In Case You Missed Barack Obama's Address To United Nations Assembly, Like I Did, Watch It Here Below.

Did You Miss #BarackObama's Speech Last Night On #Isis (Or #Isil As He Called It)? I Did Too, So Let's Watch It Here.

POTUS Barack Obama: "In The Aftermath Of 9/11, W Tortured Some Folks .... We Did Some Things That Were Wrong"! Watch Video.

"Don't Come Back To Afghanistan"!: Army Sgt. Bowe #Bergdahl's Prisoner Exchange. Watch Video.

Kentucky Federal Court Of Appeals Upholds Life Sentence For Bowling Green Iraqi Born Terrorist, Mohanad Shareef Hammadi.

Appeals court upholds life sentence in terror case

An Iraqi man who pleaded guilty to terrorism charges wasn't entrapped into assisting in a plot to ship cash and weapons to al-Qaida in Iraq in 2010 and 2011 and the government did not take part in any misconduct, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the life sentence of 26-year-old Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, who pleaded guilty in 2012 to taking part in the plot, which was actually being run by a confidential informant for the FBI in Bowling Green.
 
"The government provided Hammadi with an opportunity to commit a crime, and he took it," Judge Karen Nelson Moore wrote for the three-judge panel in the case.

Hammadi and 32-year-old Waad Ramadan Alwan pleaded guilty in 2011 and 2012 to working with a man they thought was an insurgent in the United States to ship thousands of dollars in cash, machine guns, rifles, grenades and shoulder-fired missiles to al-Qaida in Iraq from 2010 through 2011.

Prosecutors said the two were actually working with a confidential informant who recorded the pair's activities and no money or weapons ever left the United States.
The two were arrested in May 2011 in Bowling Green, Kentucky, after a federal sting operation.

Hammadi is in a maximum-security prison in Colorado. Alwan is being held at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind.
Hammadi alleged that the federal government resorted to entrapment in pursuing the case against him and sought to enhance any possible prison sentence by including certain types of weapons in the scheme.

Moore, joined by judges Julia Smith Gibbons and Jeffrey S. Sutton, noted that Hammadi willingly took part in the plot.
"The government's conduct in this case is not irregular, and Hammadi offers no evidence that the government acted purposefully to trigger a twenty-five-year mandatory minimum (sentence)," Moore wrote.

Hammadi and Alwan admitted to working and planting explosives near Bayji, Iraq, where multiple U.S. units were working.

Prosecutors described Alwan as a seasoned terrorist in Iraq. They said he worked with the Mujahidin Shura Council, a violent group that claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, torture and deaths of two soldiers with the Fort Campbell-based 101st Airborne Division and the death of a third soldier from the same unit while they were patrolling about 60 miles south of Baghdad in June 2006.

Prosecutors linked Hammadi to Jaish al Mujahidin, also known as the Mujahidin Army, a group that claimed responsibility for shooting down American helicopters in Iraq in 2006 and 2007.
Alwan and Hammadi arrived in the United States in 2009. Both admitted to taking part in insurgent activities in Iraq in 2005 and 2006. Prosecutors said federal authorities became aware of Alwan when they found out he had been held in an Iraqi prison in June 2006 for insurgent activities.

It is unclear how or why Alwan was released from prison. Later, federal authorities found his fingerprint on an unexploded bomb in Iraq and launched an investigation.
Alwan recruited Hammadi into the plot in January 2011 and the pair spent five months working with the informant, prosecutors said.

I Watched Syrian President Bashar al-Assad On 60 Minutes Today. He Does Not Appear To Be The Madman He Is Made Out To Be. Instead, He Appears Very Intelligent. Watch Video.

do you want to catch a brief history, consisting og Assad's dad,Hafez al-Assad: do you wanna know what a veteran, well placed CIA operative thinks about all of this Syrian stuff? well, watch video below:

Barack Obama As Senator Vs. Barack Obama As President. Will The Real Obama Please Sit Down!

