The Administration named al-Marabh as a potential source of info almost immediately after 9/11:
http://www.detnews.com/2001/metro/0109/19/a02-297990.htmHe was arrested and held incommunicado for eight months or so, alleging that he was abused:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0824-01.htmThe Washington Post eventually expressed concern about the case, and the Weekly Standard took strong exception to the Post's humanitarianism:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Utilities/printer_preview.asp?idArticle=1405&R=9EB09F1Now we have this new story:
Administration freed terror suspect despite evidence he planned 'martyr' attack
By John Soloman June 2, 2004
Nabil al-Marabh was No. 27 on the FBI's list of terror suspects after Sept. 11. He trained in Afghanistan's militant camps, sent money to a roommate convicted in a foiled plot to bomb a hotel and boasted to an informant about plans to blow up a fuel truck inside a New York tunnel, FBI documents allege.
The Bush administration set him free -- to Syria -- even though prosecutors had sought to bring criminal cases against him and judges openly expressed concerns about possible terrorist ties.
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One FBI report summarized a high-level debriefing of a Jordanian informant named Ahmed Y. Ashwas that was personally conducted by the U.S. attorney in Chicago, signifying its importance. The informant alleged al-Marabh told him of specific terrorist plans during their time in prison.
Even the judge who accepted al-Marabh's plea agreement on minor immigration charges in 2002 balked. "Something about this case just makes me feel uncomfortable," Judge Richard Arcara said in court. The Justice Department assured the judge that al-Marabh did not have terrorist ties.
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http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2004/06/02/administration_freed_terror_suspect_despite_evidence_he_planned_martyr_attack/<edit:> I want to tread carefully here. In the wake of Abu-Ghraib and the Supreme Court decisions, the right-wingers want to counter-attack against the "due-process" and "humanitarian treatment" crowd. It is possible that al-Marabh should not have been offered the plea bargain, but it is also possible that there was no real evidence against him; in either case, it is very probable that the rightwing will be screaming that "liberal traitors forced the President to release a known terrorist."