Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Sentencing Awaits Arabic Translator Who Had Classifed Documents

Noureddine Malki, an Arabic translator from Morocco who is now living in Brooklyn, has put himself in a boatload of trouble. Prosecutors claimed that he's in possession of classified documents. What kind of documents were involved? These:
"The information is so critical that you do not want the information to get into the hands of anyone without the need to know," Lieutenant Colonel Michele Bredenkamp said, referring to a mission analysis report for the 82nd Airborne, to which Malki was attached. The document, among other things, described convoy routes and named known terrorists the Army was targeting. Between 60 and 70 individuals had authorization to view the document, which could be accessed through a secure computer, Colonel Bredenkamp testified.
He probably violated operational security and put the lives of American soldiers at risk. On top of that, the documents included locations of suspected WMD facilities in Iraq.
Malki has pleaded guilty to charges of unauthorized possession of national defense information. He is likely to be sentenced this spring. Prosecutors are seeking a 10-year sentence. Malki's lawyer, Mildred Whalen, is calling for him to be released on time served.
He should get the maximum sentence, and his lawyer is hoping for the judge to be a lenient liberal leftist to agree with time served. I don't see him getting a light sentence out of this, but anything can happen.

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