 

Brad Cummings | On Syria, Obama '13 haunted by Obama '02

There once was a politician who appeared to be the kind of change our country wanted. He drew stark contrasts to the current administration of his day using the Iraq War as his main foil. One of his many winning talking points even included being among the first to oppose what was a very popular war back in 2002.
“... I’m opposed to a dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.” — Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama

Yet, there’s nothing more political or emotional a president could do than enter his country into war because of an artificially rendered “red line,” a line members of his team are now claiming wasn’t even meant to be drawn. It’s amazing, with these words above as a historical backdrop to President Obama’s ascension, that we are even considering a strike on another Middle Eastern country based largely on reasons of passion and politics.

In the same speech, then-state Sen. Barack Obama went on to paint Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein as a brutal man, acknowledging his possession of chemical weapons and brutalization of his own people. He defined Hussein as a dictator who defied U.N. resolutions and coveted nuclear capacity. And yet, this dictator was not worth going to war over.
“I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaida.”

How is this war in Syria any different than the one Obama opposed in Iraq? Are we really so riddled with short-term memory loss that we don’t recall the escalation of two wars that were supposed to be quick, localized efforts? No one can say the Syrian conflict would be limited to airstrikes with any certainty, especially since Syrian dictator Bashar Assad has pledged to retaliate. If Syria were to strike a U.S. embassy or our allies in Israel, does anyone believe we would (or should) stand down and take it?

Most important, this proposed war would do far more to “strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaida” than our war in Iraq. Much of the Syrian opposition is constructed of groups directly tied to the very terrorist organization that attacked our country 12 years ago today. It’s hard to imagine a greater benefit to those responsible for 9/11 than to clear the path for their takeover of an entire country, one that we already know possesses chemical weapons.

The Iraq War was the first full-fledged war of my adulthood. At 35 years old, many of my contemporaries, even those instinctively more hawkish like myself, have learned some great lessons over the last decade. More than anything, I’ve learned you can’t force a country to accept your worldview anymore than you can convert someone’s religion or force them to lose weight. Change comes from within, not without.

So do we make a similar mistake with Syria? What is an attack on this country for if not regime change and how do we guide regime change without at least implicitly imposing our way of life on a country lest we be stuck with the above scenario of al-Qaida rule? Possessing and using chemical weapons on the Iraqi people was not “clear rationale” for an attack but it is now in Syria. That makes about as much sense as a three-dollar bill.

With President Bush and a more principled President Obama, an attack was backed with the fear of knowing there’s “more where that’s coming from.” But now that our current president has made it clear he is willing to put every decision up for a vote and sway with the winds of the populace, we may now live in a world where enemies of the U.S. will not fear retaliation and instead count on capitulation. I don’t agree with going to war with Syria, but if President Obama stuck with his guns, the world would at least respect him in the morning.

As of this writing, Russia has now suggested a path forward to avoid a conflict by asking Syria to turn over their chemical weapons to the U.N. President Obama’s actions have made Vladimir Putin the voice of international reason. Honestly, this may be the most concerning revelation of all.

This is likely what happens when a president starts listening to those around him and not his core convictions. He’s no longer the man who lit a nation on fire with soaring rhetoric and inspired the world to the tune of a Nobel Peace Prize. Instead, he’s become a shell of his former inspirational self.
In his spare time, President Obama should take up reading some speeches delivered by a fresh-faced politician from early 2000s. He might still have a thing or two in common with that state senator from the Land of Lincoln.

Brad Cummings is COO of PM Advertising, and he previously served as Jefferson County Republican Party chairman. His column appears every third Wednesday. He can be reached at bradford.cummings@gmail.com

Just In Case You Missed Barack Obama's Speech Justifying "Hit And Run" On Syria Like I Did! Watch And Puke -- Or Enjoy.

FLOTUS Michelle Obama Opposes Syrian "Hit And Run". Maybe, She Should Be President Instead! Watch Video.

Watch Video Intelligence Community Showed To Members Of Senate Foreign Relations Committee To Prove Assad Used Sarin Gas Against His People. Do You Think We Need To Start Bombing? Remember They Told Us Saddam Hussein Had WMDs!

