An update on this story. "Florida Man Convicted in Chicago Sears Tower Terror Plot Gets 6 Years," from Fox News, November 18:
MIAMI -- A Miami man convicted of plotting to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower and bomb FBI offices has been sentenced to six years in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard imposed the sentence Wednesday on 24-year-old Burson Augustin. Four other men are scheduled to be sentenced over the next three days.
Prosecutors sought the maximum 30-year sentence for Augustin. Lenard ruled that sentencing terrorism enhancements should not apply to Augustin, who was not the leader.
The men were convicted in May of supporting Al Qaeda, conspiring to wage war on the U.S. and other charges.
There were two mistrials, and two other men were acquitted. All denied plotting terror attacks....
He'll be out by age 30. Plenty of time to do jihad when he gets out.
All denied plotting terror attacks...
Good time for a song. Ahem, here we go...
(sung to the tune of Tequila by the Champs)
da da
da da da da da da
da da
da da da da da...
TAQIYAA!!
THEN what do ya do with him after six years of dawa on top of the murderous intent....GITMO MUST REMAIN OPEN FOR THIS TYPE OF SEMI-HUMAN SWILL!!
This case was wrongly prosecuted. It was no more than a simple matter of conspiracy to maliciously destroy property and to menace local persons. The conspiracty for the plotted act, the bombing, was part of a larger Islamic conspiracy to enslave, to extort, etc., but that doesn't get you to conspiracy to wage war against a collective.
The idea that it's a crime to conspire to wage war against the USA is bogus, just as it is bogus to suppose that treason or sedition are crimes. In fact, there is no justifcation whatsoever for supposing that any entity called "United States of America" ever existed at all. It was not established by the consent of all those it purported to rule at the time it was established, and those who proclaimed its existence had no right to bind others, such as those not yet born in June 1788, to submit to it later or to consent to it later.
Like every one of its so-called states, the USA was never voted into existence. Of course, to suppose that you could vote, say, "the State of Illinois", into existence, requires that you pretend that a state and its machinery of direct democracy already exist before the vote. Yet those, too, would have to be voted into existence, so you can't vote your government into existence. (The alternative is to proclaim that a protodemocracy exists, but that gets the collectivist back to the connundrum mentioned in the last paragraph.) As with the proclamation of a republic, the procedure of pretending to vote a state, whether Illiois or the USA, into existence is but a fraud of knaves supported by dupes.
So there's no justifcation for the charge of conspiracy to wage war against the United States. The conviction should be tossed out on appeal. Yet that would require that the court doing the tossing be legitimate, which is lacking. So the terrorist should be set free to teach Americans a lesson about the consequences of lying.
So the guy will rot for a few years, then come out more bitter and resentful than ever. Nice work, lawyers.
While I agree with your last statement, the entirity of what you stated above, if not a spoof, sounds like a backdrop to the Beatles "Imagine".
I DO hope you were just kidding.
6 years. That'll learn 'im.
Sentence is too light. 6 years to conspire to murder hundreds. His wrist must hurt! My suggestion: Surgically implant a micro GPS device in his body (inside bone tissue)and have him on surveillance 24/7 when he gets out.
"US District Judge Joan Lenard found that Burson Augustin, 23, played a minor role in the conspiracy and gave him a far lighter sentence than the 30 years that prosecutors had been seeking.
In handing down the sentence, Lenard said: "Islamic terrorism is one of the most tremendous problems that this country now confronts... this defendant took an oath to Al-Qaeda."
But she added that Augustin's actions might have been affected by other factors. "This was a young man who for whatever reason, perhaps lack of education or lack of direction, came under the influence of Narseal Batiste."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hcLLxAI0HtlC_rLSntOZCnLXCyHw
Judge Lenard should serve the other 24 years of the 30 prosecutors were trying to get 'Brother B' on. Batiste is looking down the barrel of a 70 year sentence. Do you think he'll get 7???
Lakeview, I do hope your tongue was firmly plotted in your cheek when your wrote the above. If you were not being facetious, then perhaps you could inform us what country, or whatever you want to call it, has ever been voted into existence by those it would subsequently govern, according to your representational rules, in the entire 5000+ years of recorded history?
Sorry - "plotted" in the above should obviously have been "planted"