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Monday, December 29, 2003 |
freedom
Intuitive*Analysis™
In The Midst Of • The Greatest Homeland Security Threat
• Since 911 ••• REvisiting The Case Of Shoe Bomber Richard
Reid
After Admitting Guilt • In Court Reid Said:
He Has "allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the
religion of Allah. I think I ought not apologize for my actions...I
am at war with your country"
In Response • USA District Court Judge William Young Said:
"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, where 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 that happens to be your view, you are
a terrorist. And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not
treat 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 know
warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of criminal 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're no big deal. What your counsel, 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 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 winds
carry freedom. They carry 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 are about it. 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 bear 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.
You know it always will. Custody, Mr. Officer. Stand him
down"
7:37:25 AM
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