Papa Smurf?

So Richard Reid pleaded guilty to all the charges against him. That was a bit easy, wasn’t it? But in truth it was probably the best outcome, for all concerned. Reid has the possibility of getting out of jail in his lifetime, whilst the US government is not faced with another messy court case trying to prove links between Reid and al-Q’aeda. Certainly, this is the case with Zacarias Moussaoui, believed to be the 20th hijacker from September 11th. Dahlia Lithwick (a curiously compelling name) has been keeping tabs on the case in her excellent dispatches in the Jurisprudence column on Slate – dispatches filed as the case goes on, hence the old link. Of course, the feds’ case is not helped by accidently giving him access to classified files relating to national security. Apparently, it took days to search his cell. What, is he incarcerated at the Hilton? Or did they not have a secure file tagging system in place?

Whilst we’re on the issue, whatever happened to the prisoners at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay? Are they still there?

Tomlinson has narrowed down the exact units that are to be remarked as the A-level fiasco approaches the one month mark. All three of my (and Ollie’s as well) history modules are listed, and since I’m still challenging my coursework mark, I await the outcome with interest. Over 91000 (!) candidates are affected, even after the investigation has been scaled back. The deadline is in 11 days. I’ll keep you up to date with progress at my end of the action.

Official TGIF Link of the Week (a new addition wherein I add another stupid link because, um, it’s Friday): Trainee dishwasher pleads guilty to $80 million identity fraud.

Rating – 3.5; the Reid case seems to have made at least some attempt of closure within the wider problems of prosecuting terrorism; but at the same time he is a peripheral figure to al-Qaeda, which is why the rating is not substantially higher than the past few days.