Looks like the crew at 200 McCarthy Ave. screwed up *yet* again.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=276691&category=REGIONOTHER&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=8/17/2004A word found in a notebook identifying an Albany imam as a "commander" was misinterpreted by Army intelligence experts after it was recovered from a bombed-out camp in Iraq, according to records obtained by the Times Union.
The entry, written in Kurdish, actually means "brother," according to a letter acknowledging the mistake sent by federal authorities to U.S. Magistrate Judge David R. Homer.
The discrepancy may call into question the foundation of search warrants and affidavits in support of an FBI sting that resulted in the Aug. 5 arrests of two Albany men, Yassin M. Aref, a 34-year-old imam at a Central Avenue mosque, and Mohammed Mosharref Hossain, a 49-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant who owns an Albany pizza shop. It also raises questions about whether the government overstated allegations of ties between the defendants and terrorist organizations.
Neither U.S. Attorney Glenn Suddaby of New York's Northern District nor Assistant U.S. Attorney David M. Grable, the lead prosecutor, returned telephone calls seeking comment.