Tuesday, October 17, 2006

28 months

Attorney gets 28 months for aiding a terrorist.

We are currently waging a war on terror. There are people who are intent on killing innocent civilians and needlessly attacking American targets. These are the people we are waging war on. Basically, there is an enemy, we know who that enemy is and they are the ones who must be stopped. So what should happen to someone who knowingly aids that enemy? What should happen to someone who passes messages for these people when they otherwise couldn’t do it themselves?

Such was the case with Lynn Stewart, who helped her terrorist client by passing messages to his terrorist buddies while he was in prison. Isn’t that aiding the enemy? Isn’t that espionage? Isn’t that treason?

She was convicted for her actions which is a good thing. But her sentence leaves something to be desired…28 months in prison. 28 months for someone who knowingly aided people who actively target civilians in deliberate and deadly attacks. 28 months. One wonders what would have happened in the 40s to someone who did the same for the Japanese or the Nazis. I can confidently say it would have been a lot more than 28 months. In fact, it may have been death. That was then. This is now.

This says a lot about our determination to win the war on terror and it pales in comparison to our attitude in the ‘40s. If we give our enemies – and Ms Stewart IS an enemy of the United States – this kind of weak punishment, we will NOT win the war on terror. We need to be sending messages that supporting terrorist networks will not be tolerated and 28 months is not the message to send.

Stewart’s sentence is a victory for our enemies and should alert us to the fact that we are not waging this war properly. Our current attitude is, in a word, half-ass and a half-ass attitude will spell defeat. Ms Stewart acted as a spy and even if you follow the most stringent rules of war the punishment for espionage can be death. Should she get the death penalty? I won’t go that far, but she should have gotten much more than 28 months.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"This says a lot about our determination to win the war on terror.."

Actually, it says a lot about the U.S. Sentencing Commission. If 28 months isn't enough, blame the U.S. Attorney's office for not indicting her under a tougher statute. Or blame Congress for not enacting tougher penalties in the sentencing guidelines. --Deano