Remembering Lotfi Raissi, Accused Terrorist

[alcibiades_mystery]

It appears clear that several, if not most, of those detained in the Foiled Terrorist Plot may be released for lack of evidence. No doubt, this will cause a furor in the American media, and maybe even here on DU. Before everyone gets hysterical, I'd like to share the story of Lotfi Raissi. Mr. Raissi was, according to US media outlets, a mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, who supposedly helped train terror pilots in Britain. He was one of the Big Stories in the days after 9/11 - condemned in the news, elevated to Kingpin status for the purpose of that condemnation. There was only one problem: Mr. Raisi didn't actually do anything. What follows is a piece I wrote when Mr. Raissi was finally freed from charges by a UK judge, who denied the US request to extradite him. Had this request not been denied, it's quite possible that Mr. Raisi would still be in US custody somewhere, without trial, and without evidence. The following dates from April or May 2002:

An incredible thing happened today in a London courtroom. The US Anti-Terror Juggernaut was told – in no uncertain terms – to go get bent. Not content with the (literally!) countless “terror suspects” gobbled up by its gaping maw here at home, the USATJ attempted to chomp with its arbitrary jaws one Lotfi Raissi. There was just one small problem: Mr. Raissi resides in a land where due process hasn’t yet been shredded by the drooling demons of hysterical reaction – Lotfi Raissi, you see, lives in the UK.

Raissi was picked up along with his wife and brother at 3 am, September 21, 2001, at the request of one of the many waving heads of the Juggernaut, the FBI. No shortage of US news stories soon inveighed against Mr. Raissi, who the Juggernaut loudly proclaimed had “trained terror pilots” in connection with the September 11 attacks. They even had the connection: one Hani Hanjour who, goes the Juggernaut's charge, flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon. You see, the two men had both trained at an Arizona flight school at the same time – a fact which no doubt justifies the virulent backflips, fevered gabbering and gleeful grabbing at nooses by the overjoyed American press corps.

But then the Juggernaut ran into an odd and fretful problem. It had no substantial evidence to link Mr. Raissi to any terror plot. With no such evidence, and the British courts stubbornly requiring SOME evidence to hold Mr. Raissi, the Juggernaut went immediately to Plan B – requesting the extradition of Mr. Raissi on other charges. The horrendous charges this time? First, Mr. Raissi, now 27, had failed to disclose a teenage arrest on his FAA application. Second, Mr. Raissi had failed to disclose a previous knee surgery on an FAA application. The Juggernaut here displays a marvelous versatility. While its giant rumbling engines are no doubt more suited to widespread destruction, it shows a talent here for delicacy as well, if grasping wildly at straws can be considered a delicate operation. One thing is certain: Mr. Raissi experienced the most dramatic fluctuation of seriousness of charge in the recorded history of jurisprudence.

These new charges were so patently cynical and feckless that one wonders if the Juggernaut actually meant something else by them. District Judge Timothy Workman (who had inexplicably demanded evidence on the terrorism charges) almost certainly had a good hearty laugh at the mounting absurdities as he let Raissi out on bail in February 2002, apparently not finding the devious failure to mention a ten year old minor arrest a sign of particular danger to the good people of England.

Today, Mr. Raissi had his day in court. With regards to the charge of failing to disclose an arrest, Mr. Raissi’s counsel explained that the arrest had been basically expunged under British law, and that Mr. Raissi was under no compulsion to disclose it to anyone at all. As for the outrageous failure to disclose a previous knee surgery, Mr. Raissi’s counsel argued that his client had disclosed the knee surgery in another FAA form, and that it seemed repetitive to do so again, since he knew the inspector was already aware of it. Judge Workman seems to have agreed with both these arguments, as he dismissed the extradition request of the Juggernaut, and allowed Mr. Raissi to go. After seven months of nightmare and fantastical international pariah-hood, Mr. Raissi gets to go home. To hug his wife. To kiss his daughter on the forehead. The jaws of the Juggernaut had slammed shut, but had failed to snare their prey.

In a statement following the decision, Mr. Raissi’s attorney called the whole of the seven month saga “a sorry farce.” A sorry farce. And yes, it was. He also said that an apology was in order. And yes. One is.

But behind the long and heavy sigh of relief one might hear, another question, faintly whispered, struggles to assert itself:

How many Lotfi Raissis sit languishing in US jails – without the benefit of rationality, due process, and fair treatment – in a land where the earth shattering stone wheels of the Juggernaut have already rolled mightily over the Judicial House, and flattened it to so much dust and rubble?