Before opening statements even began, defense attorneys made an issue of the conspicuous and atypical security measures outside the court, arguing that the barriers would lead the jury to perceive the defendants as being dangerous. (As if they were harmless hermits. - WoJ).

The irony of the Trial of terrorist-criminals like Sami Al-Arian is that they have a sporting chance of pulling wool over the eyes of the prosecution and getting out of court scot free. This has ben evidenced all over the world where Islamic terrorists have been tried. - be it in Indonesia in the trial of the smiling terrorist Imam Samudra who yells Allah-hu-akbar while smilingly acknowledging that he did right in murdering tourists at a Bali Night Club, and his mentor Abu Bakar Bashir who was acquitted in the Bali bombings.

In another instance yesterday in India, a court at Mumbai decreed that the accused in the Mumbai commuter bus bombings had to be set free for lack of evidence. This spells out the tribulations of the prosecution in a free-secular democracy and the need for legislations far more stringent than the Patriot Act in the USA or the POTA (Prevention Of Terrorism Act) in India. Without mincing words, we can say that the fight against terror would require us to emulate Uzbekistan if not Saudi Arabia!

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