Choice Of An Ally In The Syrian Conflict: Which Side To Support!

to me, trying to decide who to help in the #syrian conflict is akin to decide on a choice of pet between the #african crocodile and the hyena.

it is true they both smile, but i wouldn't wanna invite either inside my home or pet either one of them!!

I Greatly Asked For, And Support, President Barack Obama's Decision To First Seek Authorization From Congress's Authorization Before "Hit And Run" Missile Strikes Against Syria. That Is Exactly What I Have Argued Our Constitution DEMANDS! Watch Video.

Tell Congress to rein in NSA, Otherwise We Are Growing Our Own GESTAPO In America. Adolph Hitler Will Be Envious!

Tell Congress to rein in NSA

Digital dragnet not making us safer

The disclosures began exactly two months ago. Whistle blower Edward Snowden revealed the National Security Agency's excesses: warrantless collection of American phone calls, collusion with major Internet companies for online data and extensive cyberwarfare and hacking operations. But while Snowden recently received temporary asylum in Russia, ordinary Americans have little respite.

With Congress in recess and at home this month, citizens should urge their lawmakers to act on Snowden's revelations by restoring congressional oversight of domestic spying, if not abolishing it altogether.

There simply is no justification for the NSA's infringement.
We are not blanket opponents of all electronic surveillance; there is a place for specified surveillance of foreign targets and even Americans, if individual warrants, as constitutionally guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment, are issued. In addition to the serious constitutional questions, another glaring problem with spying on Americans without warrants is that it has not netted significant results.

NSA Deputy Director John Inglis admitted to Congress last Wednesday that "at most one plot might have been disrupted by the bulk records collection alone."

And Sen. Patrick Leahy, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, reviewed a classified list of the terrorist plots uncovered and remarked that he was "not convinced" by the results of the domestic spying programs. "If this program is not effective, it must end," he said.

Staunch supporters will point to this weekend's embassy closings — the result of intercepted messages between senior al-Qaida leaders — as somehow justification for granting the NSA a blank check. But a lawful intelligence program working as intended does not justify all intelligence programs, especially those that stomp on constitutional rights without yielding useful information.

More troubling is the fact that members of Congress were deliberately left in the dark about the programs. Contrary to the administration's laughable claims of congressional oversight, these programs were not debated or discussed publicly. Instead, President Barack Obama invoked a wildly out of context provision of the Patriot Act to enact programs that most members of Congress know nothing about. Members of the intelligence committees, the few members of Congress who are actually briefed fully on the programs, are barred from discussing abuses with the public.

The courts are no better. The Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court, often referred to as the FISA Court, rubber stamps nearly every request made by the government — denying only 11 of the 33,949 requests made from 1979 to 2012. Until recently, the Department of Justice served as the headquarters for the court.
Of the current 11 justices, appointed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, 10 were appointed by Republican presidents. The judges hear no opposing arguments. The court was intended to only sign off on specific warrants but granted itself the authority to issue opinions, all classified, to allow the NSA to collect data on every American.
Intelligence agencies should not be run by executive fiat. The disastrous Bush legacy of Guantanamo Bay, extrajudicial renditions and torture is a testament to that. Many Democrats who criticized President George W. Bush's extreme policies seem hesitant to criticize Obama, who has only expanded the policies to include targeted assassinations of American citizens and troubling pursuits of journalists.
Unconstitutional executive powers, especially when oversight by the other branches of government is nonexistent, ought to be condemned, no matter which party holds the White House.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/08/06/2751179/tell-congress-to-rein-in-nsa.html#storylink=cpy

We Congratulate The U. S. House Of Representives For Limiting Military Involvement In Egypt And Syria, Consiatent With War Powers Act.

With little argument, House limits U.S. military involvement in Syria, Egypt

WASHINGTON — With little argument, the House of Representatives approved measures Wednesday that would prevent the Obama administration from spending money on U.S. military operations in Syria without consulting Congress and would forbid funding U.S. military or paramilitary operations in Egypt.

The measures, part of the House’s $598 billion defense bill, were supposed to be contentious issues exposing bipartisan rifts between interventionists who want to give Obama a free hand in dealing with the civil war in Syria and unrest in Egypt and war-weary lawmakers concerned that U.S. troops will be dragged into more military actions.

