McHenry County Blog

A press release from Congressman Peter Roskam:

Roskam Selected as 113th Congress Co-Chair of Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Peter Roskam (R-IL) released a statement on the announcement of his selection as the co-chair of the Congressional Caucus of India and Indian Americans for the 113th Congress:

Peter Roskam

“It’s an honor to play a leading role in the advancement of U.S.-India relations along with my friend Joe Crowley.

“This caucus has grown to become the largest caucus dedicated to one country in the House, showing the importance of nurturing our ties with one of the largest and fastest growing economies in the world.

“Our countries are linked through our common interest in the democratic process, global security and international prosperity.

“In my meetings back home with the large Indian-American community in my district, there’s always a natural connection between their entrepreneurial spirit and our shared values. This caucus has the opportunity to further these priorities and I’m proud to be part of that effort.”

Upon today’s announcement, former co-chairman, Congressman Ed Royce (R-CA), now Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said:

“It has been a great pleasure to watch the India Caucus grow to become one of the largest in the House. The Caucus is in good hands with Reps. Roskam and Crowley, long-time advocates of close U.S.-India ties. As Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I will continue to work to strengthen relations between the United States and India.”

Royce will remain an active Caucus member.

Bill Baar’s West Side, a blog from down the Fox River Valley, published the photo you see below:

The message on the tee shirt is

Walsh
U. S. Congress

_____

Friend of India

_____

Deeds
Not Just Words

So, if you are an Indian American who supported Raja Krishnamoorthi in the primary election where all the white Democrats supported Tammy Duckworth, who do you vote for in November?

Tammy Duckworth, who might end up being a lifer in the 8th District.

Or first-termer Joe Walsh, who promises only to serve three terms.

Interesting question, don’t you think?

= = = = =
Just found three TV ads aimed at Indian Americans in the 8th Congressional District of Bill Baar’s West Side web side.

You can see them here.

A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office:

U.S. SEIZES FOOD AT WAREHOUSE IN STREAMWOOD AFTER ALLEGING RODENT INFESTATION

CHICAGO — United States Marshals, acting on behalf of the Food and Drug Administration, today seized various food products stored under allegedly unsanitary conditions, including widespread and active rodent infestation, at a warehouse in Streamwood.

The action was taken after the United States filed a civil lawsuit Friday and obtained a warrant from a federal judge to seize the products at the warehouse operated by Chetak Chicago, LLC, announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. The suit alleges that all the food held in the facility, except that found in the freezer and glass or metal containers, is subject to seizure and condemnation because it was stored under allegedly unsanitary conditions.

The 108,000-square-foot Chetak warehouse, located at 1111 East Lake St., in Streamwood, stores a variety of food, including

• rice,
• flour,
• shelled peanuts,
• cookies,
• dried coconut and
• spices.

Chetak receives food products from across the United States and India and sells products to restaurants, retailers and distribution centers in approximately 20 states and Canada.

No food items have left the warehouse since Aug. 17, 2011, when the Illinois Department of Public Health imposed an embargo preventing any food from being removed.

The FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations executed a federal search warrant at the Chetak warehouse at the same as today’s civil seizure.

According to the civil complaint, the FDA inspected the warehouse between Aug. 15 and Sept. 1, 2011, and found

• 25 live and
• 12 dead rodents,
• numerous gnawed and urine-stained packages of food, and
• apparent rodent excreta pellets on, in, and around food packages in the facility.

Inspectors also allegedly found rodent nesting materials and structural defects within the building, including gaps in doors and the foundation, that permit easy pest access to the warehouse.

They also observed debris outside the building that can harbor rodents.

FDA investigators conducted a follow-up inspection on Sept. 23 and 27, and found that the alleged violations continued to exist.

The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act permits the seizure and condemnation of food shipped in interstate commerce that has been “adulterated,” or held for sale under unsanitary conditions where it might have been contaminated with filth.

Mr. Fitzgerald and other officials emphasized that there are no known immediate public health risks posed by the seized food and that no incidents of illness have been traced to products stored at the warehouse.

The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Lorenzen. In a civil case, the government has the burden of proving its case by a preponderance of the evidence.

Last December 7th David Coleman Headley was indicted for his role in the Thanksgiving Week, 2008, terrorism in Mumbai, India.

The Skinner family sat in their Disney World Pop Century hotel room watching developments.

