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Yahya Goba

Yahya Goba

al-Qaeda

Fifth Column

In Jug

20030513

Home Front: WoT

Some of "Lackawanna Six" now free and/or protected

2009-11-30

Some of the six men convicted in one of the nation's first major terror related cases following the Sept. 11 attacks have sought special government witness protection for their testimony against other terror suspects in prosecutions that followed. Two members of the "Lackawanna Six," charged for attending an al-Qaida training camp in 2001, asked to enter the government's witness protection program as a reward for testifying at a Guantanamo Bay trial last fall. They and a third who testified at the same trial have since vanished from the federal Bureau of Prisons public database, one indication they got their wish. In prison, protected inmates serve their time under aliases and in specialty units. After prison, the witness protection program gives participants a new identity, living expenses and medical care. In the years since their arrests, within days of the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, federal authorities have said members of the group have been valuable witnesses -- not for their direct knowledge of terror plots but for their ability to describe al-Qaida training from personal experience. The most active government witness among the group, 32-year-old Yahya Goba, has been absent from the Bureau of Prisons site for more than two years as he's testified in several trials, including that of Jose Padilla in Miami in 2007. Two co-defendants, Sahim Alwan, 36, and Yasein Taher, 31, have not appeared on the bureau's inmate locator since they and Goba testified against an Osama bin Laden associate at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base a year ago. Taher had been scheduled for a Sept. 1, 2009 release before his name disappeared from the site. His attorney, Rodney Personius, acknowledged that Taher was in protective status as he finished out his prison term but declined to say whether he'd opted to continue in the U.S. Marshal-run Witness Protection Program.

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Home Front: WoT

Lackawanna One gets reduced sentence

2007-12-16

A federal judge agreed Friday to take a year off the prison sentence of a man who was among six who admitted to attending a terrorist training camp but who helped prosecutors in his case and others. Yahya Goba, 30, had been sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2003 after pleading guilty to providing material support to a terrorist organization by attending the al-Qaida training camp. "The nature and extent of Goba's assistance, his willingness to testify at trial, and particularly the fact that his cooperation has been entirely voluntary and come at a heavy cost to himself and his family, warrants the 12-month sentence reduction," said U.S. District Judge William Skretny. Goba has since testified in several other cases, exceeding the obligations of his plea agreement, according to federal prosecutors who sought the reduction. Most recently, Goba testified in the trial of Jose Padilla, 37, who along with two co-defendants was convicted Aug. 16 in Miami of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim people overseas. Goba and five other young Yemeni-American men from Lackawanna, outside Buffalo, were arrested in September 2002 after investigators learned they received military-type training at the al-Farooq camp in spring and summer 2001. All pleaded guilty and received sentences between seven and 10 years. With the sentence reduction, Goba is expected to be released sometime in 2010.

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Home Front: WoT

Records Found By CIA Source in Al Qaeda Safehouse Are Key to Padilla Terror Case

2007-03-29

A key piece of evidence in the case against alleged terrorism operative Jose Padilla came from an Afghan man who told the CIA he found it in an Al Qaeda safehouse, according to new court filings. The man, unknown to the CIA at the time, drove up to the agency's installation in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in a pickup truck containing "stacks of papers and other office materials" found in the house occupied by a group of Arabs, according to a CIA document newly filed in federal court. It was common knowledge, the man said, "that the Arabs residing in this home/office, as with many other similar sites in the city of Kandahar, had been affiliated with Al Qaeda and Usama bin Laden," according to the CIA description of the December 2001 meeting. The Arabs had fled the house just before the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, he said. Among the Arabic documents was a blue binder containing dozens of forms that U.S. officials say were essentially applications for Al Qaeda terrorism training camps. One of those forms was filled out and signed by Abu Abdullah al Mujahir, one of the aliases used by Padilla, according to federal prosecutors. While the existence of the "mujahedeen data form" has long been public, how it wound up in U.S. hands has never previously been disclosed. The document was filed last week, before the scheduled April 16 trial of Padilla and two co-defendants on charges they were part of a North American support cell for Islamic extremist groups worldwide. Padilla, a 36-year-old U.S. citizen, was held for 3 1/2 years as an enemy combatant once suspected of plotting to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" inside the United States. He was added in November 2005 to the Miami terrorism support case, which does not mention an al-Qaida "dirty bomb" plot. The form, which prosecutors say contains Padilla's fingerprints, is the government's single strongest piece of physical evidence. The CIA has asked that the officer who accepted it from the Afghan man be permitted to testify in disguise. It is unclear if any other people whose names are on the forms will be called to testify. Defense attorneys say they anticipate testimony authenticating the forms from Yahya Goba, one of the "Lackawanna Six" group of men in upstate New York convicted of terrorism support charges for attending camps in Afghanistan. Padilla, who converted to Islam after moving to Florida from Chicago, had moved in 1998 to Egypt and in March 2000 attended the annual Islamic Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Several Al Qaeda "facilitators" were scouring the crowd for possible recruits, and one of them focused on Padilla.

