December 22nd 2008
Trying Terrorists In Our Courts
T
errorist POWs don’t deserve trials in US courts when they’re caught trying to kill our troops or destroy our country, but terrorists who are American citizens and resident aliens certainly do have the right, and we saw today that our courts can do the job:
Five Muslim immigrants accused of scheming to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix were convicted of conspiracy Monday in a case that tested the FBI‘s post-Sept. 11 strategy of infiltrating and breaking up terrorist plots in their earliest stages. The men could get life in prison when they are sentenced in April.
The five, who lived in and around Philadelphia for years, were found guilty of conspiring to kill U.S. military personnel. But they were acquitted of attempted murder, after prosecutors acknowledged the men were probably months away from an attack and did not necessarily have a specific plan. Four defendants were also convicted of weapons charges. (source)
The convicted wannabe terrorists are were: Mohamed (natch!) Shnewer, a Jordanian-born cab driver; Turkish-born convenience store clerk Serdar Tatar; and brothers Dritan, Eljvir and Shain Duka, ethnic Albanians from the former Yugoslavia, who had a roofing business.
Kudos to Reuters for getting this fantastic photo of Faten Shnewer, mother of Mohamed. We the people won today. They, the outsiders, lost.
Michelle Malkin reminds us to thank Brian Morganstern, the Circuit City employee who saw a training video shot by the terrorists and notified authorities, as all good citizens would.
