三级aa视频在线观看-三级国产-三级国产精品一区二区-三级国产三级在线-三级国产在线

  .contact us |.about us
Home BizChina Newsphoto Cartoon LanguageTips Metrolife DragonKids SMS Edu
news... ...
             Focus on... ...
   

Tearful U.S. Taliban Gets 20 Years
( 2002-10-05 08:57 ) (7 )

John Walker Lindh, whose discovery as a U.S.-born Taliban fighter startled the nation, received a 20-year sentence Friday after condemning Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network during a sobbing, halting plea for forgiveness.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III accepted the plea-agreement Lindh's lawyers had negotiated with the government. During a drama-packed two-and-a-half hour proceeding, he told the young Californian, "You were willing to give your life for the Taliban but not for your country."

In a 20-minute statement, Lindh expressed remorse for joining the Taliban. "I understand why so many Americans were angry when I was first discovered in Afghanistan. I realize that many still are, but I hope that with time and understanding, their feelings will change."

Ellis acknowledged Lindh's plea, but declared, "Forgiveness is separate from punishment." He told a packed courtroom, which included Lindh's parents, brother and sister, that many Americans will think his sentence was too lenient while others will believe it was too severe.

U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty, asked if he thought Lindh's statement was sincere, replied, "The information he provided was viewed by the court as an acceptance of responsibility and I'll leave it at that."

Lindh's tearful apology, during which he repeatedly stopped in mid-sentence to compose himself, contrasted with Richard Reid's laughter as he pleaded guilty in Boston to attempting to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes. He also declared himself a follower of Osama bin Laden.

Lindh, on the other hand, has consistently denied that he ever swore loyalty to bin Laden and his Al-Qaida network, even though he acknowledged having met him briefly at a military training camp in Afghanistan. He roundly condemned the terrorist leader in his statement.

On a day of coast-to-coast developments on the terrorism front, government officials announced the arrests of four people in Oregon and Michigan on charges of conspiring to wage war on the United States and support al-Qaida. Attorney General John Ashcroft called it a "defining day" in the war against terrorism.

Two other suspects were indicted and were being sought overseas. Five of the six named in an indictment are U.S. citizens, and prosecutors said that some of them took weapons training and then tried to travel to Afghanistan to join up with al-Qaida and the Taliban, but could not get into the country.

At his sentencing in suburban Alexandria, Va., Lindh told the judge that "Bin Laden's terrorist attacks are completely against Islam, completely contrary to the conventions of jihad and without any justification whatsoever."

"His grievances, whatever they may be, cannot be addressed by acts of injustice and violence against innocent people in America."

Both Reid and Lindh were apprehended late last year while the U.S. was pursing the war in Afghanistan. But even as the government prosecuted Lindh and Reid, neither emerged as more than foot soldiers in the terrorist ranks.

Lindh was captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan and was in the vicinity of a prison uprising where CIA agent Johnny "Mike" Spann was killed. Spann's father, Johnny, told the judge Friday that Lindh was partly responsible for his son's death.

"My grandchildren would love to know their dad would be back in 20 years," he said. "The punishment doesn't fit the crime to me."

Ellis, however, said he never would have approved the plea agreement if the government had shown any evidence that Lindh was responsible for Spann's death. Lindh told the judge, "I had no role in the death of Johnny Micheal Spann."

Lindh pleaded guilty last July to supplying services to the Taliban and carrying an explosive during commission of a felony. Each count carries a 10-year sentence. The government told Ellis last week that Lindh had fulfilled his agreement to cooperate, allowing prosecutors to drop more serious charges that could have brought a life sentence.

As part of the plea agreement, neither Lindh nor his family can profit by selling his story.

Lindh, wearing glasses and a standard-issue green jumpsuit, still has the close cropped hair style he adopted soon after being returning to America. His appearance remained a far contrast from the long-haired, bearded image that he projected on television after his capture — a picture that shocked Americans who discovered that one of their own had been fighting for the Taliban.

"I want the court to know, and I want to American people to know," Lindh said, "that had I realized then what I know now about the Taliban, I would never have joined them."

Lindh also told the court that he never understood jihad to mean anti-Americanism or terrorism and declared, "I condemn terrorism on every level unequivocally."

He said he went to Afghanistan and enlisted in the Taliban army because he believed it was "my religious duty to assist my fellow Muslims militarily in their jihad against the Northern Alliance," the Taliban's internal Afghan enemies who eventually fought alongside the United States.

Government officials said Lindh and other al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners told U.S. interrogators the Sept. 11 hijackings were supposed to be the first of three increasingly severe attacks against Americans. Their claims have not been corroborated, government officials said.

Ellis said he is troubled that there were two separate accounts of when Lindh heard rumors that 50 terrorists would be sent on suicide operations. The original indictment said Lindh heard that information before Sept. 11, but Lindh has contended he heard it after the attacks.

Ellis suggested that Lindh address the discrepancy during the sentencing hearing, but he never did.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Bellows told the judge that Lindh is still being interrogated and when the interviews are completed, he will take a lie detector test. Ellis said he would take the unusual step of ordering that the polygraph results be made public.

 
   
 
   

 

         
         
       
        .contact us |.about us
  Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved  
主站蜘蛛池模板: chinese乱子伦videos | 毛片亚洲毛片亚洲毛片 | 美女拍拍拍免费视频观看 | 日本高清xxxx免费视频 | 1a级毛片免费观看 | 韩国一级做a爱性色毛片 | 日本老太婆一级毛片免费 | 国产18视频 | 青青操国产在线 | 色婷婷资源网 | 色一区二区 | 在线看黄网址 | 91短视频在线观看免费最新 | 性激烈的欧美暴力三级视频 | 欧美日韩国产在线观看一区二区三区 | 国产亚洲精品免费 | 国产欧美日本亚洲精品一4区 | 黄网站免费在线观看 | 91青青视频 | 久久青青草原精品影院 | 欧美日韩亚洲视频 | 亚洲精品人成网在线播放影院 | 国产精品久久国产三级国电话系列 | 午夜精品久久久久 | 特级女人十八毛片a级 | 国产免费人做爰午夜视频 | 国产专区一区 | 国产精品免费观看视频播放 | 久久黄网 | 美女一级毛片免费观看 | 欧美精品在线视频观看 | 丁香六月 久久久 | 91在线精品亚洲一区二区 | 超级碰碰碰免费视频播放 | 国产成人久久精品一区二区三区 | 日韩国产欧美视频 | 欧美日韩国产最新一区二区 | a级黄色网址 | 在线成h人视频网站免费观看 | 亚洲黄色激情网 | 成人短视频在线在线观看 |