Oh my God, are you alright?!! Do you know what has been happening on AMERICAN soil. Where was the media, consarnit? why wasn’t I warned?! The children!
NEW YORK — The first Guantanamo detainee to face a civilian trial was acquitted Wednesday of all but one of the hundreds of charges he helped unleash death and destruction on two U.S. embassies in 1998 – a mixed result for what’s been viewed as a terror test case.
A federal jury convicted Ahmed Ghailani of one count of conspiracy to destroy U.S. property and acquitted him on more than 280 other counts, including one murder count for each of the 224 people killed in the embassy bombings. The anonymous jurors deliberated over seven days.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan had thanked the jury, saying the outcome showed that justice “can be rendered calmly, deliberately and fairly by ordinary people – people who are not beholden to any government, even this one.”
In a statement, Department of Justice spokesman Matthew Miller said U.S. officials “respect the jury’s verdict” and are “pleased” that Ghailani faces a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison at sentencing on Jan. 25.
How dare Eric Holder adhere to the Rule of Law and let the terrorists win? Putting findings of law in the hands of terr’ist juries and terr’ist judges? Why does he insist on shaving crescent moons into the fur America’s golden labs? There are too many variations of hummus, Holder! You think this is a coincidence?! Open your eyes!
And what about all the attacks that happened? The circus? What about the circus?
Well, predictably others weren’t happy about it…
U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said Wednesday’s verdict confirms that the Obama administration’s decision to try Gitmo detainees in civilian courts “was a mistake and will not work.”
“This case was supposed to be the easy one, and the Obama administration failed – the Gitmo cases from here-on-out will only get more difficult,” Hoekstra, of Michigan, said in a statement.
U.S. Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican who’s the ranking minority leader of the Homeland Security Committee, called the verdict a “wake-up call” for the White House.
I appreciate the call to more substance-free, fear-based justice, despite whatever that fucking Constitution says. Has King changed his undies yet? But of course they’re right. And of course this is what they stood behind last year…
The extensive security requirements in the vicinity of the court house and the surrounding area would create massive economic and emotional turmoil in a part of the city that has already suffered greatly from unthinkable acts of terrorism. You need to move the trial away from this large, vital urban center to a less populated location.
The projected $215 million annual cost for security doesn’t take into consideration the impact that these security measures will have on our economy, businesses, residents and visitors.
Is New York still there, or did everyone leave? And the Media coverage of the trial was just fantastic. It’s good to know this is only a story when hyperbolic GOP mouthpieces need to paint Obama as a terr’ist and the MSM obliges with their vintage record/play/ignore facts coverage.
Oh well. I’m just glad we all survived.