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Thu Nov 29 14:08:01 GMT 2007

Would you agree that there is a difference between treating an injured
soldier  who shows up at the  trauma center at which you work and
agreeing to travel to Iraq to staff a forward surgical unit for the US
army? One is "a moral duty to treat the ill and infirm without
discrimination" and the other is enlisting in the armed services (and if
there's no difference I want to file my application for the GI bill
based on the care I've provided to the Fort Stewart guys over the
years).

This guy was NOT convicted for providing medical care in the US to
individuals who happened to be criminals (like we all do every day). He
was convicted for agreeing to travel to the war zone and taking a
loyalty oath to the terrorists — since they don't have a salary and
benefits plan this is as close to enlisting formally as you can get.
This is not "a very disturbing precedent." It's not even a precedent —
 not enlisting with enemies of the country in which you have citizenship
is not an obscure law.

Now, whether or not he was entrapped, or didn't know, or whatever else
is a LEGAL argument. Saying that he was just providing care is
disingenuous at best.

That being said  — isn't this overtly political?

Bill Bromberg

>>> Mike Smertka <medic0947969 at yahoo.com> 11/29/2007 7:03 AM >>>
I think this is a very disturbing precedent. Especially considering I
thought it was a moral duty to treat the ill and infirm without
discrimination. As I recall as far back as the Napoleonic wars, the
physicians of the Swiss Red Cross treated wounded French soldiers. In
every war since it has been the custom to treat the opposing fighters
who are wounded as well. The arguement that these are not soldiers, but
criminals seems equally misguided. What if you treated a drug dealer who
was shot selling drugs and his intention was to return to health to sell
drugs? By this logic would you not be supporting the illegal drug trade?
It a sad day for society when the nuetrality of a healthcare provider is
comprimised by a court.

  Just my thoughts, (much simpler and condensed that others)
  Mike

Charles Brault <c_brault at yahoo.com> wrote:
  25 years for "conspiring" to treat the ennemy
Makes one wonder who is the terrorist exactly ! ?

... equals to condeming to death all medical personel in Iraq
... in order to send a strong message

Doctor sentenced in NY terrorism case 

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press 

NEW YORK - A doctor convicted of conspiring to treat injured al-Qaida
fighters was sentenced Wednesday 
to 25 years in prison, with the judge reasoning that a sentence to
deter others was needed because terrorists 
cannot carry out their deadly aims without help. 

U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska noted Dr. Rafiq Sabir, 53, showed
no remorse after his May conviction 
for conspiring to provide material support to terrorists by agreeing to
treat injured al-Qaida members so they 
could return to Iraq to battle Americans.

The judge said there was "no reason to believe that this defendant has
abandoned any criminal intentions."
She said terrorism offenses were among the most serious crimes
prosecuted and required stern punishments.
"If not for assistance to terrorists, then terrorist acts would not
take place," she said.

Just before the announcement of the sentence in a crowded courtroom,
Sabir, of Boca Raton, Fla., insisted he 
was "completely innocent." He said a co-defendant, jazz musician and
martial arts expert Tarik Shah, had duped 
him into taking an oath with an FBI agent who posed as an al-Qaida
recruiter, never explaining that he was pledging 
loyalty to al-Qaida or its leader, Osama bin Laden. "I'm an extremely
gullible man," he said.

Sabir said he learned more about Shah at his trial than he had learned
in the previous 20 years when they had 
become close friends. He said he now realizes Shah tried to sell his
services to al-Qaida.
"My intentions were entirely within the law," he said. "I had no idea I
was being asked to be an al-Qaida member."
The judge said she concluded Sabir perjured himself when he testified
during trial that he did not understand the 
accent of the FBI agent during the pledging ceremony and did not
realize that "al-Qaida" was said or that references 
to "Osama" were about bin Laden.

Shah was recently sentenced to 15 years in prison in a deal with the
government. A Brooklyn bookstore owner who 
pleaded guilty was sentenced to 13 years in prison. A Washington, D.C.,
cab driver has pleaded guilty and agreed 
to serve 15 years in prison.
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Doctor sentenced in NY terrorism case