In the past, al-Arian was admitted to the White House where he met with Presidents Clinton and Bush.

Nearly two dozen other prominent political and government leaders from both parties - Hilary Clinton, Newt Gingrich, Trent Lott and Dennis Hastert among them - are reported by Al-Arian's attorneys to have had contact with him.

Nonetheless, the Government claims it can prove Al-Arian was involved with an attack from 1993.

The indictment alleges that in 1993, Al-Arian sent four wire transfers of nearly $2,000 each to the relatives of four convicted Islamic Jihad terrorists who had been convicted of the murder of three Israelis.

They point to video from the early 1990s in which a fiery Al-Arian shouts "Death to Israel" or when he shared the stage with Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric convicted for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

The Government will have the family of one of the victims of the 1993 attack present at the trial.

Stephen Flatow, who has been subpoenaed to testify, said he wasn't told until 2003 that agents believed there was a connection between Al-Arian and the bombing that killed his daughter.

"I felt very, very good our government was finally standing up for Americans who are killed by other Americans on the other side of the world," he said. "If someone is going to provide the means to commit a crime, you are just as guilty as the person who pulled the plunger. If anything these guys are cowards."

If al-Arian's only connection to this particular attack is post-death money wires to the family of the suicide bombers, and his expression of appreciation for their crime after the fact, how does that make him a complicitor or participant in the attack itself?

Opening arguments will fill in the details of the Government's theory, so stay tuned.