Shoe Bomber Sentenced to Life in Prison
BOSTON - Richard Reid, the al-Qaida follower who tried to blow up a
trans-Atlantic jetliner with explosives hidden in his shoes, was
sentenced to life in prison Thursday by a judge who warned him: "We
are not afraid ... We are Americans. We have been through the fire
before."

The 29-year-old British citizen cried, "You will be judged by Allah!"
before being dragged from the courtroom in handcuffs.


Reid received the maximum sentence after declaring himself a soldier
of war and denouncing U.S. foreign policy toward Islamic countries.


"Your government has sponsored the torture of Muslims in Iraq, and
Turkey, and Jordan and Syria with their money and weapons," said
Reid, who converted to Islam eight years ago.


U.S. District Judge William Young would have none of it.


"We are not afraid of any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr.
Reid," said the judge. "We are Americans. We have been through the
fire before.


"You are not an enemy combatant — you are a terrorist. You are
not a
soldier in any war — you are a terrorist. To call you a soldier
gives
you far too much stature. You are a terrorist and we do not negotiate
with terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to
justice."


At that, the judge pointed to the American flag behind him and
said: "You see that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United
States of America. That flag will fly there long after this is long
forgotten."


Reid had faced 60 years to life for trying to blow up an American
Airlines flight bound from Paris to Miami just three months after the
Sept. 11 attacks. Prosecutors said Reid had enough plastic explosives
in his shoes to blow a hole in the fuselage and kill all 197 people
aboard.


Passengers and crew members overpowered Reid, using seat belts and
their own belts to strap him to his seat. Two doctors aboard the
flight injected him with sedatives and the jet was diverted to
Boston.


Federal prosecutor Gerard Leone Jr. told the judge that in Reid's
mind "the religion of Islam justifies the killing of innocent
civilians. In his mind, the horrific and homicidal attacks of Sept.
11 were but a missed opportunity."


As Reid sought to justify his actions, several crew members who were
on the flight looked stunned, glancing at each other in the courtroom
and shaking their heads. One woman wept.


In Washington, Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites)
praised the sentence and called the passengers and crew heroes who
averted a disaster.


"The sentence imposed on Richard Reid says to the world that
terrorists cannot escape American justice," Ashcroft said. "We will
hunt them down, stop them and we will put them away."


When Reid pleaded guilty last October, he said he was a member of al-
Qaida, pledged his support to Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and
declared himself an enemy of the United States.


Prosecutors and the FBI (news - web sites) said that witnesses
reported Reid was present at al-Qaida training camps, and that Reid
had help making the bomb from an al-Qaida bomb maker.


Defense attorneys said Reid credits his religion with saving him from
a life of drug use and despair. They described a troubled childhood
and young adulthood, when Reid was plagued by poverty, racism and
crime.


In arguing for a life sentence, prosecutors this month submitted a
videotaped simulation of what Reid might have accomplished, showing a
fiery explosion causing severe damage to a wide-body jet.

Reid tried furiously to light a match to his shoes but he was unable
to ignite the fuse. Authorities have speculated the shoes were moist
from sweat.

One of the flight attendants, Carole Nelson, pleaded with the judge
Thursday for a life sentence. "I believe that Richard Reid was on a
mission of evil, a mission of destruction and a mission of murder,"
she said.

Federal authorities had been preparing for a high-security trial when
Reid stunned prosecutors by pleading guilty in what he said was an
effort to spare his family the pain and publicity of a trial. He
pleaded guilty to eight charges, including attempted use of a weapon
of mass destruction.