240-Year Sentence for NYC Hate Crime

I am still against "Hate Crime" laws...

From The Las Vegas Sun:

A judge sentenced a man to 240 years in prison Wednesday for taking hostages in a bar and telling patrons that "white people are going to burn tonight."

State Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley told Steven Johnson, 39, who is black, that he had forfeited his "right to live in society."

Johnson, 39, was convicted March 1 of attempted murder, assault and other charges, including some designated as hate crimes.

Johnson invaded Bar Veloce, in Manhattan's East Village neighborhood, while nine men and six women were inside it June 16, 2002. He was carrying three pistols, a samurai sword and a container of kerosene.

He told police he had left the Brooklyn housing project where he lived and taken the subway to go look for "happy" white people to avenge the mistreatment of blacks.

He shot and wounded three people, including a police officer, and sprayed kerosene on several customers and threatened to set them on fire. Two women caught Johnson off guard and tackled him, and a policeman shot him.

About a dozen victims and their supporters were in the courtroom for the sentencing.

He should be tried like anyone else who would commit such a crime, his racial hate should not be THE issue in the case. His racial hate was his motivation, not the crime. The crime was his ACTIONS regardless of his racial hate.

U.S. destroys bomb factory in Iraq

Monsters...

From the AP:

U.S. troops killed five insurgents and destroyed a bomb-making factory Wednesday north of Baghdad, and dozens more were detained after fierce clashes in a Sunni-dominated province west of the capital.

Scattered violence killed at least nine people, while a claim by the U.S. military that insurgents used children in a weekend suicide attack raised concerns about new tactics being adopted by insurgents as a security crackdown aimed at stopping sectarian violence enters its sixth week.

Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, meanwhile, renewed calls for talks to be opened with insurgents in an attempt to bring peace, but he excluded al-Qaida in Iraq.

"I do believe that there is no way but to talk to everybody," he told the British Broadcasting Corp.

Apart from al-Qaida, which he said was "not very much willing in fact to talk to anybody," all parties "should be invited, should be called to sit down around the table to discuss their fears, their reservations."

Maj. Gen. Michael Barbero, deputy director for regional operations on the Joint Staff, said Tuesday that a vehicle used in the attack was waved through a U.S. military checkpoint because two children were visible in the back seat. He said this was the first reported use of children in a suicide car bombing in Baghdad.

"Children in the back seat lowered suspicion, (so) we let it move through, they parked the vehicle, the adults run out and detonate it with the children in the back," Barbero told reporters in Washington. "The brutality and ruthless nature of this enemy hasn't changed."

I should say cowards! Blowing it up with children in the vehicle as they ran away?

U.S. forces killed five suspected insurgents, detained three others and used an airstrike to destroy a bomb-making factory that contained large-caliber ammunition and several 50-gallon barrels of explosive material near Taji, an air base 12 miles north of Baghdad, the military said in a statement. No American troops or civilians were injured during the operation, it added.

A Sadrist lawmaker, Bahaa al-Araji, also said U.S. troops raided his office Wednesday, seizing the memory card from his computer along with a gun and a rifle. The U.S. military had no immediate comment.

We are making progress, but I know Sad'r told his militia to pull back and hide their arms until this is over. He is probably watching Congress and figures we will be leaving so he can just wait; thanks hezbocrats!

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Confesses to Planning 9/11

This really doesn't mean much to me...

From The Washington Times:

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, long suspected as the mastermind of the September 11 attacks, confessed to that attack and a string of others during a military hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a transcript released yesterday by the Pentagon.
"I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z," Mohammed said in a statement read during the session, which was held last Saturday. "I was the operational director for Sheikh Usama (Osama) Bin Laden for the organizing, planning, follow-up, and execution of the 9/11 operation."
The Pakistani national said he was involved in planning the 2002 bombing of a Kenya beach resort frequented by Israelis and the failed missile attack on an Israeli passenger jet after it took off from Mombasa, Kenya. He also said he was responsible for the 2002 bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia, that killed 202 persons.
Other plots he said he was responsible for included planned attacks against the Sears Tower in Chicago, the Empire State Building and New York Stock Exchange, the Panama Canal and Big Ben and Heathrow Airport in London -- none of which occurred.
Mohammed also admitted "managing and following up on the Cell for the Production of Biological Weapons, such as anthrax and others, and following up on Dirty Bomb Operations on American soil."
In a section of the statement that was blacked out, he confessed to the on-tape beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, the Associated Press has learned. Mr. Pearl was abducted in January 2002 in Pakistan while researching a story on Islamic militancy. Mohammed has long been a suspect in the killing.
His words draw al Qaeda closer to plots of the early 1990s than the group has previously been connected to, including the 1993 World Trade Center truck bombing. Six people with links to global terror networks were convicted in federal court and sentenced to life in prison.
It also makes clear that al Qaeda wanted to down a second trans-Atlantic aircraft during would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid's operation.
Mohammed's confession was read by a member of the U.S. military who is serving as his personal representative. It also claimed he shared responsibility for three other attacks, including assassination attempts against Pope John Paul II and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
In all, Mohammed said he was responsible for planning 28 attacks. The comments were included in a 26-page transcript released by the Pentagon, which blacked out some of his remarks.
After his confession was read, Mohammed personally made a long statement in broken English, in which he compared Osama bin Laden to George Washington.
"He is doing [the] same thing," he said. "He is just fighting. He needs his independence."

