The Justice Department originally concluded that prosecuting a separate fraud case against a group of Detroit terrorism defendants would be weak and appear "vindictive," but filed the charges anyway after its terrorism case unraveled, agency e-mails show.
The FBI warned that bringing such a weak case could hurt its ability to develop sources in the fight against terrorism and "may actually encourage extremists," according to the Justice Department memos obtained by The Associated Press.
Those who originally advised against pursuing the fraud case included the federal prosecutor in Detroit who now is overseeing the fraud prosecution. "The feeling here is we should not bring this mail fraud case," Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Gershel in Detroit wrote in May 2003.
[The emails themselves are here. From TheMemoryBlog.org]
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