Shoe Bomber Gets Stepped On

Shoe bomber Richard Reid ( may his name be blotted out) was quietly convicted and sentenced with no hooplah or media circus. May he rot in jail or better yet hang himself to save taxpayer money. 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 stating, ‘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.

“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, 4and 7, the Court sentences you to 20 years in
prison on each count, the sentence on each count to run
consecutively. (That’s 80 years.)

On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years again, to be served consecutively to the 80 years just imposed. The Court imposes upon you for each of the
eight counts a fine of $250,000 that’s an 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 an $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.

Now, 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 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 the officers of
government do it or your attorney 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
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, 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 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. The 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.
Everyone should and needs to hear what
this fine judge had to say. Powerful words that strike
home.