Plantation Man Pleads Guilty To Shipping Military Aircraft Parts to Iran

• Agentul Bujduveanu, sendviş între FBI şi CIA? Autor: ANDREI BADIN 9 octombrie 2008  Twitter Facebook Email Imprimă EXCLUSIV: Român prins în scandalul "arme pentru Iran"Cetăţeanul american de origine română Traian Bujduveanu a fost arestat recent în Florida, pentru că ar fi furnizat "materiale militare" Iranului. Bujduveanu este un personaj cu o biografie extrem de interesantă. În anii ’80 era văzut cu şeful serviciilor secrete din Panama, cu două săptămâni înainte de 21 decembrie 1989 se întâlnea cu Nicolae Ceauşescu la Palatul acestuia din Cartierul Primăverii din Bucureşti. Mai apoi era văzut în Ambasada Coreii de Nord de la Bucureşti. Dosarul său din Statele Unite conţine date explozive. Jurnalul Naţional a iniţiat o investigaţie pe acest subiect şi a dialogat cu Bujduveanu prin intermediul logodnicei sale, Nicoleta Mircea. Un adevărat roman de spionaj. Unul exploziv. EXCLUSIV: Român prins în scandalul "arme pentru Iran" Cetăţeanul american de origine română Traian Bujduveanu a fost arestat recent în Florida, pentru că ar fi furnizat "materiale militare" Iranului. Bujduveanu este un personaj cu o biografie extrem de interesantă. În anii ’80 era văzut cu şeful serviciilor secrete din Panama, cu două săptămâni înainte de 21 decembrie 1989 se întâlnea cu Nicolae Ceauşescu la Palatul acestuia din Cartierul Primăverii din Bucureşti. Mai apoi era văzut în Ambasada Coreii de Nord de la Bucureşti. Dosarul său din Statele Unite conţine date explozive. Jurnalul Naţional a iniţiat o investigaţie pe acest subiect şi a dialogat cu Bujduveanu prin intermediul logodnicei sale, Nicoleta Mircea. Un adevărat roman de spionaj. Unul exploziv. Jurnalul Naţional a intrat în culisele unui dosar exploziv. Cetăţeanul american de origine română Traian Bujduveanu, în vârstă de 53 de ani, a fost recent arestat în Florida, pentru că ar fi furnizat "materiale militare" Iranului. Bujduveanu este un personaj cu o biografie extrem de interesantă.  În anii ’80 era văzut cu şeful serviciilor secrete din Panama, cu două săptămâni înainte de 21 decembrie 1989 se întâlnea cu Nicolae Ceauşescu la palatul acestuia din Cartierul Primăverii din Bucureşti. Mai apoi, era văzut în Ambasada Coreei de Nord de la Bucureşti. Dosarul său din Statele Unite conţine date explozive. Jurnalul Naţional a iniţiat o investigaţie pe acest subiect şi a dialogat cu Bujduveanu prin intermediul logodnicei sale, Nicoleta Mircea. Un adevărat roman de spionaj. Unul exploziv.  Decembrie 1989. Cu două săptămâni înainte de Revoluţia română, Traian Bujduveanu se întâlneşte la Bucureşti cu dictatorul Nicolae Ceauşescu la resedinţa acestuia din cartierul Primăverii.  Era împreună cu mai mulţi oameni de afaceri americani. Se punea la cale o afacere în domeniul lui Bujduveanu: industria aviatică. 19 ani mai târziu, la 21 iunie anul curent, Bujduveanu este arestat într-o operaţiune specială a FBI. Este acuzat că ar fi comercializat materiale militare pentru regimul islamic de la Teheran.  În forţă Logodnica sa, Nicoleta Mircea, spune că a fost operaţiune ieşită din comun. Casa lui Traian Bujduveanu din Florida a fost luată cu asalt la 6 dimineaţa de foarte mulţi agenţi. "Au spart uşa de la camera mamei lui. Am poze. Şi pe acolo au intrat. Eu am crezut că este o bombă. Asta m-a trezit din somn. Eram împreună în dormitor. După care au intrat şi am văzut mascaţi. Eram sigură că sunt terorişti... Ne-au întrebat despre arme, droguri şi ne-au spus să stăm cu mâinile sus. Vedeam doar armele lor. Am crezut că ne vor banii şi apoi ne omoară", povesteşte Nicoleta.  "Ne-au zis să ne dăm jos din pat. Fiecare pe partea sa de pat şi să ne întindem pe jos cu faţa în jos şi, din nou, ne-au întrebat de arme şi de droguri... Apoi ne-au legat cu nişte cătuşe din plastic. Eu o mai am pe a  mea, pentru că m-au strâns foarte tare cu ea şi când mi-au dat-o jos m-au tăiat la mână. Iar după aceea pe mine m-au ajutat să mă ridic şi m-au întors cu faţa către ei. Abia atunci am văzut: pe mascaţi scria FBI. Şi am fost fericită că nu mă omoară. Iar din camera mamei – o auzeam cum îl strigă pe Traian. Mama lui nu ştie englezeşte, e oarbă. Nu ne-au dat voie la început să mergem la ea. Ne-au spus că au mandat de arestare pe numele lui. Şi că au şi mandat de percheziţie. Şi Traian le-a zis să ia tot, că nu are nimic de ascuns. Dar de ce nebunia asta? Puteau să vină şi să bată la uşă. Era acelaşi lucru. Ni s-a spus că aşa vor să ne protejeze", mai povesteşte Nicoleta. Ea spune că nu a aflat nici până în ziua de azi de cine a vrut să îi protejeze FBI-ul. Câteva zile, Nicoleta nu a ştiut nimic despre logodnicul ei. A aflat că Traian fusese dus la închisoarea federală din