Al Qaeda agent pleads guilty....in court

[Uzybone]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/us/01marri.html?hp



"During the nearly six years that Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri spent in isolation in a Navy brig as the last enemy combatant held on United States soil, he denied the government’s charges that he was a sleeper agent for Al Qaeda, his lawyers said. But on Thursday, in a federal courtroom in Peoria, Ill., that denial fell apart when Mr. Marri reached a deal with the government to plead guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to Al Qaeda.


Mr. Marri was initially indicted this year on two counts related to providing material support and resources to a terrorist organization, each of which carries a maximum 15-year sentence; the plea to a single count means that his sentence could be cut in half, after which he could be deported to Qatar.

In a statement issued after the plea, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said, “Without a doubt, this case is a grim reminder of the seriousness of the threat we as a nation still face.”

Mr. Holder also took the opportunity, however, to distinguish the criminal proceeding from the indefinite detention under which Mr. Marri, 43, had been held without charges as an “enemy combatant” during the Bush administration, when he was kept in solitary confinement in a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., for nearly six years. That detention had been challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The switch to criminal court and the agreement, Mr. Holder said, “reflects what we can achieve when we have faith in our criminal justice system and are unwavering in our commitment to the values upon which the nation was founded and the rule of law.”

[BeFree]

1. A fine example

Of how things could have been so very different if Bushco had not gone overboard, but instead followed established laws.

Man, our guys know how to play the game, eh?

[AtomicKitten]

2. Pres. Obama is completely vindicated.

Torture is not only illegal and immoral, it is completely unnecessary.

:patriot: