(MCT) — SEATTLE — Algerian Ahmed Ressam, the would-be ``millennium bomber” who was arrested with bomb-making materials in Port Angeles in December 1999, was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 37 years in prison.

The government had sought a sentence of 65 years to life, much longer than the previous two 22-year sentences Ressam had been given. However, U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour said “this case evokes our greatest fears … But fear is not, nor should it ever be, a guideline for a sentencing judge. It is a foul ingredient …”