In June 2006, the arrests of a ragtag group of Miami men on charges of collaborating with al Qaeda provided the Bush administration with a powerful tale in the war on terrorism.
But the criminal justice system backfired twice on federal prosecutors: After two mistrials, they will be taking their third -- and likely last -- shot at trying the Liberty City Six. The selection of Miami-Dade jurors is set to begin Tuesday.
In the previous trials, jurors couldn't agree that the men plotted with the world's most feared terrorist organization to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower -- mainly because they saw the case as no more than an FBI sting orchestrated by an informant playing an al Qaeda operative.
Some former jurors and legal experts say the third trial may be the toughest yet for prosecutors because the once-hyped case has failed twice and the political climate has dramatically changed since the summer of 2006.
They point not only to the weakness of the ''material support'' conspiracy case -- no weapons of mass destruction or blueprints for a domestic terrorist attack were found on the men -- but also to the public's skepticism about the Bush administration's handling of terrorism in general.
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