IF YOU'VE DONE NOTHING WRONG, NO NEED TO WORRY

You are an American citizen. You have served your country in the military. You are a criminal defense attorney and naturally you have defended accused criminals of every kind. You have recently joined a religious sect .You have no blots on your name or character. You have nothing to fear from the FBI, right?

Brandon Mayfield, an attorney at law from Oregon, is an American citizen. He served in the military and , as is usual, was fingerprinted. As an attorney he defended a man who was a terrorist suspect. He recently joined one of the largest religions in the world, Islam -he became a Muslim.

As a collaborater in the world wide war on terror, our FBI was involved in the investigation of the 2004 Madrid train bombing. A partial fingerprint was found that indicated guilty participation.The FBI fingerprint database displayed Mr. Mayfield's military fingerprint as similar to the partial fingerprint in the hands of the Spanish authorities. Because of the similarity, the FBI investigated Mr. Mayfield.

That investigation showed that Mr. Mayfield had 1) once defended an accused terrorist in court , and 2) he had become a Muslim. On the basis of these two facts and the similarity of his prints to the partial, the FBI vainly attempted to persuade the Spanish National Police that the prints were a match.

The SNP, who had a much greater interest vested in finding the bomber and killer of their citizens than did the American FBI, denied that the prints matched. Nevertheless, the FBI presented a "report to a Federal judge ...worded in such a way it indicated the Spanish investigators agreed... [The] U.S. government was willing to subject Mr. Mayfield to the death penalty," said Mayfield's attorney.

The partial print was ultimately matched to the true guilty culprit, an Algerian national. Mr. Mayfied was released from detention, is very unhappy, and is filing suit against his would-be railroaders.

Under United States law, a person is considered innocent until proven guilty.Whether or not that accused terrorist Mr. Mayfield defended was guilty as charged and deserved to be hung is beside the point. Until convicted, he was deemed innocent.
Our legal system gives every accused the right to legal representation; if a person cannot afford a lawyer, the judge will appoint one to defend the accused. If an attorney accepts the case, he is legally bound to offer as good and fair a defense as he can muster. If it was a crime to defend someone accused of a crime, every convicted criminal would have his attorney going to prison with him.
Our rights include the freedom of religion, whether it is popular at the moment or not. You have the right to worship The Great Cock-a-doodle-doo of the Eastern Sunrise, if you so desire, and it is not a crime. Because terrorists claim to be Muslims and do their evil in the Holy name of Allah, (who is, incidentally the same Lord God Jehovah as Christians worship), does not make all Muslims terrorists. The KKK does their hate messages and their past terroristic acts in the Holy name of God and Jesus, but that doesn't make all Christians KKKers.It is not a crime to be a Christian and it is not a crime to be a Muslim.

Be afraid, fellow Americans. It CAN happen in America.

Source: Report Links Lawyer's Religion to FBI's Zeal; Washington Post, Dan Egger, Jan.6, 2006. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/06/AR2006010601077.html?referrer=emailarticle

(No wonder Granny uses tinyurls or titles for her links!!)