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Down Under

Thomas let Binny pay for return flight, given secret al-Qaeda contact info

2006-02-20

ACCUSED terrorist Joseph Terrence Thomas would not have been given a secret al-Qaeda phone number and email address unless he had agreed to be a sleeper agent for them in Australia, a court has been told. The 32-year-old Werribee man has pleaded not guilty in the Victorian Supreme Court to intentionally receiving funds and providing resources to al-Qaeda, and possessing a false passport. In his closing address today, Crown prosecutor Nicholas Robinson said the jury must decide whether Thomas received funds from al-Qaeda and provided himself as a resource to the organisation. He said whether or not Thomas pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda, or was a member of the organisation, was irrelevant. Mr Robinson urged the jury to reject Thomas' denial in an Australian Federal Police (AFP) interview in March 2003 that he intended to act as an al-Qaeda sleeper. He said Thomas' claim that he was on a different "tram track" to al-Qaeda was inconsistent with his actions, such as spending two years as a fugitive in Pakistani safehouses frequented by al-Qaeda members. "If in fact he thought they were on the wrong tram track, if in fact he didn't hold their views, why did he stay with them?" Mr Robinson said. Thomas accepted $US3,500 ($A4,740) and a ticket back to Australia from an Osama bin Laden associate called Khaled bin Attash. He told the AFP that bin Attash said bin Laden needed a "white boy" to work for him in Australia, but he never intended to work for al-Qaeda or use the money for terrorism. He told police that bin Attash also gave him a secret email address and telephone number to contact upon his return home. "We say that bin Attash obviously wouldn't have given that number until he knew or had an agreement that the accused would go back (to Australia)," Mr Robinson said. "It is clear ... that the accused is saying to police that the ticket that was handed over by bin Attash was for the purpose of going back to Australia to carry out a task for al-Qaeda." During his opening address, defence counsel Lex Lasry, QC, said his client may be "naive" and "stupid" but he definitely was not a terrorist. Today, Mr Robinson said the evidence suggested Thomas was a trusted al-Qaeda confidant and had sophisticated dealings with senior members of the group. He said Thomas was so trusted that he was privy to a conversation about a plot to bring down a jet carrying Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf with a rocket launcher. Mr Robinson said Thomas offered to do work such as obtaining false passports for the group twice and asked one al-Qaeda member for a house. He said when Thomas met American Yahya Goba, 29, at the al-Qaeda run Al Farooq camp in Afghanistan in 2001, he allowed himself to be introduced as an Irishman and used the pseudonym Abu Khair. "He is not naive, he is not stupid and these acts were intentional," Mr Robinson said. Mr Lasry said the defence would not call any evidence. Mr Robinson will continue his closing address in the trial presided over by Justice Philip Cummins tomorrow.