Miami. Dar nu i s-a permis accesul. I s-a spus doar că poate veni la tribunal, unde să afle acuzaţiile. Acuzaţiile Pe scurt, Traian Bujduveanu este acuzat că ar fi vândut unui cetăţean american de origine iraniană, Saied Keshari, mai multe piese de avion care ar fi considerate militare. Logodnica sa susţine că procurorii nu au demonstrat că produsele pe care autorităţile americane cred că le-a vândut Bujduveanu au fost şi vândute. Ea spune că în acest moment probele prezentate sunt doar e-mail-uri, concret, corespondenţa dintre cei doi. Bujduveanu ne-a transmis, însă prin logodnica sa, că acuzaţiile ar fi  false şi că nu i-a vândut lui Saied piesele reclamate. "Sunt piese fără valoare. Costă 10 de dolari bucata", spune Nicoleta Mircea. Mai mult, piesele enumerate de acuzare, 7 la număr, sunt produse în anii 1950-1960 şi nu se mai fabrică în prezent. Mai mult, Traian Bujduveanu spune că produsele respective se folosesc în prezent ca material didactic, deci nu se mai pot monta pe nici un avion, în nici un caz pe unul militar, aşa cum spun autorităţile americane. Bujduveanu mai spune că, oricum, piesele nu sunt arme. De exemplu, o piesă este un şurub (bolt), alta este o garnitură (diaphragm) care, de fapt, este o bucată de cauciuc, alta este un întrerupător (switch assembly) care are aproximativ 2 cm, alta este formată din nişte fire care fac legătură între nişte piese (harness assembly) etc. De asemenea, Bujduveanu susţine că nu îl cunoaşte pe americanul de origine iraniană, prima dată cunoscându-l la proces, şi că a discutat cu acesta doar prin e-mail. Mai mult, Bujduveanu susţine că i-ar fi dat iranianului nişte preţuri foarte mari.  Keshari locuieşte în California, în Novado. Venise în Miami împreună cu soţia şi cei doi copii deoarece soţia sa trebuia să facă nişte investigaţii medicale. A fost arestat pe aeroportul din Miami în prezenţa familiei. Keshari a cerut ca să fie judecat în California, dar nu s-a acceptat. De asemenea, instanţa nu a acceptat nici fixarea unei cauţiuni pentru Bujduveanu.  În mărturia făcută în faţa procurorilor, Bujduveanu spune că "în fiecare an, Guvernul american vinde prin licitaţii publice tone de părţi de piese de schimb pentru avioane, vânzări efectuate atât în SUA, cât şi în străinătate. Aceste piese au tehnologie învechită şi nu mai sunt folosite de Guvern. Clienţii care participă la aceste licitaţii sunt în general revânzători de avioane, dealeri de componente de avioane, revânzători de componente electronice. Dacă aceste piese ar fi avut un impact atât de sever pentru securitatea naţională, atunci de ce Guvernul este angajat în astfel de vânzări?".  El explică şi despre e vorba. "Expandabil – este o piesă de avion care poate fi folosită O SINGURĂ DATĂ, după care trebuie înlocuită şi distrusă. După folosire, piesa este denumită SCRAP (piesă veche, uzată). O piesă expandabilă uzată NU POATE fi folosită sub nici o formă ca piesă pentru avioane militare. Aceasta poate cauza perforări, ceea ce poate duce la prăbuşirea unui avion", spune Bujduveanu.. Scenariu la Serviciilor Secrete În mărturia sa, Traian Bujduveanu a spus că totul ar fi o înscenare făcută de unele servicii secrete americane. "Procurorul a dorit să vă facă să credeţi că ei nu ştiu cine sunt şi m-au descris drept «cetăţean născut în România şi naturalizat cetăţean american, locuind cu mama sa în vârstă şi fiul său, pe Broward»... (...) Lăsaţi-mă să reamintesc Curţii că va fi destul de dificil să uite un bun valoros al SUA atunci când nu avea nici un agent important în Coreea de Nord şi când singurele informaţii pe care se bazau erau declaraţii şi rapoarte ale celor care fugeau din Coreea de Nord şi a observaţiilor sateliţilor de urmărire. Partea importantă aici este că procurorul l-a minţit fără menajamente pe judecătorul federal O’Sullivan. Nu contează dacă este o minciună mare sau o minciună mică, este totuşi o minciună. Ar trebui să-mi fie teamă de sistem? Ar trebui să ne fie teamă de sistem?", a spus Bujduveanu în faţa Curţii din Miami. El l-a acuzat pe procuror că l-a minţit cu bună ştiinţă pe judecătorul O’Sullivan. Printre altele, în privinţa cauţiunii. El spune că procurorul a spus că dacă va fi eliberat pe cauţiune "ar fi fugit imediat în altă ţară". "Oricum, ceea ce procurorul nu a menţionat Curţii este că multe dintre aceste ţări şi-ar dori să mă vadă mort, în timp ce altele şi-ar dori să mă întorc sub un acord bilateral", a spus Bujduveanu.  FBI versus CIA&NSA Logodnica sa, Nicoleta Mircea, a precizat pentru Jurnalul Naţional că întreaga afacere ar fi un nou episod al luptelor dintre serviciile secrete americane. "Mi-a zis că sunt mulţi ca el închişi. Dar nu numai CIA, pentru că ştiu că peste CIA mai este o agenţie, NSA. Iar el de aia îmi vorbeşte", spune Nicoleta. Mai mult, ea spune că afacerile logodnicului său, inclusiv firma acuzată de vânzarea de piese militare Iranului, sunt, de fapt, o acoperire a CIA.  