The
arrest of Ali Khalil Mehri demonstrates another source of terrorist
funding, which is the sale of counterfeit products. Shelley argues
that terrorists use such sales due to the “low risks” and “high
profits” of the counterfeit trade (2012, abstract). In the case of
Mehri, Paraguayan authorities arrested him in the course of
investigating two terror attacks, and found Hezbollah propaganda and
evidence of foreign money transfers (Arena, 2006, pp. 459-460).
Levitt states that Mehri was arrested for “selling millions of
dollars in pirated software and funding Hezbollah” (2005, p.9).
Hudson notes that Mehri was arrested in the same building in which
Paraguayan authorities later found over 4,000 counterfeit CD's and 80
machines capable of creating such counterfeits (2010, p. 30). Hudson
also suggests that Mehri was able to escape from Paraguay to Syria
based on his contributions to Paraguayan Deputy Angel Ramón Barchini
(2002, p. 37).
The
arrest of Mehri brings to attention how American authorities may
detain a terror suspect within the United States. Should such
suspects be held under criminal law, or should these cases be
approached as a matter of national security? It must be noted that
Mehri was a” a newly naturalized Paraguayan citizen” (2002, p.
37). In a hypothetical question of “how would this be handled in
America, had this situation be handled here?”, we note that as an
American citizen, Mehri would have had the full range of
Constitutional rights had he been arrested in the United States. Of
course, USCIS would have fallen short of it's mission if a person
like Mehri was allowed to become a citizen. Of course, the younger
Tsarnaev brother ( one of the Boston Bombers) had become a citizen
(Ng,2013, factoid), so we do see that sometimes USCIS does fail in
it's mission.
So
why is it important that American citizens be given full protection
under due process? Etter says:
“It
is through a constitutional prism that American courts view all legal
actions in the United States. Thus when those that have attempted to
achieve their political and personal ambitions by means of force
plotted against the government and their plots failed they were put
before the American civil justice system to face trial for their
actions” (2008, p.99).
Once
we have abandoned our legal system, we are no longer Americans.
However, that does not mean we can not set different legal standards
for non-citizens , or take better care of who we extend citizenship
to.
Arena,
M. P. (2006). Hizballah’s global criminal operations. Global
Crime, 7(3/4), 454–470.
http://doi.org/10.1080/17440570601073186
Etter,
G. W. (2008). Prosecuting Domestic Terrorists in the American Court
System: A Study of Three Cases. Journal of the Institute of
Justice and International Studies, (8), 99–119. Retrieved May
11, 2015 from
http://search.proquest.com.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu/docview/213962107?pq-origsite=summon
Hudson,
R. A. (2002). A global overview of narcotics-funded terrorist and
other extremist groups. Federal Research Division Library of
Congress. Retrieved May 11, 2015
Hudson,
R. A. (2010). Terrorist and organized crime groups in the
Tri-Border Area (TBA) of South America. Federal Research Division
Library of Congress. Retrieved May 11, 2015 from
http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-files/TerrOrgCrime_TBA.pdf
Levitt,
M. (2005). Hezbollah: Financing terror through criminal enterprise.
Testimony given to Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, Washington, DC, 25. Retrieved April 13, 2015 from
http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/testimony/313.pdf
Ng,
Christina. (2013, April 19). Boston bomb suspect became a U.S.
citizen on 9/11 last year. ABC News. Retrieved May 11, 2015
from
http://abcnews.go.com/US/boston-marathon-bombing-suspected-tsarnaev-brothers/story?id=19000426
Shelley,
L. I. (2012). The diverse facilitators of counterfeiting: A regional
perspective. Journal of International Affairs, 66(1),
19–XV. Retrieved May 11, 2015 from
http://search.proquest.com.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu/docview/1243043417?pq-origsite=summon
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Considering that Islam is both a political and religious system, in which community laws (sharia) are the direct word of g*d, it is trickier to make a decision that would be "politically correct"...
and what about Muslims fleeing Islamic tyrannies? I recognize that not all Muslims are 100% religiously faithful.
It is a hard question. But I think I would err on the side of caution when it comes to America's safety
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Let' suppose you
have 3 people; A, B, and C.
A is a known terrorist, B & C are not. If A communicates with B; I think we should be able to spy on that communication because A is a terrorist. But if B then communicates with C, we should not be able to spy on that communication. ...unless the communication between A and B establishes that B is a terrorist as well. |
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