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Terror Networks & Islam

Life inside an al-Qaeda training camp

2005-03-03

A New York jury has been given a rare and chilling glimpse of life inside an al Qaida training camp. Yahya Goba, a convicted ringleader of a terror cell, took to the witness stand to recount Osama bin Laden twice visiting a camp and being welcomed by recruits singing and firing shots. "They had everyone sing a welcoming song for him," he said. The 28-year-old gave a detailed account of the training he underwent at the Afghanistan camp in 2001. He was testifying at the trial of Yemeni cleric, Mohamed al-Moayad, charged with providing financial support for terrorism to al Qaida and Palestinian militant group Hamas. During the six weeks Goba was at the camp, bin Laden arrived twice to address some 200 trainees, he said. One of the visits was captured on tape by Arabic television network al-Jazeera and played to Brooklyn federal court. "He entered from the east gate with his cars and bodyguards," Goba told the court. He then made a speech about "uniting in jihad" Goba said he had filled out a a training camp entry form in May 2001 before travelling from the US to Kandahar, Afghanistan. After daily meetings focusing on religious observance, Goba was recruited and entered the al-Farooq camp.He described training in military tactics, weaponry and explosives. Jurors were told how recuits bedded down in dusty yellow tents marked with the initials of the United Nations and learning to put together and take apart machine guns, pistols and assault rifles. Goba has no ties to Moayad, but the sheik is accused of recommending another recruit for entrance to an al Qaeda training camp. The judge allowed jurors to see a camp entry form listing al-Moayad as the sponsor of a trainee. Goba confirmed it was impossible to gain admission to a camp without such a reference. He is one of six men from the Buffalo suburb of Lackawanna who pleaded guilty to supporting terrorism. They were arrested in 2002.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

Sohail receives life sentence

2005-03-03

A militant given a life sentence in his absence for the murders of 11 French engineers was captured in Pakistan's largest city yesterday after he fell off his motorcycle following a gun battle with police. "Oooh! That's gonna leave a mark! Stick 'em up!" Mohammed Sohail was also wanted over the killing of Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter, whose murder he is suspected of filming. He was among six men who fired on police from motorcycles, said Fayyaz Khan, a Karachi police investigator. He said officers had asked them to stop at a routine checkpoint that has often been attacked by Islamic militants. The five other suspects fled and Sohail admitted being a member of Harkat Jihad-e-Islami, an outlawed Islamic militant group, Khan added. In 2003, Sohail was sentenced to death for the car bombing in front of Karachi's Sheraton Hotel which killed 11 Frenchmen building a submarine for Pakistan's navy. The government had offered a £22,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. Sohail was allegedly a close aide to an al Qaeda strategist and is suspected of shooting the video that showed Pearl's throat being slit. Also in the war on terror, a suspect in the Madrid train bombings was found a year ago to have a sketch of New York's Grand Central station. El Mundo newspaper said the sketch, and technical data about the station, were found on a computer disk seized about two weeks after last year's March 11 train bombings, which killed 191 people. Spanish police turned the disk over to the FBI and CIA in December, the newspaper said. In New York Michael Bloomberg, the mayor, confirmed the FBI had informed the police of the find. "We've taken the appropriate steps . . . to beef up security at all of the major transportation hubs — train stations and airports and bus stations, places where you say if a terrorist wanted to attack, they would," he said. The sketch was found in the home of Mouhannad Almallah, a Syrian who was arrested in Madrid on March 24 but later released, although he is still considered a suspect. Three other accused Islamic militants have been charged with using Spain as a staging ground for the September 11 attacks. Their trials are expected to begin next month. One of the three, Ghasoub al Abrash Ghayoun, a Syrian, went to the US in 1997 and shot video footage of the Twin Towers, the Golden Gate Bridge and other landmarks for al Qaeda chiefs in Afghanistan, Spanish prosecutors allege. New York City police are "very concerned" that al Qaeda is pursuing efforts to obtain chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, the department's counter-terrorism commissioner said yesterday. Michael Sheehan said officials knew Osama bin Laden's network was searching for biological weaponry, and that it appeared to have supporters with medical and scientific backgrounds who could handle such weapons. "We are very concerned they are still trying to seek chemical, biological or radiological weapons," he said at an Interpol conference on bio-terrorism in Lyon, France. "We don't have any information that at this time they have that capability, but we do know they're trying to get it," he added. Back in New York, a convicted leader of a terrorist cell told a court of two visits paid by Osama bin Laden to an al Qaeda training camp. "They had everyone sing a welcoming song for him," said Yahya Goba. The 28-year-old witness at the trial of Mohamed al Moayad, a Yemeni cleric accused of financially backing al Qaeda and Hamas, said Bin Laden then made a speech about "uniting in jihad". Bin Laden's half brother, meanwhile, has lost his appeal in a Swiss libel case over his purported financial ties with terrorism. The supreme court in Lausanne ruled against Yeslam Binladin in his action against L'Hebdo magazine, over an article speculating that his Geneva-based firm could have handled terrorist funds.