Firmă CIA sub acoperire în România În mărturia făcută în faţa Curţii din Miami, Bujdeveanu a spus: "Orion Aviation Corp (n.red. – firma sa) a fost o companie de acoperire a operaţiilor clandestine din Europa şi din întreaga lume, iar Guvernul SUA a ştiut pe deplin de existenţa sa. Compania a fost folosită intens în perioada regimului comunist din România, iar după căderea comunismului a fost folosită ca să racoleze agenţi din Coreea de Nord, cât şi oficiali nord-coreeni din România, Ungaria şi Austria. Orion Aviation a fost, de asemenea, antrenată în alte operaţiuni din România, cât şi din alte ţări. Tot timpul «Guvernul SUA a ştiut de acest lucru»". Otravit în Ambasada Coreii de Nord la Bucureşti "Motivul pentru care sunt atât de bolnav este faptul că am fost otrăvit în Ambasada Coreii de Nord din Bucureşti în timp ce participam la o cină de protocol. Persoana care a fost cu mine a murit în mai puţin de un an", este mărturia făcută în faţa Curţii din Miami de Traian Bujduveanu. Logodnica sa, Nicoleta Mircea, susţine că otrăvirea lui Traian Bujduveanu ar fi avut loc în 1992. "Mereu a lucrat pentru SUA. Vânzând coreenilor, ajungea să se infiltreze. Dorea să se infiltreze. Astfel afla exact ce dotări au, ce avioane au. De la ambasada Coreei de Nord primea liste «shopping list», iar din aceste liste îşi putea da seama de dotările pe care le avea Guvernul de la Phenian, iar astfel putea să ştie de ceea ce au nevoie şi putea să îi controleze prin produsele pe care le furniza", povesteşte ea. De asemenea, ea spune că serviciile secrete româneşti l-ar fi urmărit pe Bujduveanu înainte de 1989, cât şi după. Serviciile secrete de la Bucureşti i-au informat pe omologii săi americani că ar fi asociat serviciilor secrete nord-coreene şi a livrat Washingtonului informări despre vizitele acestuia în ambasada lui Kim Ir Sen de la Bucureşti. Americanii nu au reacţionat. Serviciile secrete de la Bucureşti au revenit. Împreună cu agenţi sud-coreeni, l-au fotografiat pe Bujduveanu la Budapesta şi Viena, unde s-a întâlnit cu agenţi nord-coreeni. Americanii nu l-au arestat.  Pe urmele agenţilor româniDespre activităţile sale în România, Traian Bujduveanu ne-a comunicat prin intermediul logodnicei sale: "În legătură cu ceea ce făcea în România pe timpul lui Ceauşescu, misiunea lui era să monitorizeze  eventualii spioni care încercau să se infiltreze în SUA, în general persoane care lucrau pentru companii de import-export. Încerca să identifice aceste persoane, pentru ca mai apoi să se încerce transformarea lor din spioni pentru România în spioni pentru Statele Unite". Bujduveanu  a întărit cu acest prilej declaraţiile anteriroare, conform cărora a lucrat pentru CIA, dar şi pentru NSA.Biografie zbuciumatăAnii ’80 îl prind pe Traian Bujduveanu în Panama, în aşa-numita "Base Aerea Tocumeni" – care se află pe Aeroportul Internaţional Tocumen din Panama City, în prezenţa maiorului Espinosa, şeful serviciilor secrete ale Republicii Panama. Anii ’90 îl găsesc pe Traian Bujduveanu în Ambasada Republicii Democrate Congo, în Washington DC, în prezenţa ambasadorului Republicii Congo şi a altor personalităţi politice congoleze. Este fotografiat în hotel când era în prezenţa delegaţiei Republicii Congo. Delegaţie compusă printre alţii din ministrul Justiţiei Congoleze – Teo Mwamba, doctorul privat al preşedintelui Laurent Kabila şi de Celestin – agent la securitatea naţională a Republicii Congo. În depoziţia sa olografă, Traian Bujduveanu susţine că, în ciuda accentului său care trădează faptul că nu s-a născut în America, el se consideră "un produs american" şi aşteaptă să se facă dreptate în ceea ce-l priveşte 

• A New American Story “World events do not occur by accident. They are made to happen, whether it is to do with national issues or commerce; and most of them are staged and managed by those who hold the purse strings” Denis Healey, former British Defense Minister On January 3, 2011, Traian Bujduveanu will be released from a federal halfway house to return to his family in Plantation, Florida. And halfway is precisely how it feels to him. He will have his freedom, but not his good name. The government took that from him in June of 2008 when they used explosives to blast open the doors to his home in order to execute a raid at six o’clock in the morning. They took it when they struck his blind and elderly mother as they marched through his home, eventually dragging Bujduveanu in handcuffs from his bedroom into the backyard. It was a scene reminiscent of war time videos taken by