Posted on 02/05/2004 3:16:00 AM PST by kattracks
The Associated Press 2/5/2004, 5:51 a.m. ETHAMBURG, Germany (AP) — A Hamburg court on Thursday acquitted a Moroccan man accused of helping the Sept. 11 hijackers after a 5 1/2-month trial that was only the second anywhere of a suspect in the attacks.
Abdelghani Mzoudi, 31, had no visible reaction as presiding Judge Klaus Ruehle read the verdict to the court, keeping his arms folded and looking down toward the floor.
Prosecutors had sought the maximum 15 years in prison on more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder and membership in a terrorist organization. Last February, similar evidence secured the maximum sentence against Mzoudi's friend Mounir el Motassadeq — the world's first Sept. 11 conviction.
Federal prosecutors alleged Mzoudi provided logistical support to the Hamburg cell under lead hijacker Mohamed Atta, helping with financial transactions and arranging housing for members to evade authorities' attention. Mzoudi spent time at a terrorist camp in Afghanistan in 2000.
Mzoudi's attorneys denied the charges, saying that while their client was friends with many of the Sept. 11 principals, he knew nothing in advance of the plot to attack the United States.
The acquittal on all counts came after the court rejected a last-minute motion from an attorney representing relatives of American victims of the attacks.
The attorney, Andreas Schulz, said his clients had access to "new information" from the U.S. Department of Justice but that he was "not authorized" to tell the court what it was.
As have I. If time spent in country is the deciding factor on who's right here- who is right between you and me?
Who's arguing "right"? You have your opinion and I have mine.
And I never said that it was an expert opinion. It matters not to me what your experiences were ... my time was spent there during the time of the theater-nuclear missile protests/riots.
Besides, it's "We" as in "the military" (as it is a knock-off of an old British military song), as opposed to "we" as in "those here at FreeRepublic. I was simply voicing my objection to the notion that there are none here who hate Germany and the Germans, in much the same manner as the detestable Belgians and the contemptible French.
LOL ... good one!
You know, that makes us almost exactly similar in qualification. I lived in Germany for 8 yrs. I have some college German. However, I speak the language proficiently. (I met a German tourist in a pub here in Edinburgh just Saturday night who spoke almost no English and slid into conversation with her very easily and we spoke of a great many things.) I lived the great bulk of my time on the German economy. 100 kilometers from my station of duty. I own property in Germany. My wife is German.
I would like to know what you base your HATRED of Germany on? Hatred is a very strong word. You hate Germans. If you object to 'We don't hate Germany' it works out- by default- that your position is you hate the country.
My hatred is reserved for al Qaeda. For Nazis. For racists. For bigots. I have met and talked to too many decent Germans to say 'I hate Germans'.
What did they do to you in that time to make you hate them?
BTW, I find that 'George Bush commands and we obey' business to be one of the most repulsive things I have ever read.
My experiences didn't include a "few" liberals. Also, I would say that, considering Schroeder was re-elected on the strength of the anti-American vote, your count is several tens of millions off.
Oh, well.
Moroccan Abdelghani Mzoudi, center, and his attorneys Guel Pinar, right, and Michael Rosenthal, left, smile after his acquittal in the Higher Regional Court in Hamburg, northern Germany, on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2004. The Hamburg court on Thursday acquitted Mzoudi accused of helping the Sept. 11 hijackers after a 5 1/2-month trial that was only the second anywhere of a suspect in the attacks. (AP Photo/Christof Stache)
Take it whatever way you will. Suffice it to say that I do and leave it at that.
"You are advocating war against France, Belgium and Germany. George Bush does not advocate this. I don't see how you square that."
Wishful thinking?
I didn't know this fact previously, but now that I do, I'd say they're probably prepping a cell for him at Guantanamo.
Nope ... they are here and have the right to do so, as hypocritical as it may appear. Outsiders, however, do not ... especially when we spent so many years protecting those "outsiders" from the tender mercies of the Soviet Union .. an utterly thankless job for undeserving people.
No, I will not. From your own statements, you base your HATRED on your time there. Which was not during Schroeder's time as Chancellor. Which was before George Bush. You say you want war with Germany and I am asking you to justify that statement. On what do you base your hatred? You already admit that your hatred is based on a time before Operation Iraqi Freedom ever became an issue. Expand on that please. And BTW, I'm referencing your comments here: "It matters not to me what your experiences were ... my time was spent there during the time of the theater-nuclear missile protests/riots." Cleary this is before the current situation.
Do you believe- as Jefferson did- that rights are intrinsic or not? Or do you believe people only have rights in certain governments. 'Endowed by their creator...' implies that rights are intrinsic- therefore all humans have these rights. How can one then argue that only Americans have a right to object to something?
So you would like to declare war on my family and some of your fellow Freepers?
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