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Appeal of Bush Assassination Plot Heard
AP via SFGate ^ | 6/21/7 | LARRY O'DELL, Associated Press Writer

Posted on 06/21/2007 1:01:08 PM PDT by SmithL

Richmond, Va. (AP) -- An American Muslim convicted of plotting to assassinate President Bush had been tortured into confessing and was denied his constitutional right to confront his accusers, his attorney told a federal appeals court Thursday.

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali claims Saudi security officials whipped and tortured him into giving a false confession, attorney Joshua Draytel said.

Draytel also claimed his client's constitutional right to confront his accusers "took a ferocious beating" because the Saudis testified from Riyadh while Abu Ali was in a Virginia courtroom.

Abu Ali should have been taken to Saudi Arabia since the Saudi government would not allow its agents to come to the U.S., Draytel said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David H. Laufman countered that Abu Ali's trial in November 2005 was fair and that there was no doubt about the validity of his written and videotaped confessions.

"The sheer detail of these confessions is astonishing," Laufman told the three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which later conducted a closed session focusing on classified information.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: assasination; ropma; trop

1 posted on 06/21/2007 1:01:10 PM PDT by SmithL
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To: SmithL

Boo freakin hoo.


2 posted on 06/21/2007 1:01:51 PM PDT by pacelvi
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To: pacelvi

I realize that this may be extremely politically incorrect, but I admire the way the Saudis handled the interrogation of this maggot.


3 posted on 06/21/2007 1:05:25 PM PDT by Bishop_Malachi (Liberal Socialism - A philosophy which advocates spreading a low standard of living equally.)
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To: SmithL

Waaah.


4 posted on 06/21/2007 1:09:12 PM PDT by hsalaw
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To: pacelvi
An American Muslim convicted of plotting to assassinate President Bush had been tortured into confessing

Good!

Except, you know it's a lie. On a par with, "Moslems broke into my house and flushed my Merriam-Webster Second International Dictionary down the toilet."

Since he's lying about this, can Abu-Whatever be prosecuted for perjury, too? Double-parking, maybe? I'm kinda hoping if you stack up enough of those, it'll add up to the death penalty.

5 posted on 06/21/2007 1:09:41 PM PDT by SamuraiScot
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To: Bishop_Malachi
I realize that this may be extremely politically incorrect, but I admire the way the Saudis handled the interrogation of this maggot.

Maybe I'm mis-reading the article, but it sounds like he wasn't sent to Saudi Arabia. They're saying he was tortured here by our people and they're saying he should have been sent to Saudi Arabia instead (I guess where he would be treated nicely!).

6 posted on 06/21/2007 1:09:52 PM PDT by Cementjungle
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To: SmithL

Saudi security officials BUMP!


7 posted on 06/21/2007 1:10:59 PM PDT by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
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To: Cementjungle
It is a confusing read. But I’m of the understanding that enemy combatants don’t have rights. And I see him as one anyway.
8 posted on 06/21/2007 1:13:21 PM PDT by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
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To: Calpernia
It says:

Abu Ali should have been taken to Saudi Arabia since the Saudi government would not allow its agents to come to the U.S., Draytel said.

Which, to me, implies that he was held here (or maybe GTMO) and interrogrted by us rather than by the Saudis.

9 posted on 06/21/2007 1:15:38 PM PDT by Cementjungle
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To: SmithL
“Ahmed Omar Abu Ali claims Saudi security officials whipped and tortured him into giving a false confession, attorney Joshua Draytel said.”

I think that I saw a tape of all this — where the guy was whipped by a pair of panties and then those panties were put over his head. Or something like that.

If I’m right about this, we have to let him go.

10 posted on 06/21/2007 1:17:25 PM PDT by vetsvette (Bring Him Back)
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To: Cementjungle
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali claims Saudi security officials whipped and tortured him

It looks like he's claiming the Saudis did it - but he doesn't say whether it was here or there.

11 posted on 06/21/2007 1:27:19 PM PDT by hsalaw
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To: Cementjungle

The article makes clear that he was apprehended and interrogated by the Saudis. He was an American citizen “studying” in Medina. He was then extradited back to the U.S. where (with the evidence presented by the Saudies), he was formally charged with the conspiracy to commit murder against the president.


12 posted on 06/21/2007 1:32:09 PM PDT by Bishop_Malachi (Liberal Socialism - A philosophy which advocates spreading a low standard of living equally.)
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To: Cementjungle

I saw that.


13 posted on 06/21/2007 1:34:44 PM PDT by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
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To: pacelvi

Can you imagine the Dems ... President Cheney! They’d be falling all over themselves. Spilling water all over themselves.


14 posted on 06/21/2007 1:38:42 PM PDT by K-oneTexas (I'm not a judge and there ain't enough of me to be a jury. (Zell Miller, A National Party No More))
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To: K-oneTexas

They apparently think Cheney wouldn’t go “hunting them”....


15 posted on 06/21/2007 1:45:31 PM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: SmithL
Someone said that the golden rule for all falsehood is that detail makes for credibility.

The mere piling up of a lot of details doesn't guarantee that it's the truth.

I don't know what this guy is worried for--his chances of being pardoned by the next Democrat president are a lot better than Libby or those border guards have of getting a pardon from GWB.

16 posted on 06/21/2007 2:59:18 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: SmithL
An Islamist, plotting to assassinate the President of the United States of America in wartime is not protected by the Constitution! He is an enemy combatant, regardless of his citizenship. He should be treated just like any other enemy fighter.
17 posted on 06/21/2007 3:01:41 PM PDT by TChris (The Republican Party is merely the Democrat Party's "away" jersey - Vox Day)
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He faced a maximum of life in prison, but U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee said 30 years was sufficient...


Lee, Gerald Bruce
Born 1952 in Washington, DC

Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U. S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia
Nominated by William J. Clinton on May 22, 1998, to a seat vacated by James C. Cacheris; Confirmed by the Senate on September 28, 1998, and received commission on October 1, 1998.

Education:
American University, B.A., 1973

American University, Washington College of Law, J.D., 1976

Professional Career:
Private practice, Fairfax County, Virginia, 1976-1992
Circuit court judge, 19th Judicial Circuit of Virginia, Fairfax Circuit Court, 1992-1998

Race or Ethnicity: African American

Gender: Male

18 posted on 06/21/2007 3:06:03 PM PDT by SmithL (si vis pacem, para bellum)
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To: pacelvi

Ditto freakin’ ditto!!!


19 posted on 06/21/2007 3:29:44 PM PDT by cubreporter
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