US top court dismisses Al-Qaeda case (al-Marri, back to You, Obamessiah, and our courts to decide)

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Supreme Court refused to weigh in Friday on whether US presidents have the authority to indefinitely detain a terrorist suspect in the United States without charges.

But it sent the issue back for a new hearing before the federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, which ruled in July that former president George W. Bush had that power in the case of Ali al-Marri, an alleged Al-Qaeda sleeper agent.

The high court's action effectively delayed resolution of an issue that, while different, could have implications for the estimated 245 "enemy combatants" still being held by the United States in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

It left Marri's lawyers with an avenue to press their challenge to the constitutionality of indefinite detentions on US soil in terrorism cases, while also buying time for the new administration of President Barack Obama, which had asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the case.

The appeals court in Richmond scheduled a session April 27 to hear arguments in the case.

Unlike the Guantanamo detainees, Marri, a dual Qatari-Saudi national, was a US resident studying at a university in Illinois when he was first arrested in 2001 on credit card fraud charges.

Former president George W. Bush declared him an "enemy combatant" in 2003 and he was transferred to a US naval brig in South Carolina, where he was held without charges.

But in a change last week, the Justice Department formally charged Marri in a federal court with providing support to Al-Qaeda, and asked the Supreme Court to set aside as "moot" the constitutional challenge to his detention as an enemy combatant.

2001? SOMETIME BEFORE 9/11 : (INDIANA : A SERIES OF HOAX ANTHRAX LETTERS IS SENT OUT FROM INDIANAPOLIS) before September 11, 2001: In a story seemingly unreported anywhere else, the New York Post later claims that a series of hoax anthrax letters is sent out from Indianapolis, Indiana, at some point before 9/11. The FBI allowed the Post to see copies of these letters, which had handwriting and other features remarkably similar to the later [OCT 2001] letters containing real anthrax. [New York Post, 11/1/01]

NOTE THAT IT WAS THE INDANPOLIS OFFICE OF THE FBI THAT SENT A TIP ABOUT AL MARRI THE "STEAMER CHEST GUY" TO THE FBI OFFICE IN ILLINOIS:

SEPTEMBER 2001 : (ILLINOIS : FBI INVESTIGATES AL-MARRI AND THE STEAMER CHEST----See BRIDGEVIEW IL CELL)Like so many other Middle Eastern men living in the US at the time, Ali Salem Kahlah Al-Marri became a so-called person of interest to the FBI within a week of the Sept. 11 attacks. The FBI office in Peoria had received a lead from its Indianapolis office regarding a steamer chest that Al-Marri had shipped to the US. The Peoria office also had gotten a call from a salesman at US Cellular who expressed concerns regarding Al-Marri's cell phone account. FBI agents Nicholas Zambeck and Robert Brown began a preliminary investigation and discovered that the Social Security number used by Al-Marri also was being used by two others, someone in California and someone in Illinois. They also found a discrepancy in the date of birth on his enrollment form at Bradley. Al-Marri had first said he was born Feb. 3, 1965, and on a later form listed his date of birth as Sept. 24, 1965. - "Mystery man in 9/11 terror case-Who is Ali Al-Marri? FBI links him to hijackers," by RICHARD T. PIENCIAK, New York Daily News 1/12/03

OCTOBER 2, 2001 : (WEST PEORIA, IL : FBI HAS FIRST INTERVIEW WITH AL MARRI) Al-Marri was accused in the indictment of lying to the FBI during an Oct. 2, 2001, interview when he told agents that he arrived in the United States on Sept. 10, 2001, and that it was his first visit since 1991. The indictment said he had been in the country during 2000. - "Terror suspect named as 'enemy combatant,' By Jerry Seper, The Washington Times, Published June 24, 2003

The anthrax hoax letters sent before 9/11 from Indianapolis were these- maybe someone has more info:

AUGUST 2001 (MORE THREATENING LETTERS SIMILAR TO ANTHRAX LETTERS LATER MAILED TO DASCHLE AND BROKAW ARRIVE AT FOX ADDRESSED TO SEAN HANNITY) The letters arrived before Sept. 11 but were addressed in the same kind of block letter handwriting used in Daschle and Brokaw missives. They apparently contained no anthrax. Each line in the printed address clearly sloped downward to the right, the paper said. The envelopes bore a postmark from Indianapolis, where the Post Office discovered yesterday [OCT 31, 2001] that some of its equipment is contaminated with anthrax.
Hannity said that he'd begun receiving the suspicious mail last winter [2000late-early2001?] and again in August [2001].
"When I saw the Tom Daschle envelope and the Tom Brokaw envelope, I immediately was stunned," Hannity told listeners. "It was the exact same handwriting that I had recognized. ... When I saw it I said, 'Oh my God, that's the same guy.'"
The "Hannity & Colmes" co-host revealed that in addition to the letters with an Indianapolis postmark, "one or two were from Trenton (N.J.)," where traces of anthrax have also been reported. Hannity said he hasn't gotten any more of the letters since the Sept. 11 attacks and hasn't been tested for anthrax exposure. -----------FROM AN ARTICLE DATED Thursday, Nov. 1, 2001VIA 38 posted on 09/05/2003 9:38 AM PDT by Princeton | To 37

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