I don't know what's more terrifying - that a judge thinks that someone who was looking to commit mass murder and detroy a major part of America's transportation infrastructure should get only 22 years in prison, or that the same judge thinks he's morally superior for treating this person kindly.

Judge Gets in Swipe at Bush Administration

The sentence itself was fairly straightforward: An Algerian man received 22 years for plotting to bomb the Los Angeles airport on the eve of the millennium. It was what the judge said in imposing the term that raised eyebrows.

U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour said the successful prosecution of Ahmed Ressam should serve not only as a warning to terrorists, but as a statement to the Bush administration about its terrorism-fighting tactics.

"We did not need to use a secret military tribunal, detain the defendant indefinitely as an enemy combatant or deny the defendant the right to counsel," he said Wednesday. "The message to the world from today's sentencing is that our courts have not abandoned our commitment to the ideals that set our nation apart."

If this was a case of mental instability I might understand, but this enemy of the state received less of a sentence than Bernie Ebbers of Worldcom!

That'll teach 'em!

UPDATE: Now that's more like it - Prominent Cleric From Yemen Is Sentenced to 75 Years

A Yemeni cleric was sentenced in New York today to 75 years in federal prison for conspiracy to support Al Qaeda and Hamas and other charges.

And he was just convicted of consipiring with terrorists - not trying to blow things up himself.