruiser at the end of 2011.

It's not a car for the faint of heart. The Police Interceptor has anti-stab plates built into the front seats to protect occupants from attacks, vinyl rear seats and floors that can be hosed down and available bulletproof doors. It's built to withstand a 75-mile-per-hour rear crash.

Ford, which sells 70 percent of all U.S. police cars, wants to retain its 15-year dominance in the market, which sees average sales of 50,000 vehicles per year.

"We don't take our leadership role lightly," Ford Americas President Mark Fields told a police gathering in Las Vegas, and media watching by satellite from the company's Dearborn headquarters. He said Ford has been developing the new squad car for two years with help from a police advisory panel.

Competition is growing. Chrysler's Dodge Charger-based police car grabbed 18 percent of sales last year, up from 14 percent in 2007. In reports to the California Police Chiefs Association, some officers preferred the aggressive looks, faster acceleration and handling of the Charger.

Later this year, General Motors Co. will relaunch the Chevrolet Caprice police car after a 15-year absence from the U.S. market. GM also sells a police car based on the Impala. Carbon Motors Corp., a new company based in Indiana, plans to build police cars to departments' exact specifications starting in 2012. Even the Toyota Prius hybrid has been modified for police work in Seattle and other cities.

Ford said the new cruiser will save taxpayers money because it gets 25 percent better fuel economy than the Crown Victoria, which gets 15 miles per gallon in the city and 23 on the highway.

Unlike the Crown Victoria, which has a 250-horsepower V-8 engine, the new Police Interceptor will have two V-6 options: a standard engine with 263 horsepower and one with EcoBoost technology that gets 363 horsepower. That will bring the Interceptor in the range of the Charger, whose 362-horsepower Hemi V-8 is now the most powerful in the segment.

Ford also hopes to stand out with exclusive features, like carved front seats to accommodate officers' holsters and rear doors that open 71 degrees -- 10 degrees wider than usual -- to make it easier to put people in the back.

The new Police Interceptor will come in front-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive versions, a shift away from the rear-wheel-drive Crown Victoria. Ford anticipates complaints from some officers about that shift, but said it determined the new versions are more stable and predictable and less likely to fishtail. Ford also says younger officers are less familiar with rear-wheel-drive vehicles.

Lt. Keith Wilson, who tests cars for the Michigan State Police, said all-wheel-drive also will be helpful for departments in colder climates.

Wilson, who served on Ford's advisory panel, said most of his agency's 800 cars are Crown Victorias, but departments have to weigh the characteristics that are most important to them.

"Some urban agencies need a very maneuverable vehicle, and top speed is not as important. For others, fuel mileage may be more important than top speed," he said.

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/auto/ci.Ford+Revs+Up+to+Retain+Hold+on+Cop+Car+Market.opinionPrint

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From MSNBC

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Sex offender nabbed after 33 years on the lam

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A sex offender has been arrested after 33 years on the run, according to reports.

Berney V. Ferguson Jr., 71, was convicted of incest in March 1977 but failed to turn up to the court in northwest Missouri for sentencing. He was arrested earlier this week in Barnsdall, Okla., the Kansas City Star reported.

Clay County Prosecutor Daniel White told the newspaper that Ferguson changed his name and lived “under the grid,” sometimes in homeless shelters.

The Star said the original criminal trial had lasted less than two days with jurors recommending that Ferguson serve two years in prison.

“I guess he felt two years in prison was too much for him and he ran,” White told the paper.

“But had he gone to prison, he wouldn't have had to spend the last half of his life looking over his shoulder and wondering when Clay County was going to show up.”

Ferguson's victim has now died and went to her grave “knowing the man who victimized them had not yet paid for his crimes,” White told the Star.

Someone convicted of a felony such as incest at the time of the trial would have served no more than five years in prison, the Star reported.

“Frankly, had Ferguson shown up, he'd have done his time and been off parole before disco died,” White added.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35849455/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/print/1/displaymode/1098/

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Landfill search ends, no sign of missing Ariz. boy

SAN ANTONIO - San Antonio police have called off a landfill search after finding no evidence in the disappearance of an 8-month-old Arizona boy.

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said Friday that authorities had searched 4,600 tons of debris looking for clues about baby Gabriel Johnson.

Gabriel was last seen with his 23-year-old mother, Elizabeth Johnson, in San Antonio on Dec. 26. The Arizona woman is jailed on kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference charges.

Police turned to the landfill after the mother allegedly sent a text message telling the father the boy was dead. She later recanted but has refused to disclose the baby's whereabouts.

Police excavated a section of the landfill believed to contain trash from a motel where the baby was last seen.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35848539/ns/us_news/print/1/displaymode/1098/

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From the FBI

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IC3 2009 Annual Report on Internet Crime Released

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), today released the 2009 annual report about fraudulent activity on the Internet.

Online crime complaints increased substantially once again last year, according to the report. The IC3 received a total of 336,655 complaints, a 22.3 percent increase from 2008. The total loss linked to online fraud was $559.7 million; this is up from $265 million in 2008.

Although the complaints consisted of a variety of fraud types, advanced fee scams that fraudulently used the FBI's name ranked number one (16.6 percent). Non-delivery of merchandise and/or payment was the second most reported offense (11.9 percent).

The 2009 Internet Crime Report details information related to the volume and scope of complaints, complainant and perpetrator characteristics, geographical data, most frequently reported scams and results of IC3 referrals.

“Law enforcement relies on the corporate sector and citizens to report when they encounter on-line suspicious activity so these schemes can be investigated and criminals can be arrested,” stated Peter Trahon, section chief of the FBI's Cyber Division. “Computer users are encouraged to have up-to-date security protection on their devices and evaluate e-mail solicitations they receive with a healthy skepticism—if something seems too good to be true, it likely is.”

NW3C Director Donald Brackman said the report's findings underscore the threat posed by cyber criminals. “The figures contained in this report indicate that criminals are continuing to take full advantage of the anonymity afforded them by the Internet. They are also developing increasingly sophisticated means of defrauding unsuspecting consumers. Internet crime is evolving in ways we couldn't have imagined just five years ago.” But Brackman sounded an optimistic tone about the future. “With the public's continued support, law enforcement will be better able to track down these perpetrators and bring them to justice.”

The report is posted in its entirety on the IC3 website.

About IC3

The Internet Crime Complaint Center is a joint operation between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center. The IC3 receives, develops, and refers criminal complaints regarding the rapidly expanding arena of cyber crime. The IC3 gives the victims of cyber crime a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism utilized to alert authorities of suspected criminal or civil violations. For law enforcement and regulatory agencies at the federal, state, local, and international level, the IC3 provides a central referral mechanism for complaints involving Internet-related crimes.

- 2009 Internet Crime Report

http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel10/ic3report_031210.htm

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