- Its title is: "USA v. Asher Karni, Mag. No. 03-707
(TFH/JMF)." This very serious federal criminal case, involving potentially
a matter of nuclear terrorism, has been filed in the U.S. District Court,
in Washington, DC. However, unlike the hysteria over Michael Jackson, Martha
Stewart, and the break up of that silly Affleck-Lopez's relationship, it
is getting little or no attention by the Establishment Media. Why? Is it
because the defendant is an Israeli citizen, with close connections to
its military regime?
-
- According to court documents, Karni served as an officer
in the Israeli Occupation Army "from 1971 to 1985." That's 14
years of military expertise, with an outfit notorious for sucker punching
its opponents and kicking their victims, while they are on the ground begging
for mercy, or, like with Rachel Corrie, running her over with a bulldozer.
Karni knows his way around the block. He is no Woody Allen-like nerd, that's
for sure. You could say that he is a professional. A professional, what?
-
- Karni stands accused of illegally sneaking 66 U.S.-made
nuclear weapons detonators, via South Africa, his present home base for
business, into Pakistan. Pretty serious stuff. The triggered spark gaps
have a dual use. Hospitals use them to break up kidney stones, but they
can also be used to electronically trigger a nuclear weapon.
-
- According to the Feds, Karni tried to buy the devices
from a manufacturer located in New England. He was advised that he would
need a license to export them. The clever Karni then set up a number of
front companies, to ship the devices to South Africa, and then on to Pakistan.
Thankfully, the Feds got on to him, and the producer of the device disabled
them, so that they couldn't be used by any element bent on a massive terrorist
killing spree.
-
- Yet, despite all of the above, Karni was granted bail
of $100,000, on Jan. 28, 2004, by Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan. Why? Why
is Karni, age 50, being treated with such kid gloves? Why, too, aren't
the anti-terrorism hard liners, such as Attorney General John Ashcroft
and V.P. Dick Cheney, demanding that federal prosecutors toss the book
at Karni and throw the key away?
-
- There is, indeed, something bizarre going on here. As
far as the Establishment Media is concerned, the case of "USA v. Asher
Karni" hardly exist. For example, the "Washington Post,"
the "Washington Times" and the "Baltimore Sun," have
all ignored it, despite its wider, lethal implications. The wire services,
however, like AP's Matt Kelley, in his "Israeli Man in Nuke Triggers
Case," 01/28/04, have picked it up, as has Karen Abbott, "Rocky
Mountain News," (01/13/04), "Israeli Goes Free on Bail."
-
- You would think, too, that media windbags, like: Bill
O'Reilly, Wolf Blitzer and Sean Hannity, would have all raised the matter
of the Karni case on their cable tv shows by now. They're supposedly concerned
about any threats to national security. Right? Yet, they have been silent.
-
- This case raises, on its face, profound questions regarding
a nuclear Middle East black market, and of a conniving middleman, a la
Arnold Rothstein, trying to make a quick buck off a sale, that if successful,
could put the entire world at risk. (Rothstein was a notorious NYC gangster,
who funded the first organized Drug Cartel in this country, back in the
1920s. He also fixed the 1919 World Series. See, the riveting "Rothstein,"
by David Pietrusza, for all the disgusting details.)
- And, what meaning, if any, should be attributed to Karni's
long, intimate involvement with the Israeli military? Does he also have
Mossad ties? Who is he, really? And, who, if anyone, is he working for?
Are other intriguers, in Tel Aviv, involved in this international conspiracy?
The American people deserve answers to these questions.
-
- Chief Judge Hogan agreed that, based on the Feds' proffer
of evidence, that the "weight of the evidence against the defendant
is substantial." The judge also conceded that Karni, who was arrested
on Jan. 1, 2004, while going through Customs at the Denver International
Airport, has "no ties to the U.S. or to Washington, DC area,"
although, he does have "ties to Israel and is a citizen of that nation."
-
- At an earlier bail hearing, on Jan. 14, 2004, a sitting
magistrate, Judge Michael Watanabe, established that there "was probable
cause that Mr. Karni committed the alleged crime." Bail was set at
$75,000. The government appealed his bail decision to Judge Hogan. The
government now indicates that it will not appeal Judge Hogan's bail decision,
which releases Karni to the custody of a rabbi at the "Hebrew Sheltering
Home in Silver Spring, MD," one of the most affluent Jewish cities
in the U.S. Karni is subject to electronic monitoring.
-
- More Queries: Why wasn't Karni tagged as an "enemy
combatant," like Jose Padilla, a dirty bomb suspect, who is being
held on the most dubious kind of evidence, despite being an American citizen?
Does the Bush-Cheney Gang's "War on Terrorism" only apply to
defendants who are of Arab stock and/or adhere to the Muslim religion?
And, why the silence, too, on this life and death issue, from the Godfathers
of the Homeland Security Law, Rep. "Pious Tom" Lantos (D-CA),
Joseph I. "The Whiner" Lieberman (D-CT) and Rep. Tom "The
Bug Man" DeLay (R-TX)?
-
- If the Bush-Cheney Gang continues to treat the Karni
case as simply a supposed violation of an export licensing law, and not
as a potentially serious terrorism-supporting crime, with ramifications
that pose a real and continuing threat to the very security of the nation,
than we have to ask ourselves this final question: Is the U.S.' "special
relationship" with Zionist Israel a national suicide pact?
-
- Karni is entitled to his day in court. No one in America
will be looking to bulldoze his home or arrest and torment his family,
as the brutal Israeli occupiers regularly do to the Palestinian people.
Nevertheless, it was, under the circumstances of his case, wrong to grant
him bail. Karni deserves to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the
law.
-
- © William Hughes 2004
-
- William Hughes is the author of "Saying 'No' to
the War Party" (Iuniverse, Inc.), which is available at Amazon.com.
He can be reached at: liamhughes@mindspring.com.
|