Now just a little over three months after charges were filed, Headley has plead guilty. The U.S. Attorney’s press release follows:

CHICAGO RESIDENT DAVID COLEMAN HEADLEY PLEADS GUILTY
TO ROLE IN INDIA AND DENMARK TERRORISM CONSPIRACIES

Admits conducting surveillance
for Lashkar e Tayyibain
planning 2008 Mumbai attacks

CHICAGO — David Coleman Headley, a U.S. citizen partly of Pakistani descent, pleaded guilty today to a dozen federal terrorism charges, admitting that he participated in planning the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, as well as later planning to attack a Danish newspaper.

CHICAGOAN DAVID HEADLEY CHARGED WITH CONSPIRACY IN 2008 MUMBAI ATTACKS IN ADDITION TO FOREIGN TERROR PLOT IN DENMARK

Additional charges unsealed alleging retired Pakistani major conspired in Danish plot

In pleading guilty to all 12 counts that were brought against him in December and were repeated in a subsequent indictment in January, Headley admitted that he attended training camps in Pakistan operated by Lashkar e Tayyiba, a designated foreign terrorist organization, on five separate occasions between 2002 and 2005.  In late 2005, Headley received instructions from three members of Lashkar to travel to India to conduct surveillance, which he did five times leading up to the Mumbai attacks three years later that killed six Americans among approximately 164 people and wounded hundreds more.

A written plea agreement containing a detailed recitation of Headley’s participation in the foreign terrorism conspiracies was presented when Headley, 49, of Chicago, changed his plea to guilty this afternoon before U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber in Federal Court in Chicago.  Headley has cooperated with the Government since he was arrested on Oct. 3, 2009, and the plea agreement states that he  “has provided substantial assistance to the criminal investigation, and also has provided information of significant intelligence value.”

In light of Headley’s past cooperation and expected future cooperation, the Attorney General of the United States has authorized the United States Attorney in Chicago not to seek the death penalty against Headley.  When directed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Headley must fully and truthfully participate in any debriefings for the purpose of gathering intelligence or national security information, and Headley further agrees that, when directed by the United States Attorney’s Office, he will fully and truthfully testify in any foreign judicial proceedings held in the United States by way of deposition, video-conferencing or letters rogatory.

Regarding sentencing, which will be deferred until after the conclusion of Headley’s cooperation, the plea agreement calculates an anticipated advisory sentencing guideline of life imprisonment.  Provided that Headley continues to provide full and truthful cooperation, the Government will ask the Court to grant an unspecified departure from the sentencing guidelines, which will be solely up to the Court to decide.

“Today’s guilty plea is a crucial step forward in our efforts to achieve justice for the more than 160 people who lost their lives in the Mumbai terrorist attacks.  Working with our domestic and international partners, we will not rest until all those responsible for the Mumbai attacks and the terror plot in Denmark are held accountable,” said Attorney General Eric Holder.  “Not only has the criminal justice system achieved a guilty plea in this case, but David Headley is now providing us valuable intelligence about terrorist activities.  As this case demonstrates, we must continue to use every tool available to defeat terrorism both at home and abroad.”

Headley pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bomb public places in India; conspiracy to murder and maim persons in India; six counts of aiding and abetting the murder of U.S. citizens in India; conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism in India; conspiracy to murder and maim persons in Denmark; conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism in Denmark; and conspiracy to provide material support to Lashkar.

According to the plea agreement, Headley attended the following training camps operated by Lashkar:

• a three-week course starting in February 2002 that provided indoctrination on the merits of waging jihad;
• a three-week course starting in August 2002 that provided training in the use of weapons and grenades;
• a three-month course starting in April 2003 that taught close combat tactics, the use of weapons and grenades, and survival skills;
• a three-week course starting in August 2003 that taught counter-surveillance skills; and
• a three-month course starting in December 2003 that provided combat and tactical training.

Mumbai Terror Attacks

After receiving instructions from three Lashkar members in late 2005 to travel to India to conduct surveillance, in February 2006, in Philadelphia, Headley changed his name from Daood Gilani to facilitate his activities on behalf of Lashkar by portraying himself in India as an American who was neither Muslim nor Pakistani.  In the early summer of 2006, Headley and two Lashkar members discussed opening an immigration office in Mumbai as a cover for his surveillance activities.

Headley eventually made five extended trips to Mumbai — in September 2006, February and September 2007, and April and July 2008 — each time making videotapes of various potential targets, including those attacked in November 2008.  Before each trip, Lashkar members and associates allegedly instructed Headley regarding specific locations where he was to conduct surveillance, and Headley traveled to Pakistan after each trip to meet with Lashkar members and associates, report on the results of his surveillance, and provide the surveillance videos.

