Delftsman

Shoe Bomber

I received this in an e-mail, and no I didn't Snopes it, so I can't guarentee it's accuracy, but it's a response that Should have been made, if it wasn't.

Shoe Bomber

Remember the guy who got on a plane with a bomb built into his shoe
and tried to light it?

Did you know his trial is over?
Did you know he was sentenced?
Did you see/hear any of the judge's comments on TV/Radio?
Didn't think so.

Everyone should hear what the judge had to say.
Ruling by Judge William Young, US District Court.

Prior to sentencing, the Judge asked the defendant if he had
anything to say.

His response: After admitting his guilt to the court for the record,
Reid also admitted his "allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to
the religion of Allah," defiantly stated "I think I will not apologize
for my actions," and told the court "I am at war with your country."

Judge Young then delivered the statement quoted below:

January 30, 2003, United States vs. Reid. Judge Young: "Mr.
Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the sentence the Court imposes upon you.

On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life in prison in the
custody of the United States Attorney General. On counts 2, 3, 4 and
7, the Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on each count, the
sentence on each count to run consecutive with the other.
That's 80 years. On count 8 the Court sentences you to the
mandatory 30 years consecutive to the 80 years just imposed. The Court
imposes upon you each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000 for the
aggregate fine of $2 million. The Court accepts the government's
recommendation with respect to restitution and orders restitution in the
amount of $298.17 to Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to American Airlines. The
Court imposes upon you the $800 special assessment.

The Court imposes upon you five years supervised release
simply because the law requires it. But the life sentences are real life
sentences so I need go no further. This is the sentence that is
provided for by our statutes. It is a fair and just sentence. It is a
righteous sentence.

Let me explain this to you. We are not afraid of you or any
of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We
have been through the fire before. There is all too much war talk here
and I say that to everyone with the utmost respect. Here in this court,
we deal with individuals as individuals and care for individuals as
individuals. As human beings, we reach out for justice.

You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. You are
not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that
reference, to call you a soldier, gives you far too much stature. Whether
it is the officers of government who do it or your attorney who does it,
or if you think you are a soldier. You are not----- you are a
terrorist. And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not meet with
terrorists. We do not sign documents with terrorists. We hunt them down
one by one and bring them to justice.

So war talk is way out of line in this court. You are a big
fellow. But you are not that big. You're no warrior. I've known
warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of criminal that is guilty of
multiple attempted murders. In a very real sense, State Trooper Santiago
had it right when you first were taken off that plane and into custody
and you wondered where the press and where the TV crews were, and he
said: "You're no big deal."

You are no big deal.

What your able counsel and what the equally able United
States attorneys have grappled with and what I have as honestly as I know
how tried to grapple with, is why you did something so horrific. What
was it that led you here to this courtroom today?

I have listened respectfully to what you have to say. And I
ask you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable
hate led you to do what you are guilty and admit you are guilty of
doing. And I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy you, but as I
search this entire record, it comes as close to understanding as I know.

It seems to me you hate the one thing that to us is most
precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our individual
freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or
not believe as we individually choose. Here, in this society, the very
wind carries freedom. It carries it everywhere from sea to shining
sea. It is because we prize individual freedom so much that you are here
in this beautiful courtroom. So that everyone can see, truly see, that
justice is administered fairly, individually, and discretely. It is
for freedom's sake that your lawyers are striving so vigorously on your
behalf and have filed appeals, will go on in their representation of you
before other judges.

We Americans are all about freedom. Because we all know that
the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties.
Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bare any burden;
pay any price, to preserve our freedoms. Look around this courtroom.
Mark it well. The world is not going to long remember what you or I say
here. Day after tomorrow, it will be forgotten, but this, however,
will long endure. Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across
America, the American people will gather to see that justice, individual
justice, justice, not war, individual justice is in fact being done. The
very President of the United States through his officers will have to
come into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which specific matters can
be judged and juries of citizens will gather to sit and judge that
evidence democratically, to mold and shape and refine our sense of justice.

See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United
States of America. That flag will fly there long after this is all
forgotten. That flag stands for freedom. And it always will.

Mr. Custody Officer. Stand him down.

So, how much of this Judge's comments did we hear on our TV
sets?
We need more judges like Judge Young, but that's another subject.
Pass this around. Everyone should and needs to hear what this fine judge
had to say. Powerful words that strike home.

God bless America.

Posted by Delftsman3 at June 17, 2005 04:01 PM