Just Friday, another defendant in the terrorism prosecution pleaded guilty after making a deal with the government.

Theirs was the first terrorism prosecution brought after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The department, officials said, "has been fully cooperative with Congress" in providing information about terrorism prosecutions.

Should the government fail, the case will probably be compared to other terrorism prosecutions that did not live up to advance billing.

The Lindh case was the first major terrorism prosecution after 9/11.

It was the beginning of a spiral that would ultimately derail the terrorism prosecution.

He noted that Mukasey had complained about "the inadequacy of the current approach to terrorism prosecutions."

The mixed verdict has re-ignited the debate over the Obama administration's effort to handle terrorism prosecutions in the criminal justice system.

The case is one of the Bush administration's most significant terrorism prosecutions since the Sept. 11 attacks.

A favorite Justice Department tool in terrorism prosecutions is a law that forbids providing "material support" to certain groups.