Mukasey: the soon-to-be Attorney General

On the afternoon of September 11, 2001, five Israelis, at least two of which were later identified as Mossad agents, were arrested at gun point in New Jersey after witnesses reported "suspicious" behaviour of men in a white van. This suspicious behaviour included filming the smoldering ruin of the World Trade Center and appearing to be "happy" about it.

"They seemed to be taking a movie," the resident who noticed them said. The men were taking video or photos of themselves with the World Trade Center burning in the background, she said. What struck her were the expressions on the men's faces. "They were like happy, you know … They didn't look shocked to me. I thought it was very strange," she said.

First reported by ABC News, these men, the so-called Five Dancing Israelis, were arrested by the FBI and it was learned that the van belonged to Urban Moving Systems, believed by the FBI to be a front company for the Israeli intelligence organisation, Mossad. The owner of the Urban Moving Systems, Dominic Suter, quickly cleared out the company's office and fled to Israel. During their two months in detention, the Israelis failed as many as seven lie detector tests while their van had tested positive for explosives. The New York Times also had reported that the men had positioned video cameras prior to attack on the WTC the morning of September 11, 2001.

Before any investigation had occurred, a judge had ordered the release of these men to Israel after two weeks detention. The CIA and FBI held up the deportation but not for long, and soon the Mossad agents were returned to Israel where, on Israeli television, they said that their purpose in the United States had been to "document the event," an event that supposedly was a surprise and shock to the world.

The judge who had ordered the immediate release and extradition of the Mossad agents was a one Michael B. Mukasey, our soon-to-be new Attorney General.