Al-Qaida follower Reid gets life in prison for shoe bomb

BOSTON -- Richard Reid, the al-Qaida follower who tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic jetliner with explosives hidden in his shoes, was sentenced to life in prison Thursday by a judge who warned him: "We are not afraid ... We are Americans. We have been through the fire before."

The 29-year-old British citizen cried, "You will be judged by Allah!" before being dragged from the courtroom in handcuffs.

Reid received the maximum sentence after declaring himself a soldier of war and denouncing U.S. foreign policy toward Islamic countries.

"Your government has sponsored the rape and torture of Muslims in the prisons of Egypt and Turkey and Syria and Jordan with their money and with their weapons," said Reid, who converted to Islam eight years ago.

U.S. District Judge William Young would have none of it.

"We are not afraid of any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid," said the judge. "We are Americans. We have been through the fire before.

"You are not an enemy combatant -- you are a terrorist. You are not a soldier in any war -- you are a terrorist. To call you a soldier gives you far too much stature. You are a terrorist and we do not negotiate with terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice."

The judge then pointed to the American flag behind him and said: "You see that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United States of America. That flag will fly there long after this is long forgotten."

"That flag will be brought down on the day of judgment," Reid replied.

Reid had faced 60 years to life for trying to blow up an American Airlines flight bound from Paris to Miami just three months after the Sept. 11 attacks. Prosecutors said Reid had enough plastic explosives in his shoes to blow a hole in the fuselage and kill all 197 people aboard.

Passengers and crew members overpowered Reid, using seat belts and their own belts to strap him to his seat. Two doctors aboard the flight injected him with sedatives and the jet was diverted to Boston.

Federal prosecutor Gerard Leone Jr. told the judge that in Reid's mind "the religion of Islam justifies the killing of innocent civilians. In his mind, the horrific and homicidal attacks of Sept. 11 were but a missed opportunity."

As Reid sought to justify his actions, several crew members who were on the flight looked stunned, glancing at each other in the courtroom and shaking their heads. One woman wept.

In Washington, Attorney General John Ashcroft praised the sentence and called the passengers and crew heroes who averted a disaster.

"The sentence imposed on Richard Reid says to the world that terrorists cannot escape American justice," Ashcroft said. "We will hunt them down, stop them and we will put them away."

When Reid pleaded guilty last October, he said he was a member of al-Qaida, pledged his support to Osama bin Laden and declared himself an enemy of the United States.

Prosecutors and the FBI said witnesses had reported Reid was present at al-Qaida training camps, and that he had help making the bomb from an al-Qaida bomb maker.

Defense attorneys said Reid was trying to defend Islam, which he credits with saving him from a life of drug use and despair. They described a troubled childhood and young adulthood, when Reid was plagued by poverty, racism and crime.

Video simulation

In arguing for a life sentence, prosecutors this month submitted a videotaped simulation of what Reid might have accomplished, showing a fiery explosion causing severe damage to a wide-body jet.

Reid tried furiously to light a match to his shoes but he was unable to ignite the fuse. Authorities have speculated the shoes were moist from sweat.

One of the flight attendants, Carole Nelson, said there were more than 20 children on the plane.

"I can still see the fearful look on their faces as they huddled together after Richard Reid tried to blow them out of the sky with their families," she said. "I believe that Richard Reid was on a mission of evil, a mission of destruction and a mission of murder."

During his speech, Reid said there was no comparison between the children on the plane and the number of children he believes have been killed because of U.S. policies.

"Your government has killed two million children in Iraq," he said.

Authorities had been preparing for a high-security trial when Reid stunned prosecutors by pleading guilty in what he said was an effort to spare his family pain and publicity. He pleaded guilty to eight charges, including attempted murder and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

"The only regret Richard Reid has ever expressed is not having been sent to participate in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States," U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said. "Reid's intentions on Dec. 22, 2001, were clear: He wanted to murder innocent people in the name of his fanatical religious beliefs."