But both amendments were approved on voice votes with only scant dissent.

On Syria, lawmakers passed an amendment by Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla., that would forbid any military action in Syria if it violates the War Powers Resolution – which requires the president to consult Congress before committing U.S. forces to battle or placing them in situations where hostilities are imminent.

The Radel amendment does not address the contentious issue of providing weapons to the Syrian rebels, whose campaign to topple President Bashar Assad is made up of as many as 1,200 largely independent groups, including some that are openly affiliated with al Qaida. Congressional intelligence committees recently signed off on an Obama administration proposal to have the CIA funnel unspecified arms and training to rebels aligned with the moderate Supreme Military Council, led by a defected Syrian general, Salim Idriss.

But the wording of the amendment would apply to setting up a no-fly zone or using U.S. ships to launch attacks on sites in Syria, and the debate showed that deeper military involvement in Syria is opposed by an unusual House coalition of conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats.
“I believe without a shadow of a doubt this is one of the most insane policies that borders on madness – the United States to give funding, training and arms most likely to al Qaida in Syria doesn’t make any sense,” said Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. “This is absolute madness.”
Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., agreed, calling the situation in Syria “chaotic.”
“Distinguishing between the good rebels and the bad rebels is impossible,” Welch said on the House floor. “The notion that we can have a micromanaged approach and pick the good guys, and arm them, and not have any reasonable . . . expectation that the arms will get into bad hands I think is naive.”
Welch added that Congress has the responsibility to weigh in before U.S. troops are sent into harm’s way.

“We have a job to do under the Constitution,” he said.

The Obama administration last month notified Congress under the War Powers Resolution that a detachment of 700 U.S. troops who’d been participating in war games in Jordan would remain in that country “until the security situation becomes such that it is no longer needed.” The detachment includes Patriot anti-missile systems and fighter aircraft, the White House notification said.

The Egypt amendment by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., would prohibit the Department of Defense from using money authorized in the defense bill to fund military operations in Egypt or to fund individuals, groups or organizations engaged in paramilitary activity.
“Since our national security interests in Syria and Egypt are unclear, we risk giving money and military assistance to our enemies,” Massie said when he introduced his measure last week. “The Constitution prohibits the president from unilaterally spending American taxpayer dollars on military operations without congressional approval.”

The Egypt vote occurred as the Obama administration suspended delivery of four F-16 fighter jets to Egypt this week. A Pentagon spokesman said that the United States values its relationship with Egypt but that the delay was necessary as Egypt remains divided over the military’s removal from office of Mohammed Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected president.
Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters Wednesday that the United States no longer believes it is “appropriate to move forward with the delivery.”

At the State Department, spokeswoman Jen Psaki used nearly the exact same wording to explain the decision. “Given the current situation in Egypt, we do not believe it is appropriate to move forward with the delivery of the F-16s at this time,” she said.

Egyptian Military Makes Good On Threat And Deposes President Mohamed Mursi, A "Terrorists And Fool" Who "Failed To Meet The Demands Of The Egyptian People", "Ends The State Of Tension And Division".

Egypt army commander Ousts Morsi, suspends constitution

Egypt army commander suspends constitution (00:36)

(Reuters) - Egypt's armed forces overthrew elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on Wednesday and announced a political transition with the support of a wide range of political, religious and youth leaders.
After a day of drama in which tanks and troops deployed near the presidential palace as a military deadline for Mursi to yield to mass protests passed, the top army commander announced on television that the president had "failed to meet the demands of the Egyptian people".
 
Flanked by political and religious leaders and top generals, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced the suspension of the Islamist-tinged constitution and a roadmap for a return to democratic rule under a revised rulebook.
 
The president of the supreme constitutional court will act as interim head of state, assisted by an interim council and a technocratic government until new presidential and parliamentary elections are held.
"Those in the meeting have agreed on a roadmap for the future that includes initial steps to achieve the building of a strong Egyptian society that is cohesive and does not exclude anyone and ends the state of tension and division," Sisi said in a solemn address broadcast live on state television.
After he spoke, hundreds of thousands of anti-Mursi protesters in central Cairo's Tahrir Square erupted into wild cheering, setting off fireworks and waving flags. Cars drove around the capital honking their horns in celebration.
But a statement published in Mursi's name on his official Facebook page after Sisi's speech said the measures announced amounted to "a full military coup" and were "totally rejected".
 
