Debbie Schlussel: Just Fireworks?: Translation of Arabic Conversation by Smiling Terrorists is Very Revealing
While we know that the mainstream media is very complicit in covering up the dangers of Islam and Islamic terrorism in America, the Tampa Tribune is a noted exception to that rule.
In covering the case of Youssef Samir Megahed and Ahmed Abdellatif Mohamed, editor Howard Altman and reporter Elaine Silvestrini have done a consistently stellar job. Today, Silvestrini breaks news of a conversation the two "just fireworks" smiling terrorists had in the back of the police car after they were detained. I have changed the word "G-d" back to "Allah," as it was originally uttered in the conversation.
This betrays their claim that they were just innocent guys about to go on a 3:00 a.m. August barbecue, no?:
After Youssef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed were arrested in South Carolina, deputies recorded the men talking to each other in Arabic in the back of a patrol car.Megahed's attorneys want a judge to limit the use of the recording at the men's upcoming trial, arguing that the recording largely is unintelligible. Consequently, they argue, transcripts of translations of the conversations are so limited that any comments that are intelligible are out of context.
Megahed and Mohamed were arrested Aug. 4 after deputies found pipe bombs in the trunk of their car, authorities said.
The defense has filed different transcripts with the court, one by an interpreter it hired and one by the FBI.
In the prosecution transcript, at one point Megahed asks Mohamed, "Did you tell them about the gasoline?"
"No," Mohamed responds. "I didn't know. I told them it's not yours and that you have nothing to do with it and I was the one who made these fireworks, and, and and. . . . Correct? I mean, (unintelligible) and the will of Almighty Allah, (unintelligible) and Allah willing, there is nothing on you. I had told them that these things he brought, which is the (unintelligible) these are the stuff that he bought (unintelligible) and this filter."
In the defense transcript, Megahed asks, "Did you tell them about the benzene (gasoline)?"
Mohamed says, "I have nothing to do with it. I do the fireworks and so . . . so . . . so . . . That is it . . . Allah willing. (Inaudible) . . . and I told them he bought these things (inaudible). He bought a new rifle and he uses these things to clean with."
The prosecution has suggested the pair were getting their story straight. Megahed's attorneys have said the conversation reflects the fact that Megahed didn't know anything about the devices in the trunk.
Hmmm . . . why does one of them say to the other "there is nothing on you"? If they weren't trying to hide something, this statement wouldn't have been made. Nor would they be trying to jibe their stories.
Clearly, they were up to no good, not a barbecue. And that's why the defendants' attorneys want to keep this incriminating conversation out.
Posted by Debbie on April 18, 2008 11:47 AM to Debbie Schlussel