imbedded photo journalists in Iraq or Afghanistan, but the similarities are not just visual. The details are all too remindful of stories of betrayal at the hands of the American government. The same government that, in times past and present, seeks out the help of Iraqi or Afghanistan, or Vietnamese, citizens to overthrow their government, only to be thrown themselves beneath the wheels of democracy when it suited American interests to do so. Like his name, Bujduveanu’s story is complex, until you break it down into smaller parts and review it a few times so that it becomes familiar. Traian Bujduveanu, a naturalized citizen of the United States, was recruited by the American government back in the 1980’s to assist in its plans to overthrow the communist regime of his native Romania. Two decades later, that same government accused Bujduveanu of conspiring to export military aircraft parts to Iran. In the process they were sufficiently able to threaten and intimidate him until he plead guilty to a crime he didn’t commit. The question of why – why did the government fabricate this case, is just as complex and, yet, just as simple. Bujduveanu came to the United States, to New York City, from Romania in 1974 with his family. He was 18 years old and filled with optimism. This was America, land of the free, and a place where anyone could succeed through hard work and determination. After six years in the United States, Bujduveanu applied for and was granted citizenship in his adopted home. His parents and two sisters also became naturalized citizens. But they were not the first in the Bujduveanu family to take this path. His family and all ancestors were born in Greek-Macedonia, near the ancient city of Pela. By the late 1930’s Greece, through the Greek Secret Services, had begun an aggressive campaign to confiscate territory and property from ancient Macedonia and its people, employing a form of ethnic cleansing in its wake. By 1939 there was a mass exodus from Greek-Macedonia, also known as ancient Macedonia, with half settling in far away Australia, Canada and the United States. While Traian’s grandfather fled to Romania, his grandfather’s brother immigrated to the United States, settling in New York. There Traian’s young uncle, Ionel, enlisted as a pilot in the United States Army during World War II. Along with thousands of other pilots, Ionel was assigned to Operation Ploiesti, making dangerous daylight bombing raids against petroleum refineries in oil rich Romania. During the latter stages of World II, Romania, in the concert with the German/ Italian axis of power, was supplying as much as a third of petroleum Hitler’s forces needed on the eastern front against Russia. Because of Ionel’s extensive ties in Romania, the U.S. Army agreed to change his legal name to John Nicholas should he be shot down in one of the raids and there be reprisals against the Bujduveanu clan. It was this story of his uncle that inspired Traian to enter the Spartan College of Aeronautics in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with the goal of getting a pilot’s license. He graduated in 1980 with a degree in Avionics and Instruments. In 1984 Bujduveanu moved to Florida where he began working for a company called New World Aviation. He quickly found himself in sales, assisting the company as it grew and expanded, selling to foreign governments and their military, throughout Central and South America. A year later, agents of the United States government approached Bujduveanu to enlist his assistance in its efforts to bring down the dictatorial government of Nicolae Ceausescu. After World War II, Romania had fallen under Russia control and influence, leading to a succession of repressive communist leadership, ultimately culminating with the installment of Ceausescu in 1965. Ceausescu vacillating between support of Russian submission and Romanian independence, but maintained absolute control throughout, never wavering in his fervor for the Marxist concept. Bujduveanu possessed all the qualities the U.S. government desired. Although born in a small village, his family moved to Bucharest, Romania’s capital, when he was still an infant. He grew up with Romania’s political elite, many of whom attained important government offices themselves when their time came. Some were even placed in highly sensitive security positions. Bujduveanu had been able to maintain friendship and contacts from his childhood as he returned to Romania year after year on holiday, and occasionally business. He was obviously fluent in the Romanian language, as well as Macedonian. He was additionally fluent in English and had picked up some Spanish-language skills during his travels throughout