David Neiwert: An embarrasment to conservatives indeed

Saturday, August 06, 2005

One of the joys of vacations to places devoid of electricity is that you can finally escape the barrage of idiocy from right-wing gits who now populate so much of our national discourse.

But you always have to come back home, and when you do, you inevitably find that they've gone and soiled the carpet again.

It was over a week ago that they did so, attacking Judge John Coughenour's sentencing for Al Qaeda terrorist Ahmed Ressam.

It wasn't just that Coughenour gave Ressam what they considered a light sentence (22 years, instead of the 35 sought by prosecutors). What really stirred their ire was that Coughenour -- a Reagan appointee largely considered a conservative on the court -- laid into the current regime's handling of similar cases under the aegis of the "war on terror", especially through military tribunals free of court oversight.

In a commentary on the ruling, Coughenour had the audacity to say the following:

I've done my very best to arrive at a period of confinement that appropriately recognizes the severity of the intended offense, but also recognizes the practicalities of the parties' positions before trial and the cooperation of Mr. Ressam, even though it did terminate prematurely.

"The message I would hope to convey in today's sentencing is twofold:

"First, that we have the resolve in this country to deal with the subject of terrorism and people who engage in it should be prepared to sacrifice a major portion of their life in confinement.

"Secondly, though, I would like to convey the message that our system works. We did not need to use a secret military tribunal, or detain the defendant indefinitely as an enemy combatant, or deny him the right to counsel, or invoke any proceedings beyond those guaranteed by or contrary to the United States Constitution.