Remember former University of Florida professor Sami al-Arian? Dubya's crew has all sorts of reasons for hoping you'd forget him -- he's currently accused of funding Palestinian terrorists, but also had a known role in funding Dubya's campaign, as a reward for which he got, among other things, a photo with Dubya during the campaign, and access to a White House briefing with Karl Rove afterwards.

His current circumstances are somewhat reduced. He's now being held, pending trial, on charges of funding terrorist organizations -- charges based largely on evidence that the government is refusing to divulge to his lawyers until they get a security clearance, which they've refused, pointing out, among other things, that the procedure could make them criminally liable if they discussed the defense with their client.

Needless to say, that trial, coupled with the photograph, creates the prospect of all sorts of embarassing visuals during the next election. How nice for Dubya then that al-Arian's request for a speedy trial has been denied; the trial is now expected to start in January of 2005 at the earliest.

(Yet another item originally found on the bulletin board at The Agonist)