Latin America. Although a Romanian citizen by birth, Bujduveanu was a proud citizen of the United States and a firm believer in democracy. “If Greece was the cradle of democracy,” Bujduveanu is fond of saying, “then Macedonia was its birthplace.” Of course he would help the American government in its opposition to the corrupt communist regime in his home country in the name of democracy. Although he was a willing soldier in the cover war, he was not a spy, not in the Hollywood sense of the word. He was not involved in any kind of assassinations or death squads. His job was to target high level assets and gather information. He left New World Aviation and began his own business, Orion Aviation Corporation, a modest company which he operated from his home in Florida. But it was more than a front for his clandestine services, it was part of his dream, the same American dream that brought his family here in the first place. Ultimately, the Ceausescu regime was toppled over the course of a single week, from December 16 through 22 in 1989. “Minor incidents in the Transylvania city of Timisoara led to violence, which quickly spread to other cities.” – Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th Edition (1995). Ceausescu was arrested, tied and executed on Christmas Day. Bujduveanu’s picture had been taken shaking the leader’s hand only months before. “I am familiar with these events and the role of the U.S. government in them,” Bujduveanu admits. “But it’s not important. What is important is that Romania is once again a democracy, and a better democracy than what we have here now. Of course I’m talking about the government, the corruption of the United States government in recent years.” Bujduveanu is quick to add, “It is the government and not the American people. But if they don’t wake up, if the American public does not begin to hold their government responsible for its actions, they will lose what rights and what democracy they have left.” After the fall of Ceausescu, all seemed right with the world. Orion Aviation was doing well, following the same line of business as his former employer, but with more of a focus in Eastern Europe and Pacific Rim countries. But the U.S. government and its agents were never far behind, contacting him regularly for input on a variety of issues. Bujduveanu’s arrest and search warrant were executed on June 21, 2008, and he and his family were not very fortunate. The sound of the explosion when government agents blew open his front door, combined with the ensuing smoke, prompted a neighbor to jump over his fence to investigate, worried that something was wrong. He was met by half a dozen men dressed in SWAT-style gear who told him to return to his home. When he asked what had happened they told him he could read all about in the tomorrow’s newspapers. But what his neighbor wouldn’t read about was Bujduveanu’s mother, who suffered was later diagnosed as a heart attack. Officials called a fire and rescue ambulance for her, but later sent it away after she was stabilized in an attempt to cover up the incident. Frustrated in not being able to find what they were looking for, a squad of agents and officers began digging, literally, with shovels found on the property. Interestingly, the government claims to have “found boxes of military aircraft parts stored on Bujduveanu’s property, including hundreds of parts for the C-130, the F-5, and other military aircrafts.” The court, in its limited wisdom, has decided not to allow Bujduveanu to present a multitude of proofs on appeal by granting the government’s “Motion in Limine”, filed after it saw the defensive evidence he planned to present on appeal. It is an obscure legal maneuver that “preclude(s) the Defendant from challenging these (parts) classifications in Court or at trial,” or otherwise in public. The government’s motion goes on: “In the sampling of the Defendant’s filings attached hereto …, the Defendant attempts to explain that the parts at issue are not military or are not suitable for military use because they are used antiqued parts. This “explanation” would be irrelevant to any judiciable issue at trial. At this Bujduveanu’s demeanor change and he is no longer the stoic protagonist. Struggling to maintain his emotion he asks, “What are they trying to hide? Why don’t they discuss this in the open? In fact, Iran has a firm order for 250 MIG-29 and 250 SU-27 aircrafts, or because the Iran Aircraft Industry manufactures its own aircrafts including a variant of the F-5 aircraft, or because the Iranian Helicopter Industry has been placed there and is manufactured its own Bell Helicopters. Do they really need 40 years old junk parts? Or is this the