FBI rounded up 4 Kurdish men living in Harrisonburg

[Andy]

In summation, what I was driving at was the Kurdish men weren't treated the same way. Their punishment was harsher based on a mere suspicion of possible terrorist support. So, if these guys were from S. America, the punishment would not have been as harsh.

[Ginger]

sending this kind of money home... will mostly like lead to arming their people to kill my people... its historical

I think what Andy is saying is that whatever is likely to happen to the money is irrelevant. If this were a case about whether or not the funds transfers were legitimate (it isn't about that, but if it were) then the burden of proof would be on the prosecutor to show that they were trasferring funds to illegitimate parties. It wouldn't be to show that historically speaking money goes to bad people over there. To put somebody in jail for a crime of probabality is akin to prosecution based solely on profiling. Profiling, though, is a tool used to locate parties on whom more investigation needs to be conducted, not a tool used as a factor of conviction.

[Kaan]

one guy was convicted of doing it illegally... if the others had a vested interest, they are still suspects and/or just as guilty.

[Ginger]

The point of what I said was excepted of the relevance of the men in question. The men in question, though, were not convicted of sending money to terrorists. They were sending money in an illegal manner - that does not equate to handing it over to terrorists or genocidial leaders. Just because you're doing one thing wrong does not mean you're automatically guilty of greater evils.

I don't think it's fair to weigh historical bias in judgement against these men. What, other than your ancestry and history book, makes these men guilty of greater crimes?

[.RJ]

I don't think it's fair to weigh historical bias in judgement against these men. What, other than your ancestry and history book, makes these men guilty of greater crimes?

They are not guilty of greater crimes, but when they are suspected of such illegal activity, they are going to come under closer scrutiny due to their heritage. Now, when the case goes to court they should be handle the same as any other accused of the same crime.

The legal system isnt black and white everywhere either.... but its run by people, and people arent pefect and you'd like to think that for the most part they do what they can. Look at the Duke Lax vs. Cokehead Stripper case.... you have a DA on a PR fling pushing a case forward against mountains of evidence that should be getting the case thrown out of court.

[Kaan]

well if you want to talk about the Turks... lets bring up the Germans... oh wait... they arent currently conducting operations against people... and neither are the Turks... i wonder who is... oh thats right... the Kurds... live in the here and now...

[Kaan]

Andy, vacation near the Turkish and Iraq border... you are bringing up shit thats old ass news... there is STILL a war going up on that boarder... Kurds v. the Turks...

[.RJ]

Religious, Politcal, Border, Resources, Power, etc wars have been going on for thousands of years. In the "3rd world" they'll still go on..... apartheid, racial genocide, etc. Its sad to think but a lot of this shit is still going on

[karioth]

I dont think it was the race of the people that mattered so much as the DESTINATION of the funds. Quite frankly I do not feel bad for them getting a stiff punishment for coming to America and immediately engaging in illegal activities (for a reason other than survival). As was mentioned earlier the AMOUNT of money they were sending over brings up enormous suspicion. If I were in another country, and I was trying to support a family from a distance, I could not justify sending over the volume of money that they did ... something stinks.

Quite frankly they are LUCKY. Thats right, because someone committing a similar crime over there gets ... guess what ... a clip full of bullets ... or worse ...

[Ross]

well if you want to talk about the Turks... lets bring up the Germans... oh wait... they arent currently conducting operations against people... and neither are the Turks... i wonder who is... oh thats right... the Kurds... live in the here and now...

Straw Man!

And let's be honest, the bulk of the money financing terrorism doesn't come from a couple of guys sending remittances home. It comes from wealthy individuals and groups whose names we will never know, through institutions like the BCCI. Sucks if these guys were punished unjustly, but I doubt anyone wants to even consider that possibility.

[Kaan]

The bulk of the money that is funding the Kurdish "army" that is attacking Turkey is not funded by one or two wealthy people. Terrorisism i agree is funded in a different manner... larger global terrorism... but this specific group never had the money or people with the money willing to pay for the fight... Instead of living where they are, they want their own country... taking land from Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. None of those countries are willing to give up their land... so they cause as much trouble as possible in that area to push "natives" out...