Now that the entire weight of the U.S. justice system and terrorism laws have fallen on a 24-year-old Afghan immigrant, let's peruse the evidence against him. Keep in mind, though, that just because Najibullah Zazi is charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, he doesn't have to have blown anything up.

Also consider that the nation's greatest lawyer, Clarence Darrow, deplored the use of conspiracy charges.
Darrow once noted that if someone robbed a store of candy it would be a misdemeanor, but if that person planned to rob a store of candy - and never did it - it would be a conspiracy, which is a felony.

"Conspiracy laws, from the days of tyranny in England, down to today, when those in power use it as a club, has been the favorite weapon of every tyrant. It is an effort to punish the crime of thought. If there are still any citizens interested in protecting human liberty, let them study the conspiracy laws of the United States, which have grown until today no ones liberty is safe!” Darrow said.

Denver U.S. Attorney David Gaouette disputed that a charge like this could proceed without substantial evidence.

The government, after relying on anonymous leaks that were difficult to rebut, delivered what appeared to be a crushing case against Zazi on Friday morning.

A footnote in the memorandum in support of permanent detention went little noticed. The rules of evidence had not been applied.

Starting with wiretaps in support of the original charge of lying to the FBI, it remains to be seen whether the warrant that authorized these taps would stand scrutiny. Although federal judges have almost never met a wiretap request under the Patriot Act that they didn't like, it will depend on whether the taps were employed before or after the warrant was granted. Even more complicated is whether the reasons given to obtain the warrant confirmed before the warrants were authorized or whether the information that justified them was gained after the warrants were issued.

Bringing the case before a New York City grand jury virtually guaranteed an indictment would be issued given that the Trade Center bombings remain fresh in many minds.

Less likely to be questioned are e-mails Zazi sent to himself from Pakistan with bomb-making instructions, and later e-mails asking for help on assembling a bomb.

The government's statements on peroxide bombs also raised some questions. They said these bombs are almost impossible to detect. Since last year, several very small devices, one manufactured after research funded by the Air Force, can do just that.

Although it remains possible that Zazi was so over his head that he likely was headed towards blowing him self up by trying to use what terrorists call the Mother of Satan because it is so unstable, it is by no means the favorite of the Taliban. An Afghan source said it is not used as much as other explosives precisely because of its volatility.

Peroxide purchased in dozens of little bottles of beauty products would hardly be the best way to get it. Much stronger solutions are available in agricultural and home improvement stores, which are monitored to a certain degree by Homeland Security. Stronger solutions would minimize the need to boil it to increase the concentration. His defense did get a chance to question whether a scale found could be used because it was not designed to handle fluids. Again, whether he understood that is also a question.

A surveillance video tape showing a man said to be Zazi with a cart full of peroxide bottles was not clear enough, at least the version shown to journalists, to be sure it is him. Also, a receipt investigators obtained likely would not have had his name on it since the materials were purchased with cash or phony credit cards.

Further, his lawyer, Arthur Folsom, says he was present when the FBI claims Zazi told them he had been trained in an al-Quaida terrorist training camp. Folsom said he never heard anything like that. FBI policy is not to tape interviews. Police lik

None of the bottles or other bomb ingredients have been found. One media report speculated he had dumped them in the desert west of Denver. The farmers and ranchers who making a living on the plains would object to their land being called desert.

Some reports have said Zazi will remain in a New York detention center until his trial, though no decision has been made yet on whether he will be tried. He could simply be deported or cut a plea deal which also probably would result in him being deported. In fact, the investigation continues.

Two out of three terrorism charges since Sept. 11 never got to trial, often because of mistakes in the collection of evidence.

The handling of Zazi's rental car, where alleged evidence of bomb-making instructions was found on his laptop, also could result in the defense challenging it. Whether a warrant naming Zazi would cover a rental car that had been towed and was now in police custody remained unclear. Presumably once he lost control it would be once again the property of the rental car company.

There has been no indication that Zazi has betrayed anyone else involved in the alleged plot. His arrest and publicity may have sent any unindicted co-conspirators hurrying back into the woodwork.

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