Posted on 10/11/2007 10:42:34 AM PDT by Squidpup
Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, claims he converted from Islam to Christianity, Scott Pelley reports in a story that brings viewers inside the secretive "Supermax" prison where he is being held. Pelley also reports that some 900 force feedings were performed on other al-Qaeda terrorists who went on repeated hunger strikes to protest conditions at the Colorado top-security federal prison. The 60 MINUTES segment will be broadcast Sunday Oct. 14 (7:30-9:00 PM, ET/7:00-9:00 PM, PT) on the CBS Television Network.
The prison in Florence, Colo., which the government calls ADX-Florence for Administrative Maximum, houses the nation's toughest and most infamous criminals, such as Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph, would-be 9/11 terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols and shoe bomber Richard Reid. 60 MINUTES obtained exclusive footage of prisoners inside the facility, where special-case prisoners are allowed only a phone call a month, spend 23 hours a day in their 12-by-7 cells and can get mail only from people approved by the prison.
Robert Hood, its warden from 2002 to 2005, says Yousef was a special case. He never left his cell because he did not want to face the indignity of a strip search required for recreation. "He has that Charlie Manson look," says Hood of Yousef. "He has some charisma about him. He's in [prison] uniform, but you know that there's a powerful person you're looking at," Hood says. Told that Yousef has begun leaving his cell and now claims to be a Christian, Hood says, "He's playing a game with someone. If he's doing that, he's doing it for the reaction....He is the real deal," he tells Pelley. As a Muslim, Yousef prayed almost every hour, remembers Hood.
Other Qaeda terrorists protested the special conditions with hunger strikes that Hood had to end with force feedings. "I probably...authorized, conducted 350, maybe 400 involuntary feedings," recalls Hood. "You could have one person, three meals a day for...two months."
Pelley also speaks with a corrections officer inside ADX-Florence, who tells him what she heard on 9/11 after terrorist prisoners saw the destruction on their televisions. "We had a lot of them jump up and down. ...scream and yell and clap and they were very excited," says Barbara Batulis, who heads the prison's staff union. She also characterizes the Muslim extremists as needy. "They want more than what they have coming," she says. "They want extra toilet paper...writing paper...extra envelopes and if you can't give them, they want to see a supervisor right then and there."
Batulis would rather work among the other prisoners because she is female. "It's very obvious, [Muslim extremists] just look at you with sheer disdain." Hate can turn into threats. "A terrorist inmate threatened to kill my family, because I was doing my job," Batulis tells Pelley. Batulis says the prison needs more officers. "...We are very short staffed. I firmly believe that staff lives are at stake," she says.
Developing...
“He has some charisma about him. He’s in [prison] uniform, but you know that there’s a powerful person you’re looking at,” Hood says.
BS, he is a lowly criminal POS and I cannot understand the need to compliment him.
I’m always skeptical when high-profile people convert. That said, however, my opinion is not the one that counts. And this one is interesting. He has a lot more to fear from fellow Muslims for converting that anything he was to fear from Americans or the American penal system.
“One man had visitations for a year from Jesus Christ. When he finally went to an underground Church he knew more about Christianity than all those attending church including the pastor.”
Source?
Ordinarily I'd agree, but there's essentially no opportunity for inmate interaction in that prison, as I understand it. I doubt they'd be able to kill him if they wanted to.
Yousef is not eligible for parole. Ever.
If this is true, he is truly Blessed. It also means he’s in danger from his former co-religionists, who will consider him the very worst of infidels because he turned his back on Islam.
I'll take a stab at it: he'll get wet.
Good news.
I hope this isn't considered 'torture' by the libs! Terri Schiavo would have appreciated it!
Wonder why he would announce this, he would now be a dead man according to their religion.
I've read that many Blacks who convert to islam while in prison, soon revert after they are released.
The number of converts is miniscule compared to the number of totally manipulative phony's.
