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Relatives of victims, attorney for defendant react to verdictVictims and family members of those killed in the twin U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa welcomed the guilty verdicts the four defendants on trial received Tuesday. Meanwhile, an attorney for one defendant said his client is a "soldier" and that they plan to appeal the verdict. Mary Olds, mother of Sherry Olds, Air Force master sergeant killed in Kenya (speaking to CNN via telephone):
"We need to stop his [Osama bin Laden's] organization of hate. He [bin Laden] is the one who declared war on the U.S. We have the small [fry] of the organization, but how 'bout we get him. When our government blames a single individual such as bin Laden, we exonerate terrorist sponsoring governments. Victims' families are used and abused one more time. And it leaves us feeling helpless and hopeless, and we have no recourse." ( Clara Aliganga, mother of Jesse Aliganga, Marine sergeant killed in Kenya (speaking outside courtroom):
"I'm happy for the verdict that came through .... It doesn't erase the pain. The jury did an excellent job, and I just hope that this will give a message to the terrorists that we won't take this lightly as Americans, that there will be justice to the families when they attack us, that we're not just going to sit back and not do anything about it. We will take it to court and that we'll see justice is served." ( Edith Bartley, daughter and sister respectively of Julian Bartley Sr., consul general, and Julian Bartley Jr., a summer intern, both killed in Kenya (speaking outside courtroom):
"I am very pleased with the verdict. Today is one of bitter sweetness. While the law was definitely on our side today, we know that the verdicts to not minimize the loss or the grief that our family or other families -- Kenyans, Tanzanians and Americans suffer even to this day. And we hope the law will continue to be on our side." ( Attorney for defendant Mohammed Odeh, Anthony Ricco (speaking outside courtroom):
"This case has a powerful emotional element to it .... We were not able to overcome that. Very rarely does it work out in the benefit of the defendant. But we do plan to appeal and we'll move on. Mohammed [Odeh] is a soldier .... He took it [the verdict] with pride and dignity. We'll be meeting with him to discuss various issues for his appeal. He took it calmly." ( |
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