Tuesday, April 01, 2003

While we were distracted...

If you have any doubts about whether the Bush regime isn’t merrily running the Constitution and the Bill of Rights through a shredder, read this:

Intel employee, US citizen Mike Hawash detained without due process

A US Citizen was arrested in Hillsboro on March 20, 2003 under a secret warrant. He is being held in solitary confinement as a material witness, although he has not been interrogated or charged with any crime.

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In an open letter to senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Intel SVP Steven McGeady writes:

On Thursday morning, March 20, a long-time employee of mine, Mike (Maher) Hawash, was arrested outside Intel’s Hillsboro offices and taken into custody by the FBI and members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force. We later learned he was being “detained” as a material witness. Simultaneously, FBI agents in bulletproof vests and carrying M-16s woke Mike’s wife and three children in their Hillsboro home, searched it for four hours, and presented Mrs. Hawash with a grand jury subpoena.

All of the court documents in this case are sealed. Mike was held incommunicado from his wife and attorneys for several days. When they did contact him, neither he, his attorneys, nor anyone else knows why he is being detained. Mike is a long-time U.S. citizen, originally of Palestinian birth and previously of Jordanian nationality. He has been a U.S. citizen for many years, having attended college in Texas. He worked for me at Intel on and off for 10 years. (...)

The only thing anyone can think of is that, long before 9/11/01, Mike and his wife donated to Global Relief, a once-respected international aid organization that since October 2002 has fallen into disrepute. But there is no way Mike could have known this at this time. My wife is a recently-naturalized U.S. citizen, originally from Northern Ireland, another victim of terrorism. If our donations to Northern Irish aid were to be mis-directed, without our knowledge, would I have FBI agents kicking down my door? Would my wife be put into federal prison?
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See www.freemikehawash.org for more information.

I’m inclined to believe Steven, he was one of the very few people brave enough to testify against Microsoft in the antitrust trial, and the only one from among Microsoft’s “allies”. He’s not afraid to speak the truth to power, even under fire.