Word for Word: A credibility gap

By CHUCK MURPHY

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 27, 2001

From a transcript of the Oct. 18 sentencing of Wadih El-Hage, 41, of Arlington, Texas.

El-Hage, an American citizen born in Lebanon, worked as Osama bin Laden's personal secretary and messenger. He was convicted in New York federal court of conspiring with the bin Laden operatives behind the Aug. 7, 1998, attacks on U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. The bombings killed 231 people, including 12 Americans. El-Hage was also convicted of repeatedly lying to a grand jury investigating the al-Qaida terrorist network.

After hearing the exchange below, U.S. District Judge Leonard B. Sand sentenced El-Hage and three others to life in prison.

-- CHUCK MURPHY, Times staff writer

U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE LEONARD B. SAND: Mr. El-Hage, you are before the court convicted of various counts in the indictment. Is there anything you wish to say to the court before sentence is imposed?

WADIH EL-HAGE: Good afternoon, Judge Sand. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I have prepared a word that I will read in front of you.

First, I will speak about my beliefs because the person's beliefs form his identity and character. . . .

No doubt that there is a creator for everything in this universe. . . . Everything performs and acts according to God's will and his system, and have no choice but to follow this system reluctantly, except for humans, whom God has given them free will to choose their actions.

This was a great honor given to mankind. . . . Through the history, humans were two parts. One chose to follow God's rules and guidance, therefore lived a good life in correlation with everything around them. The other party chose to invent their own rules and systems of life, thus living in conflict with everything around them. . . . Yes, humans have been making their own laws, but they also change, delete or alter them every now and then.

But in this process people are being subject to unfair rules, rights are being violated, and individuals are being oppressed. Not only that, but corruption and damage will also affect the other creatures around us, the environment, air and oceans. All that because man wants to apply his own self-created rules, in spite of all his weaknesses, shortcomings, limited ability to see, hear, speak, judge and make decisions. Man also has desires, tendencies and whims. All those limitations hinder man's ability to establish a complete and fair system. . . .

If we put aside our self-deceit, arrogance, traditions, habits, ego and prejudice, I believe we will come to find that the message of Islam is the last and final message God sent to mankind, which has this complete set of rules and guidelines for a successful, prosperous and happy life on this earth and a better life in the hereafter.

Now, even though the Islamic system and way of life is for the best of all humanity, devout Muslims, as I believe, are not asking to apply it here in the U.S., where Muslims are less than 7-million. They are a minority. The fact is that they want to apply it in the Islamic countries where the majority are Muslims. But in those countries, today's selfish, arrogant . . . kings, presidents and rulers want to apply their own self-invented rules only to serve their own interests and desires, denying their people the right to choose the system they all want. . . .

Muslim nations are the weakest, poorest and most miserable. That is why, in my opinion, we find devout, committed Muslims, individuals and groups, working actively to reimplement God's rules and guidance.

For many years they tried to advise their rulers, urging them to apply God's rules in peaceful ways, but those rulers responded by using force and cruelty because they want to protect their positions as rulers while the whole nation is in misery.

Ultimately, some of those individuals and groups chose to have a conflict with those rulers. Others chose to migrate to other countries, such as the U.S., where they can spread the message of Islam freely and in the same time support their brothers and sisters who are continuing their efforts to apply God's rules in the Islamic countries.

All that was done while recognizing, as devout Muslims, that even in time of conflict, they should not exceed certain limits, harming innocent people or noncombatant ones.

This is very stressed upon in the Koran and the teachings of the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, who even prohibited destroying crops, animals or property at time of war. . . .

I . . . came here first to go to college, and I admired the educational system here very much, graduated, got married, and got my citizenship. During all that time, I joined Islamic activities to spread the teachings of our creator, and also to support our brothers and sisters in Islamic countries in their efforts to apply the rules of God there.

I also did all that freely, without any objections from the government here. Moreover, on several occasions I had the chance to criticize our government's foreign policy towards Islamic countries. During all that, I maintained clean records everywhere I went. . . .

In Islam, as I have learned and believe, ends do not justify means. They both have to be legal and in accordance with God's rules and teachings.

When the bombings happened in Africa in '98, my opinion was that that action was extreme and not in accordance with the beliefs that I learned. I made my opinion clear well before I was arrested or charged. Today, my opinion is still the same towards what happened in Africa and what happened here last month. The killing of innocent people and noncombatants is radical, extreme and cannot be tolerated by any religion, principles, beliefs or values.

Today I can stand here and say that I did not participate or support any extreme conduct or any act that violates my beliefs as a devout Muslim, but please understand that my beliefs form my opinion that many American policies towards Muslim countries and people are wrong, such as the embargo on the Iraqi Muslim people which led so far to the death of over one million child and thousands of innocent people. Also, the unconditional support of the American government to the Israeli government that is killing innocent Palestinians, taking their land, expelling them and destroying their homes.

