"The trip allegedly took place before the Sept. 11 attacks and the onset of "the war on terrorism," at a time when it was legal to travel to Afghanistan, when the U.S. was funding Taliban drug eradication efforts and when U.S. oil companies were still hoping to cut a deal with the Taliban to build a trans-Afghanistan pipeline."

"While present, Usama [sic.] bin Laden spoke to all camp participants including the five for whom arrest warrants have been issued."

"The FBI has not yet presented any evidence, argument or charges that would indicate the Lackawanna men constituted a "terrorist cell" as alleged by the Justice Department and countless newspaper headlines. "

Niman says it appears their crime may have been "listening to Osama Bin Laden speak."

The five, (now six) have been charged with "Providing Material Support or Resources to Designated Terrorist Organizations." Here is the the Complaint filed against them.

They are charged under the 1996 version of the law, one that is very broad. The 1996 law makes it illegal to provide "material support or resources" to any group designated by the United States as a "terrorist organization."

At least one federal judge, Robert Takasugi in Los Angeles, has declared the statute unconsitutional " because it gave groups accused of terrorism — as opposed to people accused of providing them with support — no chance to contest the allegation." The Justice Department is appealing the ruling.

The Justice Department takes the position that by traveling to Afganistan, attending a training camp and offering to provide soldier services to a designated terrorist group, the six men have violated the material support statute, even though there is no evidence the men were planning an attack.

"Material support" includes almost anything of value, except for medicine or religious supplies, and includes a ban on "personnel" or "training" for terrorist groups. But Georgetown University Law Professor David Cole believes the law is unconstitutional and amounts to "guilt by association." Cole says the law could prohibit a range of protected first amendment activities, from writing an op-ed article to lobbying.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni community in Lackawanna is standing beind the men and is puzzled by the charges. According to a Reuters article,

"Members of the Yemeni community, which first arrived here in the 1920's to work in the mills, contended that their sons were regular guys, not terrorists."

"Over and over, people on the streets, while wary of talking too much to the journalists who poured into town today, insisted that the five men charged Saturday were good family men, religious, and fond, above all, of playing soccer."

Apparently, what the men had in common was they all went to Pakistan to study with a group called Tablighi Jamaat. The Arabic term translates to "Group of the Proselytizers," and is described by Yemeni residents in Lackawanna as a kind of "Islamic Jehovah's Witnesses."

"The group itself is not on any terrorist list. However, John Walker Lindh and Richard C. Reid, the accused shoe bomber, were reportedly drawn into terrorist activities through contact with Tablighi Jamaat."

John Walker Lindh is now cooperating with the Government as part of his plea bargain. We wonder whether he is the source of the information on any of the six new arrestees?

And now the group has expanded to eight: all are from Lackawanna but the ones the FBI describes as suspect numbers seven and eight are being called "uncharged coconspirators" and may be in Yemen.

"Although suspects not in custody are usually not identified, a new name surfaced in the criminal complaint filed today, that of Jaber Elbaneh. An F.B.I. official said he was the seventh suspect, who was previously referred to only as "uncharged co-conspirator B."

"An eighth suspect, still referred to as "uncharged co-conspirator A," also from Lackawanna, was already in Pakistan when the others went there, the federal charges say. He greeted the new arrivals, shepherded them to Quetta in Pakistan near the Afghanistan border, and on to the camp, where he was in a more advanced course learning to fire artillery, federal authorities say. They believe he is now in Yemen."

"A man who answered a Lackawanna telephone listed in the Elbaneh family name this evening said he was Jaber Elbaneh's brother. He said Mr. Elbaneh had been living abroad for some time and had a wife and seven children."

So six are arrested and charged here. Two others are uncharged and may be abroad. The law they are charged under may be unconstitutional. Some of the incriminating information about the charged six may come from the two who are uncharged and abroad or from one who is in jail and providing cooperation in hopes of obtaining a twenty year sentence instead of the life sentence he would have received under his original charge. The community believes the charges are a mistake. And one journalist believes the six did nothing wrong other than be in the wrong place at the wrong time which resulted in them hearing Bin Laden speak for a few minutes.

Is anyone else confused by this case?