Mike Hawash Charged With Conspiracy in Oregon Case
According to the criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court, Hawash decided after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States to travel to Afghanistan, via China and Pakistan, to join forces with Taliban and al Qaeda troops fighting....Hawash allegedly traveled with the other defendants to China but returned to the United States in November 2001 after failing to enter Afghanistan. "Mike's friends and those who know him think the idea that Mike would have fought for the Taliban or traveled to Afghanistan is absurd," friends of Hawash said in a statement.The complaint is 41 pages. We haven't read it yet, but we suspect that much of it is boilerplate about Al Qaeda in general and the other six defendants in the Oregon case. Here's a link to it.
Later....we've read the whole thing. Most of it is about Bilal. We're not impressed. Hawash knew the other six, helped one set up a landscaping business in Oregon, and went to Hong Kong/China around the same time as the others. They attended the same mosque in Oregon. While a witness in China identified the other six from photos, they couldn't identify Hawash. Their search for incriminating cell and other phone calls on Hawash's phones seems to have come up empty. He isn't mentioned by name in the emails seized from the computers of the other six.
The Government's interest in him sprang from two neighbors calling the police after the other six were arrested to say he wasn't as friendly after Sept. 11 and dressed in eastern type clothes more often. In sum, it looks to us like Hawash went to China and came home, end of story.
Hawash is set for a detention (bail) hearing tomorrow. There will be organized protests at the courthouse.
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Update: According to the website established by friends of Mike Hawash, the charges came by way of Complaint vs. grand jury indictment. The site says the grand jury has not met yet. You can view the affidavit of the task force agent here.
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The grand jury returned an Indictment today charging Mike Hawash as the seventh defendant in the Oregon terror case. Hawash is charged with plotting to wage war against U.S. troops. He faces one count of "conspiracy to levy war and two counts of conspiring to provide material suppor