Posted on 09/18/2003 10:21:15 AM PDT by freeperfromnj
Two Oregon Men Plead Guilty to Charges of Conspiring to Aid al-Qaida, Taliban During Afghan War
PORTLAND, Ore. Sept. 18 — Two brothers who were among seven people in Portland accused of aiding terrorists pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of conspiring to help al-Qaida and the Taliban during the war in Afghanistan.
Ahmed Bilal, 25, and his brother, Muhammad Bilal, 23, appeared before U.S. District Judge Robert Jones to formally enter their pleas. Jones had announced the plea agreement Wednesday.
The brothers also pleaded guilty to firearms charges in exchange for having the main charge of conspiracy to levy war against the United States dismisssed. Both face up to 14 years in federal prison.
They had been accused of traveling with four other men to China shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack in a failed attempt to enter Afghanistan and fight with the Taliban against U.S. forces.
The plea agreement came less than a week after Attorney General John Ashcroft asked Jones to prevent the Portland defendants from viewing evidence used to obtain secret warrants that allowed the FBI to intercept conversations and bug the home of at least one of the seven defendants.
Ashcroft cited national security concerns. The defense said it wanted to review the evidence before deciding whether to challenge the warrants on constitutional grounds.
In the plea deal, Ahmed Bilal agreed to a term of 10 to 14 years while his younger brother agreed to eight to 14 years.
One other Portland defendant has pleaded guilty. Three have pleaded innocent, and the seventh person charged last year is a fugitive.
I'm confused, if they pleaded guilty of consipiring to aid the Taliwackers and AlQuesies during the war, how is that different from conspiring to wage war against the United States?
I can see why they'd want that main charge dropped though, as it's equivalent to conspiring to commit treason, by the Constitutional definition of treason. The penalty for that is getting your 72 raisens.
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