Before the April 2008 surveillance trip, Headley met with co-conspirators in Pakistan and discussed potential landing sites in Mumbai for a team of attackers who would arrive by sea.  Headley returned to Mumbai with a global positioning system device and took boat trips around the Mumbai harbor and entered various locations into the device, according to the plea agreement.

Starting Nov. 26, 2008, and continuing through Nov. 28, 2008, 10 attackers trained by Lashkar carried out multiple assaults with firearms, grenades and improvised explosive devices against multiple targets in Mumbai, including the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, the Leopold Café, the Chabad House and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, each of which Headley had scouted in advance, killing approximately 164 victims and wounding hundreds more.

The six Americans killed during the three-day siege are identified in the charges as Ben Zion Chroman, Gavriel Holtzberg, Sandeep Jeswani, Alan Scherr, his daughter Naomi Scherr, and Aryeh Leibish Teitelbaum.

In March 2009, Headley made a sixth trip to India to conduct additional surveillance, including of the National Defense College in Delhi, and of Chabad Houses in several cities.

Denmark Terror Plot

Regarding the Denmark terror plot, Headley admitted that in early November 2008, he met with a Lashkar member in Karachi, Pakistan, and was instructed to conduct surveillance of the Copenhagen and Aarhus offices of the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten in preparation for an attack in retaliation for the newspaper’s publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

After this meeting, Headley informed co-defendant Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed (Abdur Rehman), also known as “Pasha,” of his assignment.  Abdur Rehman stated to Headley words to the effect that if Lashkar did not go through with the attack, Abdur Rehman knew someone who would.  Although not identified by name at the time, Headley later learned this individual to be co-defendant Ilyas Kashmiri.  Abdur Rehman previously had told Headley that he had been working with Kashmiri and that Kashmiri was in direct contact with a senior leader for Al Qaeda, the plea agreement states.

In late December 2008 and early January 2009, while in Chicago, Headley exchanged emails with Abdur Rehman to continue planning for the attack and to coordinate his travel to Denmark to conduct surveillance.

In January 2009, Headley traveled from Chicago to Copenhagen to conduct surveillance of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper offices in Copenhagen and Aarhus and scouted and videotaped the surrounding areas.

In late January 2009, Headley met separately with Abdur Rehman and a Lashkar member in Pakistan to discuss the planned attack on the newspaper and provided them with videos of his surveillance.  About the same time, Abdur Rehman provided Headley a video produced by the media wing of Al Qaeda in  approximately August 2008, which claimed credit for the June 2008 attack on the Danish embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, and called for further attacks against Danish interests to avenge the publication of the offending cartoons.

In February 2009, Headley and Abdur Rehman meet with Kashmiri in the Waziristan region of Pakistan, where they discussed the video surveillance and ways to carry out the attack.  Kashmiri told Headley that he could provide manpower for the operation and that Lashkar’s participation was not necessary.

In March 2009, a Lashkar member advised Headley that Lashkar put the newspaper attack on hold because of pressure resulting from the Mumbai attacks.  In May 2009, Headley and Abdur Rehman again met with Kashmiri in Waziristan.  Kashmiri told Headley to meet with a European contact who could provide Headley with money, weapons and manpower for the newspaper attack, and relate Kashmiri’s instructions that this should be a suicide attack and the attackers should prepare martyrdom videos beforehand.  Kashmiri also stated that the attackers should behead captives and throw their heads out of the newspaper building to heighten the response from Danish authorities, and added that the “elders,” whom Headley understood to be Al Qaeda leadership, wanted the attack to happen as soon as possible.

In late July and early August 2009, Headley traveled from Chicago to various places in Europe, and met with and attempted to obtain assistance from Kashmiri’s contacts and, while in Copenhagen, he made approximately 13 additional surveillance videos.  When he returned to the United States on Aug. 5, 2009, Headley falsely told a U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspector in Atlanta that he had visited Europe for business reasons.

After returning to Chicago, Headley spoke with Abdur Rehman by phone  and, using code, described his surveillance activities and his meeting with Kashmiri’s European contact.  On multiple occasions throughout August and September 2009, Headley communicated with Abdur Rehman about planning the attack and media reports that Kashmiri had been killed.  On Oct. 3, 2009, Headley was arrested at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, intending ultimately to travel to Pakistan to deliver the approximately 13 surveillance videos to Abdur Rehman and Kashmiri, the plea agreement states.

