![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Mike Hawash
Apr. 29th, 2003 11:37 amMy former co-worker Mike Hawash has finally been charged with conspiracy, after being unconstitutionally held for 6 weeks in solitary confinement, with his lawyer and all involved under a gag order. I looked over the official indictment, and it certainly does seem like guilt by association at best. A lot of the indictment builds a case of circumstantial evidence against a Mr. Habis Abdullah Al Saoub, but no direct connection is drawn between him and Mike, other than that they knew some of the same people. According to the indictment, Mike travelled to China in October of 2001, and made several preparations for backpacking before going there, including buying some gear at REI and transferring some money from his and his wife's joint account into one in her name alone (this act seems to be the strongest circumstantial evidence of any wrong-doing in the indictment, but I really highly doubt that Mike was the only one who considered the possibility of his death while travelling by plane shortly after September 11th).
The indictment also stated that several of the people he travelled with had various guns that they previously were shooting in a quarry in Hillsboro. Mike was not among them at the time, and given that they were all using collectors' firearms, it seems possible to me that they may have been gun collectors, despite the FBI's statement that an unnamed paid informant claims they were "in training" to fight with Al-Qaeda.
Anyway, is there enough evidence to warrant an investigation? In my opinion, yes. However, "warrant an investigation" is not the same thing as "indefinitely detaining an American citizen in solitary confinement without any charges".
As a non-Muslim, middle-class white heterosexual, I know I'm not high on the list of people to be hauled off by Ashcroft's jack-booted thugs. But I nonetheless will state publicly that what he is doing is wrong. The Bush administration is wrong to be abusing previously-passed paranoid laws to take away our freedoms, and the American people are wrong to be gladly giving up their rights thinking that by doing so they are protecting their freedom.
The indictment also stated that several of the people he travelled with had various guns that they previously were shooting in a quarry in Hillsboro. Mike was not among them at the time, and given that they were all using collectors' firearms, it seems possible to me that they may have been gun collectors, despite the FBI's statement that an unnamed paid informant claims they were "in training" to fight with Al-Qaeda.
Anyway, is there enough evidence to warrant an investigation? In my opinion, yes. However, "warrant an investigation" is not the same thing as "indefinitely detaining an American citizen in solitary confinement without any charges".
As a non-Muslim, middle-class white heterosexual, I know I'm not high on the list of people to be hauled off by Ashcroft's jack-booted thugs. But I nonetheless will state publicly that what he is doing is wrong. The Bush administration is wrong to be abusing previously-passed paranoid laws to take away our freedoms, and the American people are wrong to be gladly giving up their rights thinking that by doing so they are protecting their freedom.
