Filed under: Domestic Policy, Foreign Policy, Politics | Tags: Crime/Law Enforcement, Debunking Liberal Lies, Homeland Security, Political Correctness/Multiculturalism, Terrorism
Remember James Ujaama? Liberals’ one time poster-boy for everything that is supposedly wrong with the Patriot Act—racism, ethnic and racial profiling, the supposed trampling of civil liberties, the systematic elimination of dissidents, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah—here, perhaps this will refresh your memory:
James Ujaama, former Seattle community activist, entrepreneur, author and webmaster of the anti-war website StopAmerica.org, has been indefinitely detained as “a potential witness in an ongoing grand jury probe of terrorism.” Arrested at his brother’s home in Denver on July 22, he has since been moved to Virginia for grand jury questioning. The politically outspoken Ujaama, heralded by city officials and in local press for his community development efforts, has not been charged with a crime. Reportedly under investigation are purported ties between Ujaama and an alleged terrorist recruiter in London, and unsubstantiated claims that Ujaama and his brother planned to use an Oregon ranch as a terrorist training camp.Ujaama’s family and many observers are concerned about his basic civil liberties. A editorial decries ‘the apparent assumption that if a case involves possible links to terrorism, normal procedures governing the rights of suspects can be put on hold or even tossed to the wind.’ Some corporate media coverage of the case has irresponsibly used headline shorthand and photo placement to associate Ujaama with accused terrorist plotters, and repeating of a supposed water-poisoning plot.
As a black man and a Muslim, Ujaama already bears two identities which have marked individuals for government suspicion or harassment. In addition, Ujaama is a black political activist who has made common cause with the victims of American military adventures in the Arab world, particularly in Iraq. Some activists worry that his arrest may indicate a new wave of government crackdown on black political dissidents.
By any measure, it is clear that the government’s war on dissent is widening. Denver journalist Ryan McMaken cites a recent headline reading, ‘Jailed man admits opposition to foreign policy.’ When opposition to US foreign policy is something which must be ‘admitted’ to—at least in the eyes of the mainstream media–the shadow of fascism has fallen over the face of democracy.
Well, as you may remember, the “community activist, entrepreneur, and author” pleaded guilty in 2003 to reduced charges of conspiring to provide cash, computers and fighters to the Taliban. The left became curiously silent in the case of one James Ujaama. Since then, Ujaama served two years in prison, and then fled the country on parole—he was recaptured in February.
Fortunately, by violating the conditions of his parole, Ujaama voided the original plea agreement, and prosecutors reinstated the original terrorism charges.
James Ujaama has now pleaded guilty to attempting to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon and stockpiling weapons and ammunition. He has also admitted to communications with a radical London cleric about his activities, and that he attempted to raise money for, and otherwise aid terrorists (presumably fighting our troops) in Afghanistan.
Ujaama now faces up to 30 years in federal prison.
I think its important to remember the left held up Ujaama’s case as evidence of the supposed excesses of the Patriot Act. If they had had their way, Ujaama would never have even been arrested. If the left gets their way, the government will will be stripped of the very tools they used to stop Ujaama.
And I think its equally important to remember how beholden Democrats are to these very same fringe nuts.
6 Comments so far
Leave a comment
American Elephants 
Care to provide any examples of liberals using him as a “poster-boy?” Because strangely enough I’m a liberal, I’m well-connected, and have yet to hear anything about him.
However, a quick Google search reveals at 1. wikipedia’s entry, 2. cnn’s entry, 3. the indictment from findlaw.com, and then 4. foxnews and 5. michelle malkin. Based on this, whose poster-boy would you say he is?
It looks to me that this is merely a case of some conservatives getting up in arms and pinning something on the liberals that they have absolutely nothing to do with. It’s intellectual dishonesty of the worst kind, and instead of use actual facts or logic you conservatives do it with practically every breath. Pathetic.
LikeLike
Comment by Brad August 14, 2007 @ 6:46 amOh, I almost forgot. Care to make your case why conservatives should be trusted? I forget, who was president on 9/11? Who ignored warnings? Oh, right. A REPUBLICAN.
