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U.S. District Court Judge William Young:
Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the sentence the
Court imposes upon you. ... we all know that the way we
treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties.

On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life in
prison in the custody of the United States Attorney General.
On counts 2, 3, 4 and 7, the Court sentences you to 20 years
in prison on each count, the sentence on each count to run
consecutive one with the other. That's 80 years.

On Count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years
consecutive to the 80 years just imposed. The Court imposes
upon you on each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000 for
the aggregate fine of $2 million.

The Court accepts the government's recommendation with
respect to restitution and orders restitution in the amount
of $298.17 to Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to American Airlines.
The Court imposes upon you the $800 special assessment.

The Court imposes upon you five years supervised release
simply because the law requires it. But the life sentences
are real life sentences so I need not go any further.

This is the sentence that is provided for by our statutes.
It is a fair and a just sentence. It is a righteous sentence.
Let me explain this to you.

We are not afraid of any of your terrorist co-conspirators,
Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We have been through the fire
before. There is all too much war talk here. And I say that
to everyone with the utmost respect.

Here in this court where we deal with individuals as
individuals, and care for individuals as individuals, as
human beings we reach out for justice.

You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. You are
not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you
that reference, to call you a soldier gives you far too much
stature. Whether it is the officers of government who do it
or your attorney who does it, or that happens to be your view,
you are a terrorist.

And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not treat with
terrorists. We do not sign documents with terrorists.
We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice.

So war talk is way out of line in this court. You're a big
fellow. But you're not that big. You're no warrior. I know
warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of criminal guilty
of multiple attempted murders.

In a very real sense Trooper Santiago had it right when first
you were taken off that plane and into custody and you
wondered where the press and where the TV crews were and you
said you're no big deal. You're no big deal.

What your counsel, what your able counsel and what the equally
able United States attorneys have grappled with and what I
have as honestly as I know how tried to grapple with, is why
you did something so horrific. What was it that led you here
to this courtroom today? I have listened respectfully to what
you have to say. And I ask you to search your heart and ask
yourself what sort of unfathomable hate led you to do what you
are guilty and admit you are guilty of doing.

And I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy you. But as I
search this entire record it comes as close to understanding as
I know.

It seems to me you hate the one thing that to us is most
precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our
individual freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we
choose, to believe or not believe as we individually choose.

Here, in this society, the very winds carry freedom. They carry
it everywhere from sea to shining sea. It is because we prize
individual freedom so much that you are here in this beautiful
courtroom. So that everyone can see, truly see that justice is
administered fairly, individually, and discretely.

It is for freedom's seek that your lawyers are striving so
vigorously on your behalf and have filed appeals, will go on in
their, their representation of you before other judges. We care
about it. Because we all know that the way we treat you, Mr. Reid,
is the measure of our own liberties.

Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bear any
burden; pay any price, to preserve our freedoms.

Look around this courtroom. Mark it well. The world is not going
to long remember what you or I say here. Day after tomorrow it
will be forgotten. But this, however, will long endure. Here, in
this courtroom, and courtrooms all across America, the American
people will gather to see that justice, individual justice,
justice, not war, individual justice is in fact being done.

The very President of the United States through his officers will
have to come into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which
specific matters can be judged, and juries of citizens will gather
to sit and judge that evidence democratically, to mold and shape
and refine our sense of justice.

See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United States of
America. That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten.
That flag still stands for freedom. You know it always will.
Custody, Mr. Officer. Stand him down.