Spanish prosecutor wants Sept 11 conviction quashed

Reuters ^ | 16 Feb 2006

[ncountylee]

MADRID, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Spain's public prosecutor urged a court on Thursday to overturn an alleged al Qaeda leader's conviction for conspiring with the Sept. 11 plotters, calling the evidence weak and unconvincing.

If the Supreme Court agrees with the prosecutor, it would mean that a high-profile trial of 24 alleged al Qaeda members in Spain last year had failed to convict anyone in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities.

Three of the 24 defendants were accused of 2,973 murders in connection with the U.S. attacks -- charges that carried potential jail terms of more than 74,000 years -- but were acquitted by Spain's High Court last September.

The High Court did sentence Syrian-born Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, who it said was the leader of an al Qaeda cell in Spain, to 15 years in prison for "conspiracy to commit terrorist murder" in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks and 12 years for leading a terrorist group.

The High Court said there was evidence that Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah, helped draw up the plan to attack the World Trade Center, working with a radical cell in Hamburg.

But Yarkas, together with other defendants, appealed against his convictions to the Supreme Court.

In a legal filing published on Thursday, the public prosecutor at the Supreme Court agreed with Yarkas that the conviction for conspiracy should be overturned but said the conviction for leading a terrorist group should remain intact.

[ncountylee]

I'm speechless.

[Fiddlstix]

Ditto

[Modok]

The denial of 9-11-01 will soon be everywhere. Otherwise if it is real and accepted then the little pu@@ies are shown for what they are when they don't want to do anything about it.

[Bender2]

Quashed? Quashed, you say? I got your quashed hanging in the gun rack of my pickup!

[VOA]

This is not news to anyone that saw the excellent 1 hour special done
by David Ensor (on CNN, believe it or not).

While France (contrary to accepted knowledge) is pretty tough on identified
terrorists within the borders of France, Spain is the polar opposite.

Spain, under the direction of the Socialists is running a "let's all
get along" program. It's as good as a Neville Chamberlain wet-kiss for
Osama bin Laden.

The Islamic Reconquista of Al-Andalus (sp?) proceeds apace.
And they'll retake the place without firing a shot.
All it took was some train bombs.

[TexanToTheCore]

Al Quaeda got to the prosecuor with a threat on his family's lives.

[freekitty]

When are they going to learn, "Let's all get along" ain't going to work with Al Queda. They don't want to be your friends. They want to be your masters.

[CFC__VRWC]

Of course, the courts are all we need to fight terrorism!

[livius]

Spain, under the direction of the Socialists is running a "let's all get along" program.

That would be Zapatero's "Alianza de Civilizaciones" (yuck). Unfortunately, Condoleeza Rice actually congratulated the Spanish Foreign Minister on this "enlightened" attitude today. It was all over the press.

Sigh. The world turned upside down. Black is white, red is green, nothing is what it seems, it must be just my lying eyes that gave me the impression that 3000 Americans died at the hands of Islamic terrorists on 9/11...

[rightwinggoth]

A-P-P-E-A-S-E-M-E-N-T, find out what it means to me.

[sure_fine]

are the american civilian people going to have to fight this ourselves, I mean without the govt

they are apparently giving it away

[attiladhun2]

Why does everyone knock Chamerlain? Given the circumstances (a weak and vascillating France and a half-hearted Parliment), he did the only thing he could do at Munich to buy enough time to build up the RAF. Had he done otherwise, both Britain and France might well have been defeated if war had begun in 1938. He absolutely does not deserve the bad rap he gets from folks who have not bothered to do an in-depth study of the era just before WWII.

[VOA]

Given the circumstances (a weak and vascillating France and a half-hearted
Parliment), he did the only thing he could do at Munich to buy
enough time to build up the RAF. Had he done otherwise, both
Britain and France might well have been defeated if war had begun in 1938.

That is a reasonable scenario with some merit.
At the same time, IIRC, Chamberlain called his policy appeasement,
even as early as 1934. IMHO, his failures were
1. to treat a lying sociopath like Hitler in a gentlemanly fashion
and
2. to not fully heed critics like Churchill that were sounding the
alarms long before 1938.

In fairness to Chamberlain, he did have a hard row, given that
it was hard for England to contemplate another large war after losing
a generation of men. And there didn't seem to be much help from
others (France, etc.) that should have also stepped up.

I just hope that Dubya's diplomatic approach to "moderate Islam"
isn't just a replay of Chamberlain's strategy.

[attiladhun2]

Even Churchill moderated his stanch visa vis fascist Spain. There were many in Britain who wanted the allies to invade Spain during WWII. Churchill wisely chose to conciliate Franco rather than antagonize him. Unlike Hitler, he thought it was important not to create new enemies when the situation on the ground was still in doubt. The Normandy invasion was more important than extending democracy to Spain.
By the way, there are moderate Muslims--they are assisting us and risking their lives for us every day. Never forget that.