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.