Virginia Paintball Jihad Update. "Man gets 10-year term in 'Virginia jihad' case," by Matthew Barakat for the Associated Press:
ALEXANDRIA -- In a precedent-setting case, a Virginia man was sentenced to 10 years in prison yesterday for lying to authorities about his participation in a militant training camp in Pakistan. Prosecutors successfully argued that his lies obstructed a wide-ranging terrorism investigation.
Under normal sentencing guidelines, Sabri Benkahla, 32, of Falls Church would have received at most a three-year term for his convictions this year on charges of lying to a grand jury, obstruction of justice and making a false statement.
But for the first time, prosecutors were able to obtain a stiffer sentence by arguing that Benkahla's lies effectively promoted terrorism.
Prosecutor Gordon Kromberg argued that Benkahla stymied an FBI investigation when he refused to tell a grand jury about his contacts on a 1999 trip to a training camp run by a group called Lashkar-e-Taiba, which the U.S. has since designated a terrorist organization.
Defense lawyers argued that prosecutors were bitter because Benkahla previously had been acquitted on charges of giving aid to the Taliban and that they were setting a perjury trap by hauling him in front of the grand jury in 2004. They said investigators had no real hope of learning anything new.
[...]
U.S. District Judge James Cacheris said his decision on whether to apply what's called a "terrorism enhancement" to Benkahla's sentence was one of his most difficult decisions since the federal sentencing guidelines were established in 1987.
The lawyers and Cacheris agreed that there was no precedent for applying the guidelines in the manner sought by prosecutors. Cacheris could have sentenced Benkahla to as much as 22 years in prison after applying the terror enhancement but cut the sentence to 10 years after giving Benkahla credit for lack of a criminal history and other factors.
Benkahla's case is one of about a dozen linked to what prosecutors called a "Virginia jihad network" of young Muslim men who played paintball as a means of training for holy war and who worshipped at the now-defunct Dar al-Arqam mosque in Falls Church. The group's spiritual leader, Ali al-Timimi, is serving a life sentence for soliciting treason by urging followers after the Sept. 11 attacks to go to Afghanistan and take up arms alongside the Taliban.
Benkahla had been one of only two people who had been acquitted in those cases. His lawyers argued that prosecutors unfairly linked him to the paintball group; he had only played paintball once and was studying overseas in Saudi Arabia when the paintball group was most active.
The courtroom was packed with Benkahla's family, friends and supporters. Cacheris said he received more letters in support of Benkahla than he had in any other case, including a character reference from U.S. Rep. James P. Moran, D-8th, who has close ties with Northern Virginia's Muslim community.
Perhaps, they will. If not, then it is over.
I'm worried about the appeal. I'm afraid it won't stick.
10 years? For perjury?...over committing to mass murder, no less?????????????????
!@#$%^&* unbelievable...
I would think it would have been at LEAST 10-to-life...but, forgot what kind of judges we're talking about here, too. Disgusting.
(Oh...for non-US that aren't familiar with our sentencing laws..."10 to life" means they spend at LEAST 10 years before eligible for parole, and even at that, they COULD spend their entire lives there if the parole board says so-at least in California, most US states are very similar there)
But with james "moron" moran pushing the freeing of terrorists, of any kind, don't count on him staying in jail...welcome to the wonderful world of political correctness.
We get what we tolerate...
Yeah it will be turned over on appeal i bet.
realterror
Yeah it will be turned over on appeal i bet.
sc
Yeah it will be turned over on appeal i bet.
10 years for lying? and 10 months for using real guns during real jihadi training ( http://realterror.wordpress.com/welcome/case-details/ ) Seems kind out of proportion
sc
"Judge James Cacheris said his decision on whether to apply what's called a "terrorism enhancement" to Benkahla's sentence was one of his most difficult decisions"
How difficult could it be to sentence a terrorist to ten years in prison? I mean, c'mon this guy was acquitted once but kept up his activity and attempted to hide it for good reason. He was doing something wrong.
