Death Of The Sixth Amendment

At first glance, this article seems to provide grounds for celebration during the Orwellian-themed "Islamofascism Awareness Week."

DALLAS, Oct. 22 -- A federal judge declared a mistrial on Monday in what was widely seen as the government's flagship terrorism-financing case after prosecutors failed to persuade a jury to convict five leaders of a Muslim charity on any charges, or even to reach a verdict on many of the 197 counts.

The case, involving the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development and five of its backers, is the government's largest and most complex legal effort to shut down what it contends is American financing for terrorist organizations in the Middle East.

Proving that even Texans aren't complete shits-for-brains like David Horowitz, Chris Hitchens and Marty Peretz.

But not so fast.

Instead, the prosecution said [during the case], the foundation supported terrorism by sending more than $12 million to charitable groups, known as zakat committees, which build hospitals and feed the poor.

Prosecutors said the committees were controlled by Hamas and contributed to terrorism by helping Hamas spread its ideology and recruit supporters. The government relied on Israeli intelligence agents, using pseudonyms, to testify in support of this theory.

Witnesses using pseudonyms? Doesn't anyone remember something called the Confrontation Clause? Sixth Amendment, anyone? Has the right to cross-examine one's accusers been completely abolished? How can you confront a witness you know nothing about? How can a court swear a witness in and then allow the witness to lie about his or her own fucking name? Where are all the phony fucking libertarians on this one?

If this story has been reported correctly, U.S. District Judge A. Joe Fish should be impeached.