The Arab world's most populous nation has been in turmoil since the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak as Arab Spring uprisings took hold in early 2011, arousing concern among allies in the West and in Israel, with which Egypt has a 1979 peace treaty.
The Muslim Brotherhood president, in office for just a year, was at a Republican Guard barracks surrounded by barbed wire, barriers and troops, but it was not clear whether he was under arrest. The state newspaper Al-Ahram said the military had told Mursi at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) that he was no longer head of state.
 
"TERRORISTS AND FOOLS"
 
Military chiefs, vowing to restore order in a country racked by protests over Mursi's Islamist policies, earlier issued a call to battle in a statement headlined "The Final Hours". They said they were willing to shed blood against "terrorists and fools".
Armored vehicles took up position outside the state broadcasting headquarters on the Nile River bank, where soldiers patrolled the corridors and non-essential staff were sent home.
In another show of force, several hundred soldiers with armored vehicles staged a parade near the presidential palace, and security sources said Mursi and the entire senior leadership of his Muslim Brotherhood were banned from leaving the country.
Security sources told Reuters the authorities had sent a list of at least 40 leading members of the Brotherhood to airport police.
 
In a last-ditch statement a few minutes before the deadline, Mursi's office said a coalition government could be part of a solution to overcome the political crisis. But opposition parties refused to negotiate with him and met instead with the commander of the armed forces.
The Brotherhood's Egypt25 television station had broadcast live coverage of a rally of tens of thousands of Mursi supporters, even as the army moved tanks into position to prevent them from marching on the presidential palace or the Republican Guard barracks.
U.S. oil prices rose to a 14-month high above $100 a barrel partly on fears that unrest in Egypt could destabilize the Middle East and lead to supply disruption.
 
The massive anti-Mursi protests showed that the Brotherhood had not only alienated liberals and secularists by seeking to entrench Islamic rule, notably in a new constitution, but had also angered millions of Egyptians with economic mismanagement.
Tourism and investment have dried up, inflation is rampant and fuel supplies are running short, with power cuts lengthening in the summer heat and motorists spending hours fuelling cars.Earlier, Mursi's spokesman said it was better that he die in defense of democracy than be blamed by history.
"It is better for a president, who would otherwise be returning Egypt to the days of dictatorship, from which God and the will of the people has saved us, to die standing like a tree," spokesman Ayman Ali said, "Rather than be condemned by history and future generations for throwing away the hopes of Egyptians for establishing a democratic life."
Liberal opponents said a rambling late-night television address by Mursi showed he had "lost his mind".
 
The official spokesman of the Muslim Brotherhood said supporters were willing to become martyrs to defend Mursi.
"There is only one thing we can do: we will stand in between the tanks and the president," Gehad El-Haddad told Reuters at the movement's protest encampment in a Cairo suburb that houses many military installations and is near the presidential palace.
 

The country's two main religious leaders, the head of the Al-Azhar Islamic institute and the Coptic Pope, both expressed their support for the army's roadmap in speeches after Sisi, as did the main liberal opposition leader, Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei.

International Community Shows Little Support To Arm Syrian Rebels.

Little international support for arming Syria rebels

Growing evidence that the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad may have used chemical weapons against its own people has led to a crescendo of demands for the US to intervene in the Syrian civil war.

But neither the American people, nor Europeans, nor Syria's neighbours wholeheartedly support such a move, writes Bruce Stokes of the Pew Research Center.

The lack of sustained public backing, both in America and in the region, is the political context in which the Obama White House will "rethink all options" - as Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel put it on Thursday.