Same here Theo . . . part of a prison ministry, pretty new in it. So far there seems to be a lot of error in doctrine or focus, lots of games being played, and lots of people that are honestly Christian. What takes me back sometimes is when I found out the crime of someone that seems to have an honest relationship with Christ. The other thing that takes me back is how much a prisoner can learn, and how quickly, when they have 10 or 12 hours a day to study the Bible. They have a month’s worth of my hour or so of Bible reading a day in their short term memory from just a few days of their reading.
God could use this terrorist and the terrorist could honestly be called or he could just be playing someone. That is between him and God ultimately.
It will be
I know, just forgot a /sarcasm tag, lol.
See if he’ll eat a pork sandwich now.
That may sound good as a blurb or a sound-bite, but it's toally and utterly useless as any kind of indicator. No matter whether one has converted or not, that sort of thing is ingrained in a cultural way, so that even if one were to change their thinking and religious orientation, you can't change your years upon years of indoctrination for that kind of food.
It would be like you saying you were going to become a national in some Asian country and now you were expected to eat dogs, or monkey brains. Now although there are some whacky people here in this country who would do such a thing, I'm sure the larger majority would stay totally away from eating dogs and monkey brains, no matter what the justification given was.
And so, likewise, one could change their religious and political orientation and yet not change their diet.
Now, this is not a discussion of whether this terrorist has actually changed his orientation, truly, but merely saying this is totally useless as any kind of indicator at all (seeing if someone will eat a pork sandwich).
Regards,
Star Traveler
Yeah, all the axe-murderers, child-molesters, rapists, etc. suddenly "see the light" or "find Jesus"......as soon as it's convienient to do so.
Well, they could become a Buddhist, or a devotee of the Dalai Lama, or practice Shinto, or a Confuscianist, or a Zoroastrian or a number of other religions and claim to have an elightened and better view of the world now. BUT, what difference would it make. Christianity doesn't hold any more sway there than any of the other world religions, as far as prisons are concerned.
I don't think becoming a Christian would amount to anything different happening with them, than about 100 other world relgions, as far as the warden is concerned. And thus, it's not the big deal you make it out to be -- again, as far as the warden or the prison system or the judges or the legal system is concerned.
Now, in terms of one's ultimate destiny and "life" -- it may make a big difference (in being a Christian, versus about 100 other false religions). But, within the prison system and what it's going to do, a Christian conversion makes as much difference as a Confuscianist conversion or no conversion at all. So, it's really of no consequence in any way, shape or form.
Thus, if any prisoner was making a big deal out of it, it would have to be for another reason, other than the prison sentence is concerned, or the prison system was concerned or the legal system was concerned or the judges were concerned.
Taking 3000+ innocent lives cannot result in anything but an end to this person EVER seeing the outside world again, and his "conversion", if genuine, is between him and Judgement Day; not an excuse for release as "saved".
Anyone who thinks that any kind of conversion to any of 100 other religions would make a difference doesn't really know the prison system and/or our laws, I guess...
Regards,
Star Traveler
Ramzi Yousef was involved in the 1993 WTC bombing, not the 9/11 attacks.
I think he claims to be involved in a lot of the terrorist stuff that has been going on in the Islamic world (according to his own accounts), including the 9/11 attacks being partly his idea and planning. Whether that's true or not, is another story. Some say yes and others say no. But, he does claim that.
Regards,
Star Traveler
That would be the easy way out...
BS, he is a lowly criminal POS and I cannot understand the need to compliment him.
You're ignoring the fact that this is from a warden of the prison (previous warden) and he knows a lot of prisoners. Also there's the fact that this is a Super-Max prison, too, so you're not seeing the common criminals here but the worst of the worst. And this warden has had a lot of experience with a lot of the worst of the worst.
So, when someone in that position says something like that, then you know that there's something to it. You'll also notice that he says he doesn't believe his conversion story and that he's putting someone on (for his own reasons). So, it's not that the warden even believes Yousef is telling the truth. It's not that the warden has a favorable opinion of him. He's just recognizing what he's seen, and that's all.
Regards,
Star Traveler
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