Greenwald: 4 points about the 1971 FBI break-in

[reACTIONary]

31. I did a search on "anticipatory prosecutions"...

... and found this article by Glenn Greenwald: The FBI's anticipatory prosecution of Muslims to criminalize speech

In it he claims that US-born Hamid Hayat, who was sentenced to 24 years in prison for allegedly attending a terrorist training camp when he was 19, is a victim of this tactic.

He quotes this description of the pressure put on Hayat by Khan, the FBI informant:

"Hayat traveled with his family to Pakistan in April 2003. Two of the recorded conversations took place when he was there. Like the earlier conversations, they covered a wide range of topics. On one occasion, Khan scolded Hayat for being lazy and not going to a training camp. In response, Hayat protested that the camp was closed during hot weather and that had the camp been open, he 'would have been there.' On another occasion, Khan relayed to Hayat a conversation in which Hayat's father explained that '[Hayat wi]ll enter the Madrassah, and, God Willing, he [will] go for training!' Hayat responded to Khan: 'Um-hmm. . . . No problem, absolutely.'"

Now, Khan is clearly not only encouraging Hayat to engage in an activity that is blatantly illegal under American law, he is engaging in an illegal activity himself (terrorist recruitment). If Hayat had simply picked up the phone and ratted Khan out to the FBI he would have been free, clear, off the hook, totally out of the woods. They would have moved on to someone who actually was predisposed towards and motivated to commit the crime. Indeed, Greenwald tells us that "targeted mosque members themselves have reported the informant to the FBI" on many occasions.

It seems to me that Hayat got what was coming to him, for a crime that he did indeed commit.