Al Qaeda Would-Be LAX Bomber Resentenced to 22 Years

Federal agents stands on guard outside the U.S. courthouse in Seattle | AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

Yesterday in Seattle, a judge resentenced Ahmed Ressam, the "millennium bomber" who was convicted for planning to blow up Los Angeles International Airport on New Years Eve in 1999, to 22 years. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour did not believe that Ressam had gone back to his Al Qaeda ways after working with the feds catch other terrorists, therefore he would not be a danger when released in 2019. But prosecutors say he did not live up to his deal by retracting everything he said to help the government up until 2003 when he stopped talking. Ultimately, that cost them two high-profile terrorism prosecutions, they said.

"Sentence me to life in prison, or anything you wish," Ressam told the judge in court. "I will have no objection to your sentence."

U.S. attorney Jeffrey Sullivan, who will be seeking to repeal the sentence, agreed with the life sentence part: "He told the court today in front of the judge, 'I'm a terrorist, I'm trained as a terrorist, I'm going to do it again when I get out. . . . That's what I heard him say," he said to the LA Times. "He deserves to stay in jail until he dies."