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Home Front: WoT

Testimony on bin Laden allowed at sheikh's trial

2005-03-02

Over repeated objections from the defense yesterday, a federal judge at the terror financing trial of a Yemeni sheik permitted a witness to describe his time at a desolate Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan and visits there by Osama bin Laden. It was the spring of 2001, the witness, Yahya Goba, told the engrossed jurors. The trainees sang a welcoming song. Mr. bin Laden held forth "about the importance of unifying and jihad. Technically, the witness had only a bit part in the Brooklyn trial where he made his appearance yesterday, testifying for the prosecutors at the trial of the sheik, Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad, who is charged with providing material support to Al Qaeda and Hamas. But the repeated objections from the sheik's chief lawyer, William H. Goodman, made it evident that the defense saw the discussion of Mr. bin Laden, just as the testimony in the case is about to end, as inflammatory. Prosecutors are expected to call their last witness this morning. "This is irrelevant to the defendant in this case," Mr. Goodman said on several occasions, arguing that the prosecutors were using a thin evidentiary reed to bring the image of Mr. bin Laden into the courtroom. In short order yesterday, the judge, Sterling Johnson Jr., allowed the prosecutors to play to the jurors in Brooklyn federal court a videotape of the very visit by Mr. bin Laden to the training camp that Mr. Goba had described, a place where, he testified, jihad inductees were taught about weapons and explosives. The prosecutors do not claim that the sheik had any ties to the camp other than, they say, sponsoring a trainee. Mr. Goba's appearance was the latest sign of an improvement in the fortunes of the prosecutors. In the weeks before the trial, the judge made several rulings against them that seemed to limit the evidence they could introduce. They also decided to forfeit testimony from their main informer, after he set himself on fire outside the White House. But, in the end, the defense lawyers called the informer, Mohamed Alanssi. And Judge Johnson's decisions not to limit Mr. Goba's testimony were among several permitting the prosecutors to present essentially the case they originally said they wanted to present. Judge Johnson has barred the defense lawyers from giving interviews to reporters, but before that ruling, several said they believed some of his rulings would present extensive grounds for appeal. Mr. Goba was called by prosecutors to explain to the jurors the significance of a training-camp registration form found by American forces in Afghanistan. On the form introduced yesterday, a trainee listed Sheik Moayad as the man who had recommended him. The defense had fought the introduction of the document. But, in a pivotal victory yesterday, prosecutors persuaded Judge Johnson to allow them to introduce not only the registration form, but also two other documents he had barred. Those documents show that two mujahedeen fighters in the Bosnian war in the 1990's carried the sheik's phone number in their address books. The defense has said there is no evidence that Sheik Moayad even knew the training camp inductee or the Bosnian fighters. But the prosecutors returned to the issue, noting that the defense had told jurors that the sheik had no inclination to participate in terrorist activities. The defense claims he was entrapped in hours of secretly videotaped conversations in which he talked about jihad and financing. The prosecutors claimed that the entrapment argument opened the door for them to then present what proof they had about the sheik's prior ties. In his decision yesterday, Judge Johnson offered little explanation, other than saying he agreed with the prosecutors.

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Arabia

Seventh Member of ’Lackawanna Six’ in Custody in Yemen

2004-01-29

The last member of a group of Yemeni-American men from western New York sought by U.S. authorities for attending an al-Qaeda training camp has been taken into custody in Yemen, according to a newspaper report. Jaber Elbaneh was being held by Yemeni authorities, and negotiations are under way for extradition, The New York Times reported in a story for Thursday editions. Oops, it’s a NYT story. We’ll have to wait for a real newspaper for confirmation, I’ll check the National Enquirer. Six men from Lackawanna pleaded guilty last year to aiding a terrorist organization by attending the camp in Afghanistan in 2001. In December, 31-year-old Sahim Alwan was the final member of the ’Lackawanna Six’ sentenced to prison, a term of 9 1/2 years. Alwan, along with Faysal Galab, Mukhtar al-Bakri, Yasein Taher, Yahya Goba and Shafal Mosed, accepted plea bargains which compelled them to cooperate in government terrorism investigations. Authorities said there was no evidence the Lackawanna group was involved in planning or participated in any terrorist act. But the investigation into the recruiters, financiers and others who may have traveled with the group continues. Those are the important players. In their pleas, all six described weapons and explosives training and a bin Laden speech to trainees about men on a mission to attack America. A $5 million reward was offered for Elbaneh. Unlike the others, he never returned to Lackawanna after his training in the spring and summer of 2001, investigators said. Which makes him a "person of interest". Lawyers for the Lackawanna Six have said the men were victims of high-pressure recruiters who appealed to their sense of religious duty in convincing them to seek military-style jihad training. Guess you figured that wouldn’t fly with a jury, hence the guilty pleas.

