A Flawed Terrorist Yardstick
In the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Ali Alubeidy was in the cross hairs of the Justice Department, singled out as a potential terrorist by no less than U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft. In fact, he was guilty of paying off a corrupt bureaucrat to get a commercial driver’s license, including a permit to transport hazardous materials. His sentence: three years’ probation. But the terrorism case against him never got off the ground. Prosecutors soon realized he was not a terrorist or involved in any terrorist organization, and even said so publicly. To the Justice Department, however, Alubeidy, and a group of 19 other Middle Eastern men caught up in the driver’s license scam, still count. They are included on a list of more than 280 cases that the department cites as evidence that it is winning the war on terrorism. Full Story