Would be Millenium bomber gets 22 years in prison.

news.yahoo.com...

SEATTLE - The man convicted of plotting to blow up the Los Angeles airport on the eve of the millennium was sentenced Wednesday to 22 years in prison. Ahmed Ressam got a lighter sentence than prosecutors had requested, reflecting his cooperation in telling international investigators about the workings of terror camps in Afghanistan.

But Ressam, 38, could have received a shorter sentence had he not stopped talking to investigators in early 2003. Prosecutors argued that his recalcitrance has jeopardized cases against two of his co-conspirators.

In sentencing Ressam, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour said he hoped to balance U.S. resolve to punish potential terrorist acts with Ressam's cooperation. Coughenour also said he hoped to send a message that the U.S. court system works in terrorism cases.

"We did not need to use a secret military tribunal, detain the defendant indefinitely or deny the defendant the right to counsel. ... Our courts have not abandoned the commitment to the ideals that set this nation apart," he said.

Ressam, an Algerian, was arrested in Port Angeles in December 1999 as he drove off a ferry from British Columbia with a trunk full of bomb-making materials.

Prosecutors recommended a 35-year sentence; Ressam's lawyers asked for 12 1/2 years.

Ressam could be out of prison in 13 to 14 years with credit for time served and potential reductions for good behavior, but then will almost certainly be deported, public defender Thomas Hillier said at a news conference.

it seems that we are goin soft on terrorism, i dont understand why it aint life in prison. if not death penalty, at least give him life in prison. release him and it will come back to haunt us, i wouldnt be surprise to find one of his body parts lying around on American soil in the future, killing a couple of American citizens.

So he'll get deported when he gets out in 2017-2018 at the minimum, or in 2027 for his full sentence. I can see a huge improvement in surveillance technology by then, and I doubt his country will treat him nicely when he gets back because lately the terrorists have been getting their asses handed to them in Algeria, by the time he gets out, all of them will probably be dead or living in Europe. Plus at 50, I doubt he'll want to blow himself up, sorry for my ignorance but aren't most sucide bombers males in their twenties, I really don't know!