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Home Front

’Ringleader’ of Lackawanna Six gets 10 years

2003-12-11

Yahya Goba, considered the organizer of the Lackawanna Six, was sent down the river for sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in federal prison. "That’s a long time, but perhaps in your case, not long enough," U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny told Goba after handing down the sentence. Goba, 26, was the fourth member of the Lackawanna Six to be sentenced this month. The six traveled to Afghanistan and trained with al-Qaida several months before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In Goba’s case, 10 years imprisonment is the maximum under federal sentencing guidelines and was predetermined by the terms of his guilty plea. Though Skretny said the sentence for Goba was appropriate, he added that more time behind bars wouldn’t have been out of line. Longer would be better, but he did spill his guts. A blindfold and a cigarette wouldn't have been out of line... Skretny disclosed that Goba used a share of the $14,000 provided by an unidentified local man for the trip to the military training camp. And when an al-Qaida recruiter came to Lackawanna in April 2001, he stayed with Goba in his Lackawanna home. Furthermore, while four of the six left the al-Qaida training camp, Goba stayed for the duration, learning to use an M-16 rifle, explosives and a grenade launcher, Skretny said. Goba even stood guard at the camp. "Yar! Ain't no infidels gonna come sneakin' in while I'm on duty!" Goba and fellow Lackawanna residents Shafal Mosed, Mukhtar al-Bakri, Yasein Taher, Faysal Galab and Sahim Alwan were arrested in September 2002 on charges that they supported al-Qaida by training at one of the terrorist camps in Afghanistan in 2001. All six accepted plea deals, admitting that they trained at the camp but denying that they had any intention to engage in terrorism. "Who? Us? Terrorism? No, no! Certainly not!" Last week, al-Bakri was sentenced to 10 years and Taher to eight years. Tuesday, Mosed also was sentenced to eight years. Goba, along with al-Bakri, has been singled out for the longest prison term because he was intimately involved in organizing the trip, according to terrorism prosecutor William J. Hochul Jr. Clauss told the judge Goba never intended to be part of the al-Qaida network, but took the trip out of commitment to his faith and his "naive infatuation" with al-Qaida leaders. Yeah, right. Since his plea deal, Goba has cooperated fully with the government, providing valuable insight into al-Qaida and its recruiting methods, Clauss said. Maybe one of his islamic buddies will off him in prison for being a stoolie. Hey, I can dream, can’t I? Skretny, though, said he was particularly troubled by Goba’s actions because Goba had been a carrier teacher of Islam to children in the community. Goba should have known to stay clear of al-Qaida’s distorted teachings, he said. Depends on what you consider "distorted". U.S. Attorney Michael A. Battle responded to questions about the $14,000 given by the local man to help finance the trip to Afghanistan. "We are following up on the investigation into the funding of the trip," Battle said. "It’s still too early to say whether anyone will be charged." Gooby didn't spring the name. That's why he got the full ten years.