Demands for some form of American action against Assad have intensified now that the US government has acknowledged that it too, along with the British, French and Israeli governments, thinks that chemical weapons have been employed by the regime.
In a recent Washington Post op-ed piece, Anne-Marie Slaughter, the former head of the policy planning office in the US State Department, plaintively asked Obama: "Mr President, how many uses of chemical weapons does it take to cross a red line against the use of chemical weapons?"
And Senator John McCain has called for arming the rebel troops, establishing a no-fly zone over Syria and for the United States to "be prepared with an international force to go in and secure these stocks of chemical, and perhaps biological, weapons".

But such exhortations seem to be out of step with public sentiment in the United States, in Europe and in the Middle East.
Just 45% of the American public favours military intervention in Syria, even if it is confirmed that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against anti-government groups, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center conducted 25-28 April 2013 among 1,003 adults in the United States. More than half (54%) of the American public opposes or has no opinion about such action.
Moreover, even such qualified American support for intervention is relatively new. In December 2012, 63% of Americans thought that the United States had no responsibility to do something about the fighting in Syria between government forces and anti-government groups.

"People in the region do not even want their own government to get involved”

And in a Pew Research Center survey conducted in March 2013, before news emerged of the alleged use of chemical agents, nearly two-thirds (64%) of Americans were against even arming the rebels.

At the time (March 2013) there was even less stomach for military assistance to the rebels. Eight out of 10 Germans (82%) opposed the idea, as did more than two-thirds of the French (69%) and a majority of the British (57%).

Public opinion in the region is even less supportive of Western involvement. In five of the six countries in the region that were surveyed in March - Lebanon (80%), Turkey (68%), Tunisia (60%), Egypt (59%) and the Palestinian territories (63%) - publics opposed Americans or Europeans supplying the Syrian rebels with weapons. Only in Jordan (53%) did people back Western intervention and then only barely.

People in the region do not even want their own government to get involved. Even the Turks (66%) and the Lebanese (60%), both of whom share a border with Syria and now house hundreds of thousands of refugees from the civil war, oppose Arab military aid to the rebels. And only the Jordanians (65%) back Arab countries sending arms and military supplies to anti-government groups in Syria.
This allied and regional reluctance to get involved in Syria poses a problem for the Obama administration.
As American pundits and politicians call for Syrian intervention, however merited or unjustified those appeals may be on humanitarian grounds, such pleas have yet to rally majority support for such action in America, Europe or the Middle East.
Bruce Stokes is director of global economic attitudes at the Pew Research Center.

This Past Week, We Celebrated The Anniversary Of The "War Based On A Pack Of Lies". And So Did Dick Cheney And The Press!

I Would Be Remiss If I Did Not Recognize, With Profound Sorrow, The 10Th Anniversary Of The War Fought On Unimaginable Pack Of LIES: The Iraqi War.

Enough said. If you want to read more, let Google help here.

AP: Iraqi Terrorist Caught In Bowling Green, Kentucky, Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, Sent To Serve Life Sentence At Big Sandy.

Iraqi sent to federal prison in eastern Ky.  

An Iraqi man sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to terrorism charges has been assigned to a high-security facility in Kentucky.

The federal Bureau of Prisons lists 25-year-old Mohanad Shareef Hammadi as an inmate at the United States Penitentiary-Big Sandy in Inez. The prison is about 140 miles east of Lexington.

A co-defendant, 32-year-old Waad Ramadan Alwan, received a 40-year sentence in January. Alwan had not been sent to a prison as of Saturday.

Hammadi and Alwan pleaded guilty in 2011 and 2012 to ship thousands in cash, machine guns, rifles, grenades and shoulder-fired missiles to al-Qaida in Iraq in 2010 and 2011. Prosecutors said the two were working with a confidential informant.
Both were arrested in May 2011 in Bowling Green after a federal sting operation.

ACCUSED IRAQI TERRORISTS IN KENTUCKY, MOHANAD SHAREEF HAMMADI AND WAAD RAMADAN ALWAN, RECEIVE LIFE AND 40 YEAR SENTENCES FROM FEDERAL JUDGE THOMAS B. RUSSELL IN BOWLING GREEN.

Iraqi men sentenced in Ky. terrorism case
By BRETT BARROUQUERE

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — An Iraqi man who pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in Kentucky was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without parole and a co-defendant received a 40-year sentence for his role in a plot to ship weapons and cash to insurgents in Iraq.

Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, 25, protested U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell's decision to send him away for life while granting 30-year-old Waad Ramadan Alwan less time in prison. Hammadi told Russell about growing up poor in Bayji, Iraq, and said his role in the scheme was merely helping a friend load a truck for much-needed money.

Hammadi's attorney, James Earhart of Louisville, had sought 25 years in prison for his client and said he would appeal the life sentence.

"A 25-year-old getting a life sentence is a tragedy," Earhart said. "The life that he lived is a tragedy."

Hammadi and Alwan pleaded guilty in 2011 and 2012 to working with a man they thought was an insurgent in the United States to ship thousands in cash, machine guns, rifles, grenades and shoulder-fired missiles to al-Qaida in Iraq from 2010 through 2011. Prosecutors said the two were actually working with a confidential informant who recorded the pair's activities and no money or weapons ever left the United States.

The two were arrested in May 2011 in Bowling Green, Ky., after a federal sting operation.

Former Pennsylvania National Guard Sgt. Brandon Miller of Chadds Ford, Pa., described the sentences as "outstanding."

Ford received a Purple Heart for burn injuries sustained when his Humvee blew up after hitting a roadside bomb near Bayji, where Alwan and Hammadi admitted to planning explosives.

U.S. Attorney David Hale said if Alwan hadn't cooperated, he would also have gotten a life sentence, but his help was valuable to investigators.

Alwan's attorney, Scott Wendelsdorf, declined to comment after the hearing.

Prosecutors described Alwan as a seasoned terrorist in Iraq. They said he worked with the Mujahidin Shura Council, a violent group that claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, torture and deaths of two soldiers with the Fort Campbell-based 101st Airborne Division and the death of a third soldier from the same unit while they were patrolling about 60 miles south of Baghdad in June 2006.

Prosecutors linked Hammadi to Jaish al Mujahidin, also known as the Mujahidin Army, a group that claimed responsibility for shooting down American helicopters in Iraq in 2006 and 2007.

Alwan's sentencing went relatively smoothly, with prosecutors petitioning Russell for a lesser sentence because of the defendant's cooperation and guilty plea. But Hammadi's hearing grew contentious at times as prosecutors accused him of changing his story in an effort to secure less prison time.

At two points during the hearing, Justice Department prosecutor Larry Schneider confronted Hammadi after he changed his account of what happened in Iraq and later in Bowling Green. Hammadi told Russell he wasn't part of an insurgent group in Iraq, even though he told the confidential informant he took part in at least 11 improvised explosive-device attacks on U.S. soldiers.

Like Alwan, Hammadi pleaded guilty to falsifying immigration records by not disclosing insurgent activities, in order to get into the United States.

"You did lie on your immigration forms. ... Is that correct?" Schneider asked.

"Yes," Hammadi said after a long pause. "Because it was what you wanted to hear."

Hammadi described his comments to the confidential informant as "just talk" that prosecutors misunderstood.

"If I was asking you how many people in my country, my town were killed, what would you say?" Hammadi asked Schneider, who repeatedly described the defendant as a terrorist.

"Mr. Hammadi, you are facing a life sentence," Schneider replied. "You don't get to ask questions."

Alwan and Hammadi arrived in the United States in 2009. Both admitted to taking part in insurgent activities in Iraq in 2005 and 2006. Schneider said federal authorities became aware of Alwan when they found out he had been held in an Iraqi prison in June 2006 for insurgent activities. It is unclear how or why Alwan was released from prison. Later, federal authorities found his fingerprint on an unexploded bomb in Iraq and launched an investigation.

Alwan recruited Hammadi into the plot in January 2011 and the pair spent five months working with the informant, prosecutors said.

Russell describe Alwan as "eagerly joining the operations in Kentucky" and recruiting Hammadi as part of an attempt to lead a terrorist cell in the United States.

"His motivation was to help the insurgents in their activities," Schneider said.

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/crime/article/Iraqi-men-sentenced-in-Ky-terrorism-case-4231073.php#ixzz2JQKzJzHm