OH YES, THERE'S THAT TERROR BUSINESS – AT 8:01 A.M. ET:  From the Washington Post:

Five Northern Virginia men arrested in Pakistan in December were charged Wednesday with six counts of violating state and anti-terror laws, several of which carry potential sentences of life in prison.

The men, ages 18 to 24, pleaded not guilty. A judge said the evidentiary phase of the trial will begin March 31.

The judge granted a request from prosecutors to charge the men with using Pakistani soil for terror attacks against a friendly country, attempting to use Pakistani soil for terror acts against a friendly country and directing a person or an organization to commit terrorist activities, all of which carry potential life sentences; and with criminal conspiracy to commit terror attacks in Pakistan, using and possessing money or property for committing terrorism and inciting other people to commit terror activities, all of which carry sentences of up to seven years.

Lawyers for the men said the trial should take about six months, and would be held in a special anti-terror court inside a sprawling prison in the dusty midland town of Sargodha, in central Punjab province.

Since there are no jury trials in Pakistan, the trial will be held before a judge. Prosecutors could request that it be held in secret.

And...

Pakistani police and intelligence officials who have interrogated the five men have said they were in contact for months with a Taliban recruiter and were trying to join up with al-Qaeda. They were hoping to battle U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the Pakistani officials said. The men's family members, friends and spiritual advisers in Northern Virginia have said they never saw any sign of radical activities or beliefs.

COMMENT:  Curious, but there's nothing in the piece about the attitude of the United States Government.  We'll play Devil's Advocate for a moment:  We despise terrorists and jihadism, but these are American citizens.  Will we try to have them shifted to the U.S. for trial, or will we accept Pakistani justice?  What will the attitude of the American left be? 

We'll study the case.  We'd also like a follow-up on why friends, relatives and "spiritual advisers" in the U.S. saw nothing unusual about these chaps.  You mean, they suddenly got up one day and went to Pakistan?  Did they really mean to go to Disneyland?  Travel-agency mixup?

March 17,  2010