Al Qaeda's Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani pleads not guilty to embassy bombings

[kpete]

Source: Daily News

Al Qaeda's Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani pleads not guilty to embassy bombings

BY Thomas Zambito, James Gordon Meek and Larry Mcshane
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Spirited out of Guantanamo Bay in the dead of night, an Al Qaeda henchman fidgeted and smiled in a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday where he was charged in a pair of deadly U.S. embassy bombings.

Wearing a blue prison smock, orange sneakers and a goatee, Ahmed Ghailani became the first detainee taken from Gitmo to stand trial on American soil.

Security was drum-tight as the reputed master forger and bomb maker delivered his long-delayed plea to conspiracy charges in perfect English: "Not guilty."

Ghailani's presence in Manhattan Federal Court, five years after his capture during a Pakistan shootout, marked the start of President Obama's controversial effort to shutter Guantanamo.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/06/09/2009-06-09_al_qaedas_ahmed_khalfan_ghailani_transferred_from_guantanamo_to_stand_trial_for_.html

[Bragi]

1. OMG we're all gonna die!

An Obama-freed terrorist is now wandering in America!

If there's one thing America isn't good at, it is locking people up securely in jails.

We are all doomed!

[endarkenment]

2. How does the Daily News know he is an Al Qaeda 'henchman'?

Oh wait, they don't.

And as a follow up question, how come it is ok to try this person in a standard court for a standard crime, but somehow we can't manage to do the same for the super-duper-terror-eight in gitmo? The ones we intend to execute without benefit of trial, kangaroo or regular, if they are willing to plead guilty?

[grahamhgreen]

3. BIAS - "controversial effort to shutter Guantanamo" should read

"effort to shutter the controversial detainment center at Guantanamo."