One of Headley’s co-defendants, Tahawwur Rana, 49, of Chicago, who was indicted in January on three counts — conspiracy to provide material support to the Mumbai attacks; conspiracy to provide material support to the Denmark plot; and providing material support to Lashkar — has pleaded not guilty and remains in federal custody in Chicago while awaiting trial.  Abdur Rehman and Kashmiri, who were charged in the same indictment with conspiracy to murder and maim persons in Denmark and providing material support to the Denmark plot, are not in U.S. custody.

The government is being represented by Chicago Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel Collins and Victoria J. Peters and Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois,  as well as Los Angeles Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Grigg and Janet Hudson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, with assistance from the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.  The investigation has been conducted by the Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Force, led by the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the FBI offices in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., as well as both U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security.

McHenry County Blog doesn’t usually look at terrorist plots unless they are in Illinois.

In this case, for the Skinner family, it’s a two-for.

We were in Disney World for Thanksgiving week when the western hotel in Mumbai, India (know as Bombay to those of us out of school a long time ago) was attacked. That’s pretty much all that was on CNN.

Now, a U.S. citizen from Chicago, a participant in the plots, is cooperating with Federal authorities, according to the press release from the Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is below.

Now named David Headley, until February 15, 2008, he was known as Daood Gilani. He changed his name in order to present himself in India, where he scoped out the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels and other potential targets, as an American who was neither Muslim nor Pakistani. He was a member of Lashkar, the “Army of the Good.”

CHICAGOAN DAVID HEADLEY CHARGED WITH CONSPIRACY IN 2008 MUMBAI ATTACKS IN ADDITION TO FOREIGN TERROR PLOT IN DENMARK

Additional charges unsealed alleging retired Pakistani major conspired in Danish plot

CHICAGO — New federal charges filed today allege that a Chicago man, who was arrested in October for planning terrorist attacks against a Danish newspaper and two of its employees, also conducted extensive surveillance of targets in Mumbai for more than two years preceding the November 2008 terrorist attack on India’s largest city that killed approximately 170 people, including six Americans, and injured hundreds more.

The defendant, David Coleman Headley, a U.S. citizen, earlier this decade allegedly attended terrorism training camps in Pakistan maintained by Lashkar e Tayyiba (Lashkar), and conspired with its members and others in planning and executing the attacks in both Denmark and India, federal law enforcement officials announced today.

Also today, a criminal complaint was unsealed in Federal Court in Chicago charging Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed (Abdur Rehman), a retired major in the Pakistani military, with conspiracy in planning to attack the Danish newspaper and its employees.

Another Chicago man, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen and native of Pakistan, was arrested in October on federal charges filed in Chicago relating to the Danish terrorism plot.

Through his attorneys, Headley has authorized the Justice Department to disclose that he is cooperating in the ongoing investigation of both the Danish and Indian terror plots. He has remained in federal custody without bond since he was arrested in Chicago on Oct. 3, 2009. No date has been set yet for his arraignment in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

Headley, 49, was charged in a 12-count criminal information with six counts of conspiracy to bomb public places in India, to murder and maim persons in India and Denmark, to provide material support to foreign terrorist plots, and to provide material support to Lashkar, and six counts of aiding and abetting the murder of U.S. citizens in India.

The charges were announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and the FBI’s offices in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., are also participating in the case.

“This investigation remains active and ongoing. The team of prosecutors and agents will continue to seek charges against the other persons responsible for these attacks. I continue to express my deep appreciation to the FBI agents and other members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force for their extremely hard work on this matter,” said Mr. Fitzgerald.

“This case serves as a reminder that the terrorist threat is global in nature and requires constant vigilance at home and abroad,” said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. “We continue to share leads developed in this investigation with our foreign and domestic law enforcement partners as we work together on this important matter.”

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III, said: “This case illustrates the importance of continued global cooperation to combat terrorism around the world. The FBI continues to strengthen relationships and to foster collaboration with our international partners to best ensure our collective ability to identify and disrupt international terror networks.”

Mumbai Terror Attacks

According to the charges, after learning from members of Lashkar in late 2005 that he would be traveling to India to perform surveillance for Lashkar, Headley changed his name from Daood Gilani on Feb. 15, 2006, in Philadelphia, in order to present himself in India as an American who was neither Muslim nor Pakistani. He later made five extended trips to Mumbai — in September 2006, February and September 2007, and April and July 2008 — each time taking pictures and making videotapes of various targets, including those attacked in November 2008.

