A Mere Coincidence

What's with the Sun Times softpedaling the charges against Ali al-Marri? No mention in the story at all of why he was originally detained and charged:

Al-Marri, who denied he's an al-Qaida agent, arrived in the U.S. from Qatar on a student visa with his wife and five children. He moved to Peoria and planned to get a master's degree at Bradley University. Instead, following the 9/11 attacks, he was arrested.

(Guess he's a victim . Scroll down to the Sun Times' coverage of the Pew poll. This seems to be a recurring theme in Sun Times' stories lately. In a "news" story, not an opinion piece.) Trib has the details at the end of the story. A little reminder:

Back to Peoria. The Chicago Tribune today:

An alleged Al Qaeda sleeper agent arrested in West Peoria in December 2001 was picked for his work by Sept. 11 attack planner Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in part because the agent was married and had children, thus making him less likely to attract attention, new court documents show.

Ali Saleh Kahlab al-Marri, a Qatari national, was told to arrive in the U.S. before Sept. 11, 2001, and to head to Pakistan if he did not make it into this country before then, according to court papers filed in Charleston, S.C.

Al-Marri, his wife and five children arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 10, 2001, purportedly to study at Bradley University, authorities said.

The US government wants to continue to hold al-Marri as an enemy combatant:

The declassified summary indicates that al-Marri traveled to Dubai in August 2001 and was given $10,000 to $13,000, plus $3,000 for a laptop computer, by Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, an Al Qaeda paymaster and a lieutenant of Mohammed.

The computer later was found to contain files on how to make hydrogen cyanide, a potentially lethal toxin, as well as more than 1,000 apparent credit card numbers and other financial data, which formed the basis of fraud charges originally lodged against al-Marri.

And I guess this family man is engaged in the family business:

The document states that Mohammed communicated about al-Marri's activities in the U.S. through his brother, Jaralla Saleh Mohamed Kahla al-Marri, who now is being held at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

I just noticed the man arrived on Sept. 10, 2001. Mere coincidence? I think not. No mention of this, of course, in the Sun Times story.

AP story via Forbes here. More details here. I sincerely hope this irresponsible ruling will be overturned by the full panel of the 4th Circuit. No surprise that the 2 judges who outruled the third were appointed by make-the-world-safe-for-Osama (while spending time with Monica) Bill Clinton. The dissenting judge stated this "Although al-Marri was not personally engaged in armed conflict with U.S. forces, he is the type of stealth warrior used by al-Qaeda to perpetrate terrorist acts against the United States."

This also gives even more urgency to the debate that we be very careful about granting US residency in the first place.

UPDATE: In related news, the posturing happy talkers at CAIR have been charged in another case involving Hamas as unindicted co-conspirators. At least we have some small comfort that their membership has dropped drastically in the US. More from LGF on CAIR's blatant anti-Semitism and the white-gloved treatment they receive from the multiculti apologists in the MSM, not to mention our government. Also charged is the Islamic Society of North America, which is based in Chicago and about due for another national convention with seminars advising on how to beat your wife lightly. (More here suggesting they set up phony battered women's shelters---more fundraising for terror?) Will they invite cop-killer and sanitized domestic terrorist Northwestern Law School prof Bernadine Dohrn to speak again? Such an admirable person. Who will be their keynote speaker this year? Hard to top Iran the terror state's former president from the last go-round.

UPDATE: More commentary on CAIR from Jonah Goldberg, HT HotAir.