Outside the Beltway

Bali Bombing Verdict

Kate McMillan · Friday, March 4, 2005 · 2 comments

The verdict is in and the sentence has been declared on the 2002 Bali bombing “mastermind” responsible for the deaths of 202 people. Abu Bakar Bashir is going to spend the next 30 months of his life in jail.

Wretchard:

Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty is warning that the kid- glove treatment of Bashir has not satisified his supporters, who regard the slightest inconvenience to their ‘spiritual leader’ for the mere act of murdering infidels a mortal insult.

[…]

Bashir was at the nexus of the Saudi madrassa system that is the assembly line of terrorism. It is the same system that produced Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a “former Virginia high school valedictorian … accused in federal court Tuesday of allegedly conspiring with al-Qaida to assassinate President Bush.” And it is a system that has proved too powerful to shut down or even criticize.

The Australians (who lost 88 in the bombing) have appealed to officials in Jakarta to appeal the sentence, which must be done in the next seven days.