Starting Nov. 26, 2008, and continuing through Nov. 28, 2008, 10 attackers trained by Lashkar carried out multiple assaults with firearms, grenades and improvised explosive devices against multiple targets in Mumbai, including the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, the Leopold Café, the Nariman House and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, each of which Headley allegedly had scouted in advance, killing approximately 170 victims.

The six Americans killed during the three-day siege are identified in the charges as Ben Zion Chroman, Gavriel Holtzberg, Sandeep Jeswani, Alan Scherr, his daughter Naomi Scherr, and Aryeh Leibish Teitelbaum.

Lashkar (the “Army of the Good”) operated in Pakistan for the principal purpose of fighting to separate from India portions of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. It was designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization on Dec. 26, 2001. Headley allegedly attended Lashkar training camps in Pakistan that began in February and August 2002 and August and December 2003.

After being tasked in late 2005 with gathering surveillance in Mumbai and changing his name in early 2006, the charges allege that Headley traveled to Chicago in June 2006 and advised a person identified in the charges as Individual A of his assignment. Headley obtained Individual A’s approval to open an office of First World Immigration Services in Mumbai in 2006 as cover for his surveillance activities, the charges allege.

Headley allegedly misrepresented his birth name, father’s true name and the purpose of his travel in his visa application.
After each trip that Headley took to India between September 2006 and July 2008, he allegedly returned to Pakistan, met with other co-conspirators and provided them with photographs, videos and oral descriptions of various locations.

In March 2008, Headley and his co-conspirators discussed potential landing sites for a team of attackers who would arrive by sea in Mumbai, and he was instructed to take boat trips in and around the Mumbai harbor and take surveillance video, which he did during his visit to India starting in April 2008, the charges allege.

At various times, Headley allegedly conducted surveillance of other locations in Mumbai and elsewhere in India of facilities and locations that were not attacked in November 2008, including the National Defense College in Delhi, India.

Denmark Terror Plot

Regarding the Denmark terror plot, Headley allegedly conspired between October 2008 and Oct. 3, 2009, with Ilyas Kashmiri, as well as a person identified as Individual A, members of Lashkar and others to plan and carry out terrorist attacks, including murder and maiming, against the facilities of the Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper, and two of its employees, Editor A and Cartoonist A. In 2005, the newspaper published cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, to which many Muslims took great offense.

Mirroring the initial charges filed against Headley in October, today’s charges allege that he met with co-conspirators while he was in Pakistan in late 2008 and discussed planning for the attack, including extensive surveillance work that he would perform.

In late December and early January 2008, after advising Individual A of the planned attack and his intended travel to Denmark to perform surveillance of the newspaper’s facilities, Headley obtained Individual A’s approval and assistance to identify himself as a representative of First World and gain access to the newspaper by falsely  expressing interest in advertising the business in the newspaper.  At the same time, while in Chicago, Headley exchanged emails with co-conspirators to continue planning for the attack and coordinate his travel to Denmark to conduct surveillance.  Before departing Chicago, Headley obtained business cards that identified him as a representative of First World, according to the charges.

Headley allegedly traveled in January 2009 from Chicago to Copenhagen, Denmark, to conduct surveillance of the Jyllands Posten newspaper offices in Copenhagen and Aarhus and videotaped the surrounding areas.

From January through May 2009, Headley met with co-conspirators, including Kashmiri, on multiple occasions in Pakistan to review his surveillance and discuss plans for the attack, the charges allege, adding that Headley traveled in August 2009 from Chicago to Copenhagen to conduct additional surveillance and made approximately 13 videos.

On Oct. 3, 2009, Headley was arrested at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, intending ultimately to travel to Pakistan to meet with, and deliver, the approximately 13 surveillance videos to co-conspirators, including Kashmiri.

The charges identify Kashmiri as an influential leader of Harakat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI), an  organization that trained terrorists and executed attacks in the state of Jammu and Kashmir under Indian control and other areas.  Kashmiri based his operations from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of western Pakistan, and area which served as a haven for terrorist organizations, including al Qaeda and the Taliban.  Headley allegedly was introduced to Kashmiri as early as February 2009, and understood that Kashmiri was in regular communication with the senior leadership of al Qaeda.

Abdur Rehman complaint.