The Judge should of felt great about his decision, knowing that he was doing his job of keeping Americans safe.
Judges like that are among the many reasons I thank GOD, and the Founding Fathers who beseeched His guidance, for our 2nd Amendment.
"...including a character reference from U.S. Rep. James P. Moran, D-8th, who has close ties with Northern Virginia's Muslim community."
This HAD to stick in ANYONE's eye and I can see jcom is on it already..
This moron shouls tick to the Irish community until he learns how to read people he knows NOTHING at all about!!
I am SO SICK and tired of these FOOLISH dhimmiticians!!
You noticed that, too allafanculo...
you got that (take) right...he's an embarassment to Irish anyway...^5s to ya.
""...including a character reference from U.S. Rep. James P. Moran, D-8th, who has close ties with Northern Virginia's Muslim community."
...you got it!!...the D stands out ....
....every time an important issue is voted upon the dhimmicrats almost enmasse shoot the American public in the heart...
...the dhimmicrats have consistently voted for cutbacks in military hardware developement, reductions in troop strength, cutbacks in military research, cutbacks in troop deployment, cutbacks in terrorist security measures, cutbacks in private citizens rights, increases in taxes, concessions to Muslim demands and contributing to increase the fear in citizens wishing to do the right thing, such as the recent incident involving the protection of the citizens against lawsuits for reporting suspicious activities...
...dhimmicrats want to destroy this country by surrendering the rights of its citizens, heavily taxing those large corporations, you know, the ones that already pay large taxes, create jobs, provide a wide variety of services and products and improve the lifes and health of the people by providing quality clothes, medicines, appliances, commodities, and items of convenience.
dhimmicrats need to do a better job of fighting terrorists, appeasing the terrorists does not work...a study of history will support this...
Muslims has established a track record of broken promises and of violent death....you can verify this by reading history.....
past history cannot be changed, but the future can be affected by the actions we take today...
start by banning muslim immigration.
Posted by: exsgtbrown :
past history cannot be changed, but the future can be affected by the actions we take today...start by banning muslim immigration.
One of the good things that can come out of likely failure in Iraq, will be to show that despite our best intentions, much loss of lives and huge amounts of treasure, that Moslims cannot become liberal democrats. Thus the only option is to make our shores safe by banning Moslim immigration as a first step, followed by a steady and humane repatriation/deportation of Moslems.
I have to go along with DP111 on this one.
The pull out of Iraq will result in the breaking of ties the democrats have with the Muslin/Islamic community. They will be able to spin it for sometime however, Iraq will become another North Vietnam as far as American society is concerned. The Dems will drop it like a hot rock and anything associated with it. The next thing will be a wave of Iraq vets running for political/elected offices. They will eventually have a lot of say-so over democrats.
A start.
But then there is prison radicalization.
There is the koran and "special" treatment in the prison.
Sometimes one is led to think that we are not thinking far out enough,
I think I know one thing that influences people like the judge.
Ever see a movie called "The Power of Nightmares"? It insists that the war on terror is all blown out of proportion by Conservatives looking to scare their way into office.
OK, assume they're right and terrorists are just sparse groups of disorganized thugs. Wouldn't it still be dangerous to start downplaying everything? They want us to. The movie cited examples of overreaction and some were reasonalbe, but then they included some kids who traveled to Afghanistan and trained with some cells, and MET BIN LADEN. Our government pounced on them when they came back to our country (good!), but the film said they were no threat and "didn't show a shred of evidence of terrorism". They lumped the kids who met OBL in the same group as some kids who got busted for a travel brochure with tourist traps circled that a previous tenant left in their apartment under the sofa.
That's what we're up against.
Nobody is going to bann Muslims any time soon....they're the lefts fuzzy warm strategic partners and the engine behind the lefts pagan God "Multiculturalism".
This case is typical...I usually end up hearing a terrorist, beit one who aids and abetts (forgery, passports, finances, logistics, etc.etc.) gets off without much of a penalty. 10 years for contributing and conspiracy to mass murder should be dealt with an iron fist....but until their are teeth in laws specifically for the "helpers" of the terrorists.....their will continue to be support at all levels for the physical Jihadists.
