9/11 Trainer Noor Uthman Muhammed sentenced

*cross-posted from Assoluta Tranquillita*

From War on Terror News:

9/11 Trainer Noor Muhammed Sentenced to 14 Years

DOD Announces Sentence for Detainee Noor Uthman Muhammed

The Department of Defense announced today that Noor Uthman Muhammed was sentenced to 14 years in confinement for providing material support to al-Qaeda and conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization and terrorism. A pre-sentencing hearing took place in a military commission courtroom at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. During his Feb. 15 guilty plea, Muhammed admitted to serving many roles at the Khaldan terrorist training camp in Afghanistan beginning in 1994. He admitted to being a weapons instructor, member of the Council of Advisors to the Emir, and to overseeing the Khaldan terrorist training camp in the Emir's (Osama bin Ladin) absence. Muhammed stipulated that he entered into an agreement with Abu Zubaida and others to train recruits to commit acts of terrorism in support of al-Qaeda or affiliated terrorist organizations engaged in hostilities against the United States. He admitted that individuals trained at Khaldan during his tenure there included, among others, Mohammed al Owhali, a convicted participant in the U.S. embassy bombing in Nairobi, Kenya; Ahmed Ressam, a convicted participant in the Millennium Plot, the plan to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on 31 December 1999; and Zacarias Moussaoi, the admitted al-Qaeda terrorist, who was convicted in the Eastern District of Virginia and is serving a life sentence in federal prison.

Under the terms of the pre-trial agreement, Muhammed agreed to testify for the United States at any military commission, federal court proceeding, or federal grand jury proceeding against other individuals involved in terrorist activity. Muhammed has cooperated with U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies and, as part of the pre-trial agreement, must continue to cooperate. ..

Go read the rest of WOTN here.

Just as with Omar Khadr, who I wrote about here, and here, the pictures that emerge of Noor Uthman Muhammed vary greatly depending on who is doing the drawing.

The NY Times has a series that it calls The Guantanimo Docket, where it shows much of the documentation - and evidence - used to convict him. An excerpt about Noor Uthman Muhammed says that he was a weapons instructor, and actually ran the training camp, among many duties. You can find the whole pile of documents of the damning evidence here.:


Reuters has this:

His tribal leader in Sudan has offered to find Noor a wife and job when he returns, and his extended family pledged support. His lawyers called him "a kind, gentle, respectful man" and said that after nine years in indefinite detention, "Noor can now have some certainty in his life."...

[...]

Noor, who is about 44, gave small-arms training at the Khaldan paramilitary camp in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2000 and sometimes filled in for the camp commander. Defense attorney Howard Cabot described his role as buying milk and eggs and teaching someone to shoot a rifle.

A prosecutor called Khaldan a criminal camp that turned young Muslim men into religious fanatics and tutored them in killing, bomb-making and conducting surveillance on embassies, military bases and airports.

'TERRORIST ASSEMBLY LINE'

"It was, simply put, a terrorist assembly line," Navy Lieutenant Commander Arthur Gaston said....

You can read more at Reuters here on this 'kind, gentle, respectful man' who is now a convicted terrorist.

Esquire.com has this:

[...] By working at the camp, Noor helped make them terrorists.

And Noor's help didn't stop when the camp closed in 2000, continues the prosecution. Instead, he moved to a safe house in Pakistan run by Abu Zubaydah, a top al Qaeda leader. In the house the men swore a war against America, they planned new terror plots, discussed tactics....

This is a lengthy article, well worth the read here.

Fact is, just as Omar Khadr was no innocent enjoying a 'family picnic' in the middle of the battleground, so too has evidence proved that Noor Uthman Muhammed was no unwitting innocent bystander. Both got less than they deserved. Khadr, sentenced to 40 years, will actually serve far less. Today's convicted, Noor Uthman Muhammed, may have been sentenced - officially - to 14 years, but will serve than less than 3 under the terms of the agreement.

Omar Khadr and Noor Uthman Muhammed were enemy combatants actively engaged in acts of war against United States of America. Period. End of story.