Deceit and Terror

The government's star witness was a troubled FBI informant whose own mother said he was "a bagful of lies." View this email in your browser November 20-26, 2016 Share Tweet Forward Editor's Picks Deceit and Terror A decade ago, the FBI caused a national panic when it announced it had broken up an al Qaeda "sleeper cell" in Lodi, California. The case was an early example of a post-9/11 counterterrorism strategy that would turn out to be deeply flawed: paid informants used to build cases against suspects for acts they might one day carry out. Soon after Hamid Hayat, a young Pakistani-American man, was convicted of material support to terrorism, elements of the case began to unravel. Now, amid heightened fears over government targeting of Muslim communities, reporter Abbie VanSickle uncovers evidence that further undermines the Lodi case. The government's star witness was a troubled FBI informant — whose own mother said he was "a bagful of lies."   Andrea Jones Associate Editor The Infamous Post-9/11 California "Sleeper Cell" Case Continues to Unravel Abbie VanSickle Just a few weeks before trial, the government's own experts still couldn't agree on which terrorist training camp Hamid Hayat attended, something Hayat's lawyers say they were never told.   Star Witness in "Sleeper Cell" Case Blazed a Trail of Lies From Pakistan to California Abbie VanSickle Hamid Hayat didn't want to believe that his closest friend was a paid government informant. Then, awaiting trial, he learned that Naseem Khan would be the star witness against him.   Top Stories   Did the EPA Prosecute and Jail a Mississippi Lab Owner Because of Her Activism? Sharon Lerner Tennie White's work as an activist forced big corporations to clean up the messes they made in African-American communities. So the EPA put her in prison.   Media Stars Agree to Off-the-Record Meeting With Trump, Break Agreement, Whine About Mistreatment Glenn Greenwald The supreme religion of the U.S. press corps is reverence for power; the more Trump exhibits, the more submissive they will get.   Medics Describe Police Spraying Standing Rock Demonstrators With Tear Gas and Water Cannons  Alleen Brown Those caring for injured demonstrators at the Standing Rock protests estimated that 168 people were treated for hypothermia.   White Supremacists Celebrate Trump's Election, Call for Ban on "Non-European Immigration" Alex Emmons White nationalist Richard Spencer said that undocumented immigrants, even if they grew up in the U.S., "can go home again, they can connect with their real identity."   Trump's Support for Assad Will Make the Global Refugee Crisis Permanent Murtaza Hussain The Syrian regime is institutionally decayed, stained by its crimes, and dependent on foreign backers. Accepting Assad's terms for ending the war means many who've fled will never return.   Donald Trump Makes the New York Times Great Again! Jon Schwarz Easy questions, limited follow-up, and botched coverage turn an accountability moment into another major media failure.   Follow The Intercept

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