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Home Front

5th Buffalo-area man pleads Guilty

2003-05-13

EFL One of six terror defendants in Buffalo, N.Y., pleaded guilty Monday to "providing material support" to al-Qaida. Yasein Taher of Lackawanna, N.Y., and the other defendants were accused of attending an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan. He was the fifth defendant to plead guilty in the case. Taher pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny in Buffalo to count two of the indictment. The plea agreement requires Taher to cooperate fully with the government's ongoing investigation in this and other terrorism probes. In the plea agreement, Taher admits that in April 2001, he agreed with co-defendants Yahya Goba, Shafal Mosed, Faysal Galab, Mukhtar Al-Bakri, Sahim Alwan and others to attend the al-Farooq military-type training camp in Afghanistan. According to the plea agreement, Taher, Mosed and Galab arrived in Pakistan on or about April 29, 2001. Also in the agreement, Taher admits traveling with Galab and Mosed to Quetta, Pakistan, where they stayed at a guest house believed to be associated with al-Qaida. Motel 666 Taher also admits traveling with Galab and Mosed to a guest house in Kandahar, and viewing a movie or videotape on the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole, the Justice Department said. Taher also admits traveling with Galab and Mosed to the al-Farooq training camp, and working under the direction and control of members of al-Qaida by receiving and taking orders from instructors at the camp. In addition, Taher admits in the plea agreement that he received training and instruction on the use of weapons while at al-Farooq, including a Kalashnikov rifle, 9mm handgun, M-16 automatic rifle and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, along with training on explosives and tactics. The agreement said that all persons at the camp, including Taher, were required to perform guard duty as part of their training. One trainee at the camp asked for volunteers to sign up for suicide missions, again according to the plea agreement. The agreement also said bin Laden visited al-Farooq while all six defendants were at the camp, and spoke about missions against the United States and Israeli interests. Taher left al-Farooq shortly after the bin Laden speech and before completing all of the training that was available. Taher faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both at sentencing at a later date, the government said. 5 down, 1 to go.

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Home Front

Fourth ’Buffalo Six’ Member Pleads Guilty

2003-04-08

A jobs counselor who met privately with Usama bin Laden in Afghanistan after attending an Al Qaeda training camp pleaded guilty Tuesday to providing support to a terrorist organization. Sahim Alwan, 30, is the fourth of six American men of Yemeni descent to reach a deal with the government in exchange for a lesser sentence. Like the others, he agreed to cooperate in the government's continuing terrorism investigation. The government indicated it would seek a nine-year term when Alwan is sentenced in July. All of the defendants faced 15 years in prison. In his plea agreement, the Buffalo-born Alwan, a married father of three, said he saw bin Laden at a Kandahar guest house before attending the camp and was taken to meet with the terrorist leader again after he left the camp. At the second meeting, Alwan said bin Laden asked "what Americans thought about martyrdom missions as well as how the brothers were doing at the al-Farooq camp." Alwan also heard bin Laden speak while at the camp. He said, "There were people willing to bear their soul in their hands for jihad." Unlike his co-defendants who pleaded guilty before him, Alwan did not say he knew the trip was illegal. He said he believed he was attending training in jihad, described as a struggle against those not of Islamic faith. "How was I to know it was illegal, I could hardly hear what he was saying over the gunfire and explosions." Last month, Yahya Goba and Shafal Mosed each pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Prosecutors said they would seek an eight-year sentence for Mosed and a 10-year prison term for Goba. Faysal Galab pleaded guilty in January to supporting Al Qaeda. He is expected to receive a seven-year sentence. The two other defendants, Mukhtar al-Bakri and Yasein Taher, remain in plea negotiations, attorneys said. Four down, two to go.

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Fifth Column

Third of Lackawanna 6 Enters Guilty Plea

2003-03-25

A day after a co-defendant pleaded guilty to supporting al-Qaida, another member of the "Lackawanna Six" reached a deal with the government Tuesday in which he also admitted attending a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. Yahya Goba, 26, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to a charge of providing material resources to a foreign terrorist organization by training at the camp in the spring of 2001. Everyone is falling over themselves copping a plea. Like Shafal Mosed on Monday, Goba admitted to training to use assault rifles and other weapons at the al-Farooq camp affiliated with Osama bin Laden. He said he and the others heard bin Laden speak about "men willing to becoming martyrs for the cause." With Goba's guilty plea, half of six men from the Buffalo suburb of Lackawanna arrested in September 2002 have reached deals to avoid trial, and others are likely to follow. The plea agreements hold the promise of significantly less prison time - with sentences of eight to 10 years - for the men. The initial charges of providing material support to a terrorist organization carry a prison term of up to 15 years. Prosecutors said they would seek a 10-year term for Goba when he is sentenced July 17. Ten years seems OK by me, as long as they don't get out before then. Keep an eye on those prison immam's as well.

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