The two-count complaint unsealed against Abdur Rehman, which was filed on Oct. 20, 2009,  charges him with conspiracy to murder and maim persons in a foreign country, and providing material support to that foreign terrorism conspiracy.  Abdur Rehman allegedly participated in the planning of a terrorist attack in Denmark, coordinated surveillance of the intended targets, and facilitated communications regarding the surveillance and planning with a member of Lashkar and Kashmiri.

Abdur Rehman, who was not named previously but whose alleged participation was described in the initial charges against Headley and Rana, allegedly played the central role in communicating with Headley and facilitating contacts with other co-conspirators in Pakistan, including members of Lashkar.  During Headley’s trip to Pakistan in January 2009, Abdur Rehman took him to the FATA region of Pakistan to meet with Kashmiri and solicit the participation of Kashmiri and his organization in the planned attack on the Danish newspaper, according to the complaint against Abdur Rehman.  A search of Headley’s luggage when he was arrested revealed a list of phone numbers, including a Pakistani number that he allegedly had used to contact Abdur Rehman.

The count against Headley charging conspiracy to bomb public places in India that resulted in deaths carries a maximum statutory penalty of life imprisonment or death.  All of the other counts  against Headley carry a maximum of life imprisonment, except providing material support to the Denmark terror plot, which carries a maximum prison term of 15 years.

The conspiracy to murder or maim persons in a foreign country charge against Abdur Rehman carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, and the count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

The prosecution of Headley and Abdur Rehman is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel Collins and Victoria J. Peters from the Northern District of Illinois, with assistance from the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.  The investigation into the Mumbai attacks is continuing with the active participation of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.

The public is reminded that criminal charging documents contain mere allegations that are not evidence of guilt.  The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

With one governor sitting in jail and another disgraced by her incompetence in handling the Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana swore in the youngest governor in the nation this week.

You know it isn’t Illinois, because we haven’t had a woman governor yet and we don’t elect governors in odd numbered years.

This is about Louisiana, a state that just may be more corrupt that Illinois.

Bobby Jindal, the new governor is a Republican who pledges a “clean break.”

36 years old.

Youngest governor in the country.

First Indian-American governor.

I’m told older Indians ask, “Is he Indian enough?”)

Here’s part of his inaugural address:
“We have the opportunity—born of tragedy but embraced still the same—to make right decades of failure in government.

“In our past, too many politicians have looked out for themselves. Too many arms of state and local government did not get results.”

He certainly could be talking about Illinois, don’t you think?

With one governor sitting in jail and another disgraced by her incompetence in handling the Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana swore in the youngest governor in the nation this week.

You know it isn’t Illinois, because we haven’t had a woman governor yet and we don’t elect governors in odd numbered years.

This is about Louisiana, a state that just may be more corrupt that Illinois.

Bobby Jindal, the new governor is a Republican who pledges a “clean break.”

36 years old.

Youngest governor in the country.

First Indian-American governor.

I’m told older Indians ask, “Is he Indian enough?”)

Here’s part of his inaugural address:
“We have the opportunity—born of tragedy but embraced still the same—to make right decades of failure in government.

“In our past, too many politicians have looked out for themselves. Too many arms of state and local government did not get results.”

He certainly could be talking about Illinois, don’t you think?

By way of the India Post comes news that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich plans to visit India “early next year.”

The source says,

Blagojevich was a guest speaker at the dinner reception hosted by two prominent Indian Americans – Niranjan Shah and Pralhad Patil- in honor of visiting Chief Minister of Indian state of Maharashtra, Vilasrao Dehmukh, at Gaylord India restaurant in Chicago Downtown.

The Chief Minister reported that his state had grown 7% per year for a decade. He introduced Blagojevich as “the first Indian American governor” because of his good relationship to India and Indian Americans. Blagojevich joined the Indiana Caucus in Congress.

Also attending the meeting of 150 was Congresswoman Melissa Bean.

Maharashtra is in west central India.

By way of the India Post comes news that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich plans to visit India “early next year.”

The source says,

Blagojevich was a guest speaker at the dinner reception hosted by two prominent Indian Americans – Niranjan Shah and Pralhad Patil- in honor of visiting Chief Minister of Indian state of Maharashtra, Vilasrao Dehmukh, at Gaylord India restaurant in Chicago Downtown.

The Chief Minister reported that his state had grown 7% per year for a decade. He introduced Blagojevich as “the first Indian American governor” because of his good relationship to India and Indian Americans. Blagojevich joined the Indiana Caucus in Congress.

Also attending the meeting of 150 was Congresswoman Melissa Bean.

Maharashtra is in west central India.