kind of noise that we need to make before we enter into Iran in order to create another revolution there? Can anybody see that we are a total failure when it comes down to foreign policy and relations?” Bujduveanu’s frustration grows with each question. He is frustrated with the court’s compliance with the government in keeping him silent when they have so publicly humiliated him. There was no court stepping in to stop the federal government, or the multitude of separate government agencies from putting out their own press releases after his arrest. No judge to keep government friendly websites, indeed some government sponsored websites, from presenting a one-side view – the prosecution’s view, before he had been arraigned. No higher authority to protect him from being tried in the press, at the behest of the government, so that this same government could use it all against him in pressuring him to plead guilty. Everyone questioned and interrogated by the government where quoting the federal agents saying, “There is a lot of pressure from above …” Pressure by whom? Who were these people above? “And these lists – the Munitions Control List and the Commerce Control List, they are available to anyone on the Internet. They show the part numbers and descriptions. They show the classifications. So what are they afraid of? Why won’t they let me make my case in the court?” But Bujduveanu did have his day in the court, and he pleaded guilty to the charges. On April 2, 2009, Bujduveanu appeared in the Southern District of Florida courtroom and capitulated to the government’s singular charge of conspiracy to illegally export military and dual use aircraft parts to Iran. He reentered the same court on June 11, 2009, for sentencing: 35 months in federal prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. “You must understand how the government works. When they arrested me they put me in a SHU (Special Housing Unit), completely isolated and sleeping on the floor for the first ten days. My attorney had to plead with the court to take me down to the general population area. This is here in the United States, not some Third World country.” “The government threatened me with other charges, crazy charges. All lies. But remember, I’ve seen them lie. They are very good at lying. This I’ve experienced first hand,” Bujduveanu says with an almost casual reference to his past dealings with government agents during the Romanian plot. “I had to think of my elderly mother and my son.” Bujduveanu has a seventeen year old son who lives with his ex-wife only a few miles from his home. Their residence was also searched, computers confiscated and his son’s vacation money seized. Additionally, Bujduveanu had no access to his documents or the Internet in order to properly aid in his defense. He went through three different lawyers before he was able to find someone with the expertise to help him. By then he had pled guilty and had been sentenced, but still held out hope for his appeal. Then the court, in alliance with the government, instituted the gag order, giving him little to hope for at this point, like being halfway home. All were in the overused name of national defense and homeland security. Indict and convict, but don’t allow the defendant to put on a defense or appeal by confronting their accusers or challenging the evidence. With the stroke of an executive order pen here and a government sponsored gag order there, a new American story is told. But that still doesn’t answer the original question. Why? And why Traian Bujduveanu? As one recent U.S. president said, simply because they can. The United States foreign policy efforts since the Iraqi war have been dismal. Friendly or otherwise empathetic countries around the world have been hesitant to give America the same kind of carte blank support they once did in the immediate aftermath of 09/11. This is particularly true of the cautious, or even skeptical, view countries take with regard to America stands regarding Iran. In a related case this past May, a French court refused an American request to extradite an Iranian businessman who was accused of violating an American embargo on exports to Iran. Majid Kakavand, 37, had been arrested at a Paris airport in March of 2009 on an American warrant. But the French government prosecutor opposed the extradition request noting that Kakavand had not violated French law and that the equipment involved “was not necessarily military in nature.” (The New York Times, Thursday, May 6, 2010) So the American government seeks to achieve their goals by finding scapegoats here at home, backed by the courts and, in particular, a conservative Supreme Court found to be even more