LTTE, the most dangerous, deadly, says FBI
[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 January 2008, 03:09 GMT]
In a campaign "celebrating a century," U.S.'s Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) said of the Liberation Tigers: "Needless to say, the Tamil Tigers are among the most dangerous and deadly extremists in the world. For more than three decades, the group has launched a campaign of violence and bloodshed in Sri Lanka, the island republic off the southern coast of India." The website added that LTTE's "ultimate goal is to seize control of the country from the Sinhalese ethnic majority."
"The U.S. government has designated the Tigers a foreign terrorist organization, so their activities here are illegal. And we’re determined to stop them, using the full range of our investigative and intelligence capabilities," the FBI said.
On the achievements as part of war of terror, the FBI said, "we’ve also arrested another 11 Tamil Tiger-related suspects in the New York City region," and also added Baltimore arrest, sentencing of Indonesian men on conpiracy to provide material support to the Tigers, and the April arrest of the Leader of LTTE in New York, as part of the FBI's achievements.
The website cautioned the readers: "You can help by being careful with your donations. Like other terrorists, the Tigers have raised funds under a variety of cover organizations, often by posing as charities. A great deal of money, for example, was raised for the Tigers following the 2004 tsunami that devastated Sri Lanka and many other countries."
"And please report any suspicious activities to your local field office or anonymously through this website," the statement said.
The U.S. judicial system has given FBI only checkered success in prosecuting terrorism cases. Two recently concluded terrorism cases in Florida and in Texas, produced hung juries.
Speaking on the Texas case, David D. Cole, a professor of constitutional law at Georgetown University, said the jury’s verdict called into question the government’s tactics in freezing the assets of charities using secret evidence that the charities cannot see, much less rebut. When, at trial, prosecutors “have to put their evidence on the table, they can’t convict anyone of anything,” he said. “It suggests the government is really pushing beyond where the law justifies them going,” New York Times report said.
“I thought they were not guilty across the board,” said the juror, William Neal, a 33-year-old art director from Dallas. The case “was strung together with macaroni noodles,” Mr. Neal said on the Texas case. “There was so little evidence.”
In the Florida case, one of seven defendants was acquitted and a mistrial was declared for the other six defendants accused of of plotting to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower. Defense lawyers contended that the informant and an overzealous FBI were responsible for pushing the alleged conspiracy along. "This was all written, directed and produced by the FBI,'' defense attorney Albert Levin was quoted as saying by Florida daily, Sun-sentinel.
President Bush's doctrine of "war on terror" has provided the required legal pretext for the FBI to investigate and prosecute those who alleged to have provided material support to organizations listed as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs).
However, the Democratic contenders for U.S. Presidency, Sen.Clinton and Barack Obama, have expressed reservations on the effectiveness of the Bush doctrine. Privacy advocates spectulate that a Democratic Presidency is likely to modify the emphasis on FBI's aggressive approach to prosecutions, and restore the erosion to fundamental rights on privacy and freedom that have marked Bush Presidency.
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