LikeLike
Comment by Brad August 14, 2007 @ 6:48 amUm, Einstein, there are 3 fairly lengthy paragraphs quoted there from a fairly popular liberal source hodling him up as victim of “the war on dissent”. But if you’re eager to read more such tripe, I found siminilar articles in the Seattle PI, the Stranger Weekly, the Rocky Mountain News, The Boston Phoenix and others. Feel free to go read them yourself.
You’re correct that Bush had scarcely been president for 8 months on 9/11, You’re incorrect that he ignored any acitonable warnings, according to the 9/11 Commission. And he’s done a hell of a lot more, both before and since then to fight terrorism than Clinton did in all of his 8 years. Clinton, who was president while the 9/11 terrorists were entering the country, making their plans, trainng themselves up, and also during the first world trade center bombing, the attacks on the Khobar towers, our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the attack on the USS Cole, and did virtually nothing.
His response to teh original bombing of the World Trade Center was, “I would discourage the American people from overreacting to this.” He also said he would implement a policy of “continued monitoring.”
Clinton is also responsible for “unnecessarily” strengthening and expanding the famous “wall” that made it impossible for intelligence services to talk to eachother, and made it impossible for them to connect the dots, according to the 9/11 commission.
Well, lets be honest, it was only unneccessary if you werent trying to hide illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources…you know, the chinese who can now hit any part of mainland US with nuclear ballistic missiles because they funnelled some contributions Bills way. What a guy.
LikeLike
Comment by American Elephant August 14, 2007 @ 7:40 amand if you’re interested in further proofs that Liberals cannot be trusted to defend America, by all means, please check out my recurring feature, “If Bush lied, then so did…” which exposes the BIG lie that Bush ever lied about the war on terrorism, and clearly proves that it is Democrats who have been and continue to lie about matters of war and national security because they put their lust for power ahead of national security, and pretty much everything else.
LikeLike
Comment by American Elephant August 14, 2007 @ 7:47 amindymedia is a blog, idiot. Anyone can post there. As for your other examples, I’m wasting enough time even reading your idiotic blog. Link to them, I’m sure you know how. Oh, and I’ve also never heard of those “publications” either.
Oh, and hallelujah, it’s more dumbass Clinton bashing! That was exactly the response I hoped for. Here are some things you should THINK about if you’re capable: “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US” (see, that’s how links work), Rice being advised to focus on al Qaeda in January 2001 and ignoring the warnings, and the CIA, even Tenet, trying desperately to persuade the Bush administration to take the threats seriously. They didn’t listen and allowed it to happen.
But, as usual, liberals get their news from real sources, not docuganda on Fox and ABC.
LikeLike
Comment by Brad August 14, 2007 @ 7:51 amYes, and Daily Kos is a blog, both are very popular among the left. Both are fringe, but as we’ve seen with teh Democratic presidential candidates appearances at the Yearly Kos convention, the liberal “finge” is now mainstream in the Democratic party. The Seattle PI is a major newspaper in seattle, the stranger is a popular weekly paper in seattle, the Rocky Mountain News is a lefty paper in, guess where? Colorado. good boy.
As for BinLaden wanting to strike in the US, yes, I know that neither you nor the Clintons had figured that out by then, but to everyone else in the world, it was common knowledge as he had declared war on us 3 years prior, idiot.
But unfortunately for you, the 9/11 commission agreed that there was nothing but vague unactionable information in that PDB, again, thanks to Bill and his wall to protect his illegal foreign campaign contributions.
And the 9/11 Commission also verifies that Rice was working to increase focus on al Qaeda by ending the Clinton policy of “swatting at flies” and actually going after them.
Sorry, youre wrong on every count.
Ujaama, that was actionable intelligence, they found out the identity of a person–but saying “al qaeda wants to attack us” sorry, like I said, that was common knowledge to everyone but you and the Clinton Administration.
LikeLike
Comment by American Elephant August 14, 2007 @ 8:08 am