conservative in its interpretations of the War Powers Act. Lastly, through fear and intimidation, the government acquires the assistance of its citizens in combating the “axis of evil” at every turn. The message is: “Be afraid, be very afraid, to do business with anyone of Iranian decent or affiliation.” The government may not be able to get away with racial profiling, but its citizens can. Everyone involved in this case have disappeared. The PSI officer, the lawyers, the state attorney, the federal agents, and none of the agencies involved in this case faded away. The only two people remaining in this case are Bujduveanu and Judge Seitz. Case in point: Arizona’s new illegal alien law makes it a crime for anyone to give aid to an illegal alien. If a driver pulled over for a simple traffic stop is found to have an illegal alien in their vehicle, they have committed a crime by giving them a ride. Average citizens are required to determine if each passenger is legally on this side of the border. The simplest way to achieve the goal is to not give a ride to anyone with a Spanish surname, a Spanish accent or a brown skin tone not attribute to the Arizona sun. But that’s another new American story. Reply to this comment Cocoselu Anton On June 21, 2008, the United States by and through the following agencies: Federal Bureau of Investigations, United States Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, National Security Agency, United States Custom Office, United States Immigration Department of Defense Criminal Investigation Service, Department of Treasury - Office of Foreign Assets Control, Plantation Police Department, Broward County Sheriff Department, Plantation Fire and Rescue Service, Department of Commerce, United States Department of State – Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, Department of Justice, United States Marshall, did raid Traian Bujduveanu’s residence. This raid requiring over 30 agents to overwhelm any resistance which may have been offered by Traian Bujduveanu or his eighty-four year old blind mother, permitted the government to seize extremely valuable assets which according to the lead prosecutors for the United States were claimed in Court to be worth more than “$ 100,000 from the boxes alone”, not including the cash or computers. Contrary to the representations made by the assistant United States attorney in her place as an attorney before the bar in the open court, during the preconvention motion, the assets seized were less than $ 10,000.00 rather than considerable “ over $ 100,000.00” aircraft parts and consisted of antiqued aircraft parts, this even after an extensive search involving dozens of agents digging holes in the Traian Bujduveanu’s garden. The patently ridiculous television type drama did not harvest anything more than would have been recovered if the United States had chosen to detain Traian Bujduveanu while at or on the way to Publix the previous day, or had the United States calmly knocked on the door with a search warrant instead of terrorizing an eighty-four year old blind woman and sending her to the hospital by striking her. According to the witnesses that have been questioned or interrogated, Traian Bujduveanu was under surveillance since 2007, which represents considerable time before the raid, and could have been detained without the need to break in and breakdown doors, causing unneeded damages to the property and by standers. Apparently, the bureaucratic imperative of needing to justify the expenses of this misadventure create sufficient rationale for the United States Attorney’s Office to behave in a manner more consistent with Romania’s former communism regime than the spirit of the “taking clause” in the United States Constitution. It is regrettable Bujduveanu’s prior counsels, openly admitted, they were afraid to challenge the United States otherwise this matter could have been more promptly addressed. A current colleague of Bujduveanu has said it is a shame to hear this type of fear comment from any citizen, let alone attorneys, because when the government’s citizens have become afraid of the government, especially where it involves the citizens willingness to speak the truth, “the government no longer has legitimate authority to govern”. The government conducted a massive investigation to get a handful of used parts, which if presented to a jury would have resulted not only in acquittal, but made the government a laughing stock. Bujduveanu regrets buckling into the coercion of the government and his innate fear of government instead of properly presenting the case to court and public and having his day in court.

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