We will get what we deserve.
"Dar al-Arqam mosque in Falls Church..."
-- from the article above
Good God. A mosque, any mosque at all, in Falls Church, Virginia. There goes, not the neighborhood, but everything. The ghosts of George Washington, of Robert E. Lee, of Lighthorse Harry Lee, of all the dead at Arlington, are not pleased. Don't displease the dead.
"A mosque, any mosque at all, in Falls Church, Virginia. There goes, not the neighborhood, but everything." --from above
Virginia was formerly known as "The Mother of Presidents." Now perhaps it is becoming the mother of precedents, precedents that would cast aside the hard won victories and lessons of history in favor of accommodating those who pursue jihad in order to impose Shariah upon this land. Shariah: the exact antithesis of the US Constitution.
Thomas Jefferson was a child of Virginia who read the Qur'an and understood its significance as a threat to free people, to the extent that as president he dispatched the newly formed US Navy to the Barbary Coast, rejecting demands for tribute from the rulers of that country. That's the precedent that the US should be following.
I wonder how happy the Pasha of Tripoli would be, were he alive today, to know the inroads that Islam has made into the US in particular and the West in general, in setting itself up as a thing beyond critical discussion. The first line of defense in the US against jihad is the First Amendment. And there is a second line of defense too.
We will get what we deserve.
Posted by: Sneakyzionistcrusader
Yes, we got Bush, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary, Barak, Rove, Cheney, Teddy, and the ever popular criminal, Hairy Reed. We got a weak kneed, Congress, an impotent Senate, and a self serving President. No wonder Islam thinks it can defeat the west. Our government has been doing everything it can to help them out.
We have already gotten what we deserve...now it's time to throw the bums out.
Prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq he (Moran) told an antiwar audience in Reston, Virginia on March 3, 2003, that "If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this. The leaders of the Jewish community are influential enough that they could change the direction of where this is going, and I think they should."[2]
The National Jewish Democratic Council criticized Moran's comments.[3] Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said Moran's comments were "unfounded, baseless, and way out of line."
House Democratic leader NANCY PELOSI said Moran's comments have
"no place in the Democratic Party."
Joe Lieberman called the comments "deeply offensive and morally wrong."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Moran
WOW...
If Nancy says his comments have
"no place in the Democratic Party."
Then he must be lower then a "Demmi,Dhimmi".
Gee wiz...What's lower then that?
Moran=Moron
ps The word "moron" does not appear in the
MSN encarta premium dictionary because it is "considered offensive".
I think Jim needs to hear from the "People" who want to know;
"What's up"?
Jim Moran
Washington, DC Office
Alexandria District Office
2239 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515-4608
Phone: (202) 225-4376
Fax: (202) 225-0017
Alexandria District Office
333 N. Fairfax St.
Suite 201
Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone: (703) 971-4700
Fax: (703) 922-9436
Reston District Office
1900 Campus Commons Dr. Suite 100
Reston, VA 20191
Phone: (703) 971-4700
Fax: (703) 922-9436
http://moran.house.gov/index.shtml
More "Moran"
“The seven million Muslim-Americans living in the U.S. are an integral part of American society. Our country is a melting pot of different cultures and beliefs. This diversity is a strength, not a weakness."
http://moran.house.gov/pr061221b.shtml
Note to Moran:
"The diversity is a strength..."
Islam is anti-diversity.
("There is no 'God' but 'Allah'!")
They do not alloy to another culture, but erode, and then supplant it.
Moran hasn't got a clue about what he is claiming.
Oh Boy! The Democrat dude again trying to save a "terrorist".
a character reference from U.S. Rep. James P. Moran, D-8th, who has close ties with Northern Virginia's Muslim community.
Moran..the moron kissing the hand of a terrorist.
Is this enough proof to show democrat's to change their mind about their own party. (Vote in Republicans in 2008). At least you want lose this country to barbarians.