From today’s Seattle Times via Kos:

The Justice Department blocked efforts by its prosecutors in Seattle in 2002 to bring criminal charges against Haroon Aswat, according to federal law-enforcement officials who were involved in the case.

British authorities suspect Aswat of taking part in the July 7 London bombings, which killed 56 and prompted an intense worldwide manhunt for him.

But long before he surfaced as a suspect there, federal prosecutors in Seattle wanted to seek a grand-jury indictment for his involvement in a failed attempt to set up a terrorist-training camp in Bly, Ore., in late 1999. In early 2000, Aswat lived for a couple of months in central Seattle at the Dar-us-Salaam mosque.

A federal indictment of Aswat in 2002 would have resulted in an arrest warrant and his possible detention in Britain for extradition to the United States.

“It was really frustrating,” said a former Justice Department official involved in the case. “Guys like that, you just want to sweep them up off the street.”

British intelligence officials now think that in the days and hours before the July 7 bombings, Aswat was in cellphone contact with at least two of the four suicide bombers, according to The Times of London.

***
Aswat was not charged but was referred to in the indictment as “co-conspirator #2.”

In May 2004, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft announced an 11-count indictment by a federal grand jury in New York against Abu Hamza, who allegedly sent Aswat to Oregon to scout out the proposed training camp. A department news release said “the indictment alleges that Abu Hamza was a terrorist facilitator with global reach — from aiding hostage takers in Yemen, to attempting to set up a jihad training camp in Oregon.”

At the time, however, federal prosecutors chose not to indict Aswat for reasons that are not clear. Asked why Aswat wasn’t indicted, a federal official in Seattle replied, “That’s a great question.”

Now, that is a great question, isn’t it? Excuse me while my imagination runs wild. Yet, as wild as my imagination gets, it just can’t quite keep up with the machinations and sheer amorality of BushCo. You don’t suppose this creature was one of ours, do you?

I mean, Fearless Leader would never, ever set a bombing in motion because his ratings are in the toilet. Would he?

[Explanation: After 9/11, conspiracy theorists feel into two major camps: LIHOP, or "Let it happen on purpose" or MIHOP - "Make it happen on purpose." It's not sounding so farfetched anymore.]