Mohammed also claimed he was tortured by the CIA after his capture in 2003, according to an exchange he had with the military colonel who heads the three-member panel that heard his case.
"Is any statement that you made, was it because of this treatment, to use your word, you claim torture," the colonel asked. "Do you make any statements because of that?"
Portions of Mohammed's response were deleted from the transcript, and his immediate answer was not clear. He later said his confession, read at the hearing, to the long list of attacks was given without any pressure, threats or duress.

The hearings, which began on Friday, are being conducted in secret by the military as it tries to determine whether 14 top terrorism suspects, including Mohammed, should be declared "enemy combatants" who can be held indefinitely and prosecuted by military tribunals.
The transcripts also lay out evidence against Mohammed, saying that a computer seized during his capture included detailed information about the September 11 plot -- ranging from names and photos of the hijackers to photos of hijacker Mohammad Atta's pilot's license and even letters from bin Laden.

Now, the Liberals and far Left are chiming in that this is not true, it was because he was tortured for three years at the torture camp of Gitmo. Of course, most of these people don't have the intellect of my dog, but I imagine those that cling to the Bush Administration brought down the towers and damaged the pentagon, not planes, cannot possibly accept this confession; that would mean they were WRONG.

Why doesn't it mean much to me? It gives me no personal satisfaction at all. I know they have bad people in Gitmo, so being proven right does not give me any satisfaction. What it does show is why we have to keep Gitmo open to house these murderous cretins.

Hey Rosie! No one confesses with the PRESS PRESENT, You Dumb Bitch!

Federal Judge Says Sudan is to Blame for Deadly USS Cole Bombing

Just some good news...

From FNC:

NORFOLK, Va. — A federal judge said Wednesday that Sudan is responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole but he needs more time to determine damages for the families of the 17 sailors killed when terrorists bombed the ship in 2000.

"There is substantial evidence in this case presented by the expert testimony that the government of Sudan induced the particular bombing of the Cole by virtue of prior actions of the government of Sudan," U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar said.

The civil trial started Tuesday in which the victims' relatives tried to prove the terrorist attack couldn't have happened without Sudan's support.

USS Cole Lawsuit Trial to Start in Virginia

I hope they win...

From The Las Vegas Sun:

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - More than six years after terrorists bombed the USS Cole in Yemen, the families of the 17 sailors killed in the blast are heading to court to try to prove the attack could not have happened without Sudan's help.

The families' lawsuit against Sudan's government was to go to trial Tuesday in U.S. District in Norfolk, where the Navy destroyer is based.

"Sudan's material support ... including continuous flow of funding, money, weapons, logistical support, diplomatic passports and religious blessing, was crucial in enabling the attack on the USS Cole," lawyers for the families said in court papers outlining their case.

The United States has listed Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1993.

The families' lawyers intend to prove that Sudan has given safe haven to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network since 1991 - long before Yemeni operatives blasted a 40-foot-hole in the side of the Cole in Yemen's Aden harbor on Oct. 12, 2000.

They also hope to show that the operatives were trained at camps Sudan permitted al-Qaida to operate within its borders; Sudan's military provided al-Qaida with at least four crates of weapons and explosives for use in terrorist activities in Yemen; bin Laden and Sudan's government owned businesses that provided cover for the procurement of explosives, weapons and chemicals; and that Sudan gave al-Qaida diplomatic pouches to ship explosives and weapons internationally without being searched.

The plaintiffs contend Sudan's embassy in New York gave logistical assistance to the bombers of the World Trade Center in 1993, but court documents included no details of the allegation.

Andrew C. Hall, an attorney for the families, said he expects the trial to last two to three days, with testimony by six family members and one or two experts. Lawyers also will give the judge depositions by about 50 people, including other family members and R. James Woolsey, former CIA director under President Clinton.

The families seek $105 million in damages to be shared by 59 spouses, parents and children of the bombing victims.

Good for them, the country deserves to pay the families of those lost in the attack on the Cole. Heck, it will leave them with that much less money to give to terrorists and may actually make them re-think even letting terrorist exist in their country.

Islamic Charity Indicted

Just some news...

From The Las Vegas Sun:

Five associates of a Missouri-based Islamic charity were indicted on charges that they illegally sent money to Iraq, the U.S. attorney's office announced Wednesday.

The five men, associated with Columbia-based Islamic American Relief Agency-USA, are charged in a 33-count indictment that alleges they stole government and public money and falsely represented their fundraising goals to the public.

A federal grand jury returned the indictment Tuesday charging the men with illegally transferring $1.4 million to Iraq from March 1991 to May 2003.

Federal agents raided the group's headquarters in 2004 as part of a criminal investigation, and the charity's assets were later frozen.

The charity has denied the allegations that it has financed terrorism and has repeatedly tried to distinguish itself from the Islamic African Relief Agency, a Sudanese group suspected of financing al-Qaida. A federal appeals court in Washington ruled last month that the link was legitimate.

The men indicted were identified as Mubark Hamed, 50, of Columbia, executive director of the agency; Ali Mohamed Bagegni, 53, of Iowa City, Iowa, a former board member; Ahmad Mustafa, 54, of Columbia, a former fundraiser; Khalid Al-Sudanee, 55, of Jordan, the regional director of the group's Middle East office; and Abdel Azim El-Siddiq, 50, Palos Heights, Ill., a former agency vice president.