Pirate's Cove

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at any action the ACLU takes after reading and knowing about them for so long, but, sometimes, their actions simply are amazing and beyond belief.

Two civil liberties groups filed legal briefs this week in support of a Virginia man accused of helping to fund Mideast terrorists, arguing that federal agents had no right to search his home without a warrant in 1993.

The prosecution of Abdelhaleem Ashqar in federal court in Chicago is the first case to test whether national security concerns can justify searching a person’s home without a warrant, the two groups said.

"We’ve always been opposed to warrantless physical searches," said Harvey Grossman, legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. "You physically break into the home when people aren’t there. It’s like burglary."

Federal prosecutors allege that Ashqar and two other men, Muhammed Salah of Bridgeview and Mousa Abu Marzook, participated in a 15-year conspiracy to finance the group Hamas, laundering millions of dollars, some of which went to buy weapons. Marzook is a fugitive believed to be living in Syria.

Isn’t that nice of the ACLU, supporting a person accused of supporting a terrorist organization which murders women and children? So special.

Notice, the ACLU is filing the brief simply because of the warrantless search. Nowhere do they state that Ashqar is innocent, potentially innocent, etc. So, they apparently understand that Ashqar conspired to launder millions of dollars for Hamas.

A spokesman for U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald declined to comment Tuesday. But in a court filing in August, prosecutors argued that the search of Ashqar’s home in Oxford, Miss., was unlike a normal search of a suspect’s residence.

"The 4th Amendment does not require the government to obtain court approval for a foreign intelligence search of an agent of a foreign power," prosecutors wrote.

I guess Fitzgerald can only do right when he is attempting to find the Plame outer and only getting Scooter on perjury. Not when he is prosecuting a major Hamas supporter.

Have I mentioned that Ashqar is NOT a United States citizen? And that he is represented by Hamas supporting lawyer Stanley Cohen? Anything to support enemies of peace and the USA, eh, ACLU?

And, for some comedy relief:

The search was conducted under the administration of Bill Clinton and approved by his attorney general, Janet Reno, according to court records.

Apparently, the Chicago Tribune had to remind its liberal readers that Bush wasn’t Pres and Ashcroft wasn’t Attorney General in 1993. LOL!

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