| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: WoT |
| Blinded Prison Guard: Don't House Terror Suspects in NYC |
| 2009-11-16 |
| The high-security prison in New York City where 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is expected to be sent to await his trial has a supermax wing to keep even the most notorious criminals quiet — but it isn't perfect. Just ask Louis Pepe. Ten months before Al Qaeda in 2001 struck a deathblow in the heart lower Manhattan, one of the terrorist group's founding members plunged a sharpened comb through Pepe's left eye and into his brain, blinding the 42-year-old prison guard and causing severe brain injuries that plague him to this day. Pepe told FoxNews.com he worries that sending Mohammed and four of his alleged fellow 9/11 conspirators to New York could compromise the safety of the guards at the MCC prison. Keeping the prisoners in one location, he said, was especially dangerous. "Could you imagine over there what they're gonna do, God forbid?" asked Pepe, now 52, who lost feeling in the right side of his body and most of his ability to speak. "After all these years, you'd think they should know." On Nov. 1, 2000, Pepe was ambushed in the cell of Mamdouh Mahmud Salim — an alleged top aide to Usama bin Laden. Salim's cellmate, another Al Qaeda suspect, joined in the attack, which prosecutors say was an attempt to steal Pepe's keys to the cell block to free other prisoners and take hostages. The two had been granted permission by a federal judge to purchase hot sauce, says Pepe's sister, which they then stored in a honey jar and used to create a blinding mace. Teaming up against Pepe, they beat and blinded him, covering the floor in his spattered blood. They then tried to rape him as he waited an entire hour for fellow guards to come to his aid, his sister said. "They wanted to discredit the badge and what he stood for," Eileen Trotta told FoxNews.com. "After they plunged him in the eye with that makeshift knife, they did the sign of the cross on his chest." Trotta said it would be like "deja vu" to see more Al Qaeda detainees shipped into New York for trial, where their court hearings will be just blocks from Ground Zero "There's no reason why everything has to be in New York, especially after 9/11 and what happened to Louis," she said. "It doesn't make sense — why bring them into the hotbed of the city?" |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #5 Put them in General Population on Rikers. They will assume ambient temperature relatively soon thereafter. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2009-11-16 23:51 |
| #4 why guards don't grab shotguns and storm in, shooting anyone who's not in their cell. But they don't. It seems like the standard procedure is for the authorities to just sit back and watch the horror unfold. I really don't understand it. Posted by Scooter McGruder You must first understand diversity and affirmative action and 'group think' Scooter. As evidence, I give a statement made by the Army's top officer just last week: General George Casey, the Army’s top officer, is concerned that diversity will become a casualty of the Fort Hood tragedy. The religious beliefs of suspect Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a Muslim Army psychiatrist, have led to speculation about motive in the shooting rampage that killed 13 people. “I’m concerned that this increased speculation could cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers. And I’ve asked our Army leaders to be on the lookout for that, said General Casey. Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether Muslim soldiers are conflicted in fighting wars in Muslim countries like Afghanistan and Iraq, Casey said: “I think that’s something that we have to look at on an individual basis. But I think we as an Army have to be broad enough to bring in people from all walks of life.” The bottom line is the military benefits from diversity, he said. “Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse,” Casey said |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-11-16 18:24 |
| #3 Teargas works fine, small amounts will do it. |
| Posted by: lotp 2009-11-16 18:17 |
| #2 Good question, Chris. I've seen some videos of a prison riot before and wondered the same thing. I have no idea why guards don't grab shotguns and storm in, shooting anyone who's not in their cell. But they don't. It seems like the standard procedure is for the authorities to just sit back and watch the horror unfold. I really don't understand it. |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2009-11-16 14:16 |
| #1 why in the hell did it take over an hour for the other guards too help this fellow? I know there are procedures in prisons for situations like this but there is a time when deadly force can also be used and this sounds like a good one. |
| Posted by: chris 2009-11-16 10:17 |