Debbie Schlussel: "Missing" Egyptian Students: The Story Isn't Over
Remember the 11 "missing" Egyptian students, who never showed up at Montana State University after their planes reached New York? They eventually found all of them (2 at a mysterious terror-linked pizza shop). But the story isn't over.
Yesterday, three of the students had a secret bond hearing in Omaha, Nebraska, which lasted more than FIVE HOURS(!), according to Omaha's KETV. Surprise! surprise!--the hearing was CLOSED.
None of the media reports name the students (WHY?). But they are: Ahmed Refaat Saad El Moghazi El Laket, 19, Mohamed Ibrahim El Sayed El Moghazy, 20, and Moustafa Wagdy Moustafa El Gafary, 18.
Five hours is very long for a bond hearing. They usually last minutes, at most. So, why did this hearing last for five hours? What was going on? And why did their attorney ask the judge that the hearing be closed to the press? (We mean the real reason, not the BS reason given by the attorney.) And why was bond set at $10,000 a piece? That's a high bond for your average missing illegal alien who is finally found.
It was disclosed that the three used aliases to get bus tickets. And who knows what else? Little else has been made public about the mysterious 5-hour-plus hearing. And little else has been told to us about why the FBI--the lead agency for terrorism investigations, NOT immigration/alien ones--was the lead agency on this case.
Do you buy the judge's and attorney's claims that the case has "nothing to do with terrorism"? We don't either. Whenever we're told that, it usually means--on the contrary--that is has everything to do with it.
Thanks to reader Renee from Nebraska who rightly complains that the story is getting very little play even in her home state, where it took place. "The big news here is Husker football," she writes.
If we don't concern ourselves more with these matters, there won't be football in future generations. Even if footballs are no longer made of real pigskin.
Posted by Debbie on September 1, 2006 11:58 AM to Debbie Schlussel