Ghailani Convicted In 1998 Bombing - Sentence: Life Without Parole

The Guardian has the details. This is the first Gitmo detainee tried in a civilian U.S. court.

Remember how all the Republans* in Congress were saying it couldn't be done, that the risk of acquittal was too great, that the punishment would be inadequate, etc. etc., in other words, a veritable laundry list of alleged reasons why the justice system that has served us well in the past simply would not do against "known" terrorists? Well, guess what. Ghailani got LWOP (Life WithOut Parole... an acronym that I hope will become common) for the one conspiracy count of which he was convicted. The Guardian says, "Ghailani will now almost certainly be sent to a 'supermax' high security prison in Colorado, where other defendants convicted in the bombings are being held. His sentence includes no prospect of ever getting parole,"

My late father, who (unlike me) was an advocate of the death penalty, admitted occasionally that a life sentence without the possibility of parole was almost surely a more severe punishment than death. I was young; I didn't understand. But in recent years I've come to realize the truth of what he was saying. And besides, LWOP, unlike death, is reversible in the event the conviction is somehow found to be in error.

* They call themselves "RepublICans". They call the opposition the "Democrat" party. It is only justice to remove the IC from their name: an IC for an IC.