Perhaps the secular world (does) not understand the impact of having non-Muslim troops on the land of Muslims' holiest sites, its negative impact on Muslim masses around the world and specifically on those in the Arabian Peninsula.

Such policies, in my opinion, are wrong and end up breeding unjustified extremism. Those views of mine, I have expressed them publicly, not in secret, even in my interviews with government agents and the grand jury.

Many Muslims and non-Muslims have expressed the same views. That includes the American Muslim community, which I am a member of, which is free to voice its criticism to the American policy but without committing or supporting any extreme acts.

Now I will go to the last part of my word.

On September 16, '98, I was taken into custody after a grand jury testimony. As a citizen with clean records, family ties and sound social relations, I was expecting to be released on bail so that I can prepare my defense against the tremendous charges in the comfort of my home with my family, friends and members of my community, as the law provides.

Even though I was considered by the law to be innocent, I was treated from day one like any other convicted killer, rapist, drug dealer or child molester, and even worse. I was put under conditions that convicted prisoners who break the rules inside the prison are subject for. . . .

The government opposed my right for bail, saying that I was a danger to the community and that they will prove their allegations at the trial. Well, my records in the U.S. since 1978 shows the opposite of what they alleged then, and at the trial they did not bring one evidence or action showing me to be a danger to the community.

The jury found me guilty on every charge depending on what they saw and heard in court, but this does not change the fact that I am innocent and that I was not given a fair or just chance to prepare my defense.

Today, while I am here in front of you, I am not the same person who was arrested three years ago. No one can be the same after three years of unfair treatment. Yet, I am still and remain the devout Muslim who is following the rules of our creator, who can see and hear us all the time. I am still the person who avoids radical solutions and acts, as I did in the past. I am still the loving and caring son of my parents, husband of my wife, and father of my children who is trying to keep family relations through letters and phone calls. . . .

Again, I would like to thank the court for giving me the opportunity to speak on my behalf. And for those who brought me to the grand jury under stressful, unusual conditions and those who lied on the witness stand at the trial, for all those I say that God will show them that they were wrong.

One last word. There is nothing wrong or shameful that I did to apologize for, and I hope that one day the truth will come out clear. If not in this life, then the day of judgment is the true court of justice, where the judge is God, who knows what everyone hides in his or her heart.

We all are going back to God after death, so let us seek his teachings and guidance for a successful end. Thank you.

SAND: Thank you. Does the government wish to say anything?

ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY PATRICK FITZGERALD: Yes, your Honor. Your Honor, it has long been a practice in this court that most times prosecutors do not speak at sentencing, and I did not intend to. I think most of the time we let people, no matter what they have done, pretend to love their country, pretend to love their god, pretend to be devoted to their family, and bite a lip and let it go quietly through the night. But in this case it is different, because in this case the crime, the horror of what Mr. El-Hage and his associates did is beyond imagination, and the method by which Mr. El-Hage did it was his pretense, his fraud, his pretension to being an American citizen and to following the rules.

He has talked today about choice, and I think one thing we should remember about choice is, Mr. El-Hage made a lot of choices. He chose to work with al-Qaida, he chose to work with a terrorist group and he chose to lie to his government. In September of 1997, before Mr. El-Hage ever went to the grand jury, he was brought to the government's office with an agent and myself. I recall quite clearly, the choice was put to him. He was told then that he was involved with Osama bin Laden and the government knew it, that he knew the secrets of Osama bin Laden, that Osama bin Laden would kill Americans, would kill men, women and children, and it was up to him as an American, as a father and as a Muslim to help stop that. He was told that if he didn't cooperate, someday he might face jail. He would be separated from the family he now claims he wishes he could be with and he does, but he chose terror and hatred over his family. He chose to lie. He lied repeatedly. He lied that day. He lied in the grand jury. And he even lied under oath after the bombings in August of 1998.

We have heard here today from his counsel that he is honest and straightforward. We have heard that he is religious and devout. We have heard him just say now that he is a devout Muslim. I submit to you that though he does love his family, he chose hatred and terror over his family repeatedly. He had a choice, and he chose to go with those who would kill rather than to help himself, his family, his country. He claims to be a citizen, but he is not an American. He claims to be a religious man, but he is not a true Muslim. The true Americans, the true Muslims, the true family men, he has seen. He saw them on the witness stand at the trial, he saw them testify here today, and, frankly, those are the people he helped to kill.

He has come into court today the way he came into the grand jury and into the trial, with no remorse, no shame, and no conscience. But he should leave without pretense. The world has now seen, from the evidence in this courtroom, what the jury saw, and what he did is, he betrayed his country, he betrayed his religion, he betrayed humanity by his behavior for so many years, and he should walk out of this courtroom, he should go to a jail cell that is really of his creation, and he should recognize that the world knows exactly what he did.

SAND: Thank you, Mr. Fitzgerald.

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