[Vision2020] Computer Seized in Idaho Had 9-11 Targets

[Bob Hoffmann]

At 03:34 PM 3/11/2003 -0800, TEX wrote:
>BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Photographs in a computer used by a Saudi student
>arrested for alleged visa violations include shots of the World Trade
>Center before and after the 2001 terrorism attacks, an FBI agent testified
>Tuesday.

Sounds very incriminating.  Of course, I suspect the computers of most 
people on this list have pictures on their hard drives of the World Trade 
Center, before and after the attacks.  Those would be in our browsers' 
caches, along with "thousands" of other photos.

The drawings of planes hitting buildings sounds a bit more incriminating, 
but they could also conceivably be found in the same location on the hard 
drive, the result of visiting news and other sites.  It seems to me that 
the depictions are not so crucial as the location on the hard drive, and 
any evidence about how they got there and how unique they are.  That's why 
we have trials in this country, to sort through the prosecutor's 
incriminating evidence and discovering whether or not that evidence stands 
up to scrutiny by a vigorous defense.

I don't pretend to know whether Sami has terrorist ties or not.  But I do 
know that a Chinese scientist at Los Alamos was accused of spying because 
he had unauthorized contacts with the Chinese government, and he was found 
to have taken top-secret scientific information home with him.  Wen Ho Lee 
later pled guilty to one relatively minor charge of mishandling secrets (as 
opposed to espionage).  Many of his colleagues no doubt mishandled secrets 
in the same manner (it's called "taking work home") but were never charged, 
and the FBI had to seriously backtrack on its accusations against Mr. Lee.

By releasing this information about Sami's computer, it seems to me that 
the prosecution is trying to convict him in the court of public opinion, 
which can ease a conviction in a court of law, whether that conviction is 
deserved or not.  As an opinionated person, I am willing to convict a 
person in my mind before a trial, but in this case, I'd need to see more 
explicit evidence.

Bob Hoffmann
820 S. Logan St.
Moscow, ID  83843

Tel: 208 883-0642