The second trial of six men accused of plotting attacks on Chicago's Sears Tower and FBI offices ended with a second hung jury Wednesday, an embarrassing blow to a case the Bush administration had cited as an example of nipping a devastating terrorist attack in the bud.An example of how our system has trouble handling cases involving potential terrorists, especially when racial components are involved. Who doesn't think it's going to get harder for juries to convict in similar cases as the years accumulate beyond 9/11 while daily stories identify the real enemy combatant in our midst?
So, who were these guys? The ringleader Batiste sounds like a real winner,
Batiste led a sect called the Moorish Science Temple that blends elements of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and does not recognize the authority of the U.S. government.He reminds me more of a nutty street hustler preacher than a bona fide AQ operative. Maybe that's what some jurors saw too and just couldn't send him the the gang upriver without more smoke from the gun. Americans tend to be that way.
After all, who's not angry these days? Just think of these fellows as bitter small towners clinging to religion, guns, separatism, and war with America due to failed federal policies ruining their lives. It's understandable--who wouldn't want to take out that bitterness at the very symbol of devilish oppression worldwide--Sears and Roebuck? It's darn fortunate these guys didn't get it done since Barack was busy up there taking notes from various mentors on the prevention of terrorism through income redistribution and not going into Iraq.
By the way, ABC euphemistically replaced the term "hung jury" with "deadlocked" on this story. Too suggestive of nooses, perhaps? One would hope it wasn't the other popular usage of the word!
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