Thursday, September 20, 2007

Back in 1995, the Blind Sheik and the Jihad against America were just not as sexy a TV news item as O.J.

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And there's a weird connection between O.J. Simpson, the Blind Sheik, and President Bush's new choice for Attorney General, Michael Mukasey. 

"Mukasey is most famous for presiding over the trial of the so-called "Blind Sheik," Omar Abdel Rahman, who after a lengthy trial in 1995 was found guilty of conspiring to blow up targets in the New York City region.  He's now doing life in prison. 

As it turns out, Simpson's trial for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman ran almost concurrently with Mukasey's signature moment in the sun -- both verdicts were rendered in October 1995 -- making the sheik's trial almost a footnote by comparison.  Mary Jo White, who was the U.S. attorney who prosecuted Rahman, says that then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani remarked that the Rahman trial was the one that most of America should have been watching instead of Simpson's."  -more