Why Does Obama Want War Criminals Tried in a Civilian Court?
The Obama administration has decided to bring several 9/11 co-conspirators, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, to New York City to stand trial. I have to ask… why? 9/11 was an act of war and these terrorists are war criminals. They should be tried in a military tribunal, not in a civilian court and given access to all the rights of an American citizen!
Obviously, there will be considerable security risks by having these terrorist in NYC, but there will also be serious legal ramifications. The September 11th attacks have always been treated in a military fashion. Terrorists were arrested/captured in a military manner as enemy combatants, not as a civilians. If these terrorists (or should we now say “alleged” terrorists?) are given access to the American legal system and subsequentlygiven all the rights of an American citizen being charged with a crime, we are headed for trouble.
Were these terrorist read their Miranda rights when they were arrested/captured? Were they formally charged with a crime before a judge or grand jury in a timely manner? Were they given access to an attorney as soon as one was requested? Obviously not because they were considered enemy combatants. These technicalities could cause a case to be thrown out of court by a judge. Is that going to happen with these “alleged” terrorists?
What about jury selection? Will it be possible to find an impartial jury, especially in New York City? What about all of the interrogations these terrorist went through? Any information obtained through water boarding would be inadmissible as would information obtained without the terrorist (or should we say “defendant”?) being told he has the right to an attorney and that anything he says can be used against him in a court of law. This will become a prosecutors nightmare and a defense attorney’s dream. There are so many technicalities that can derail these cases that it makes one wonder why the Obama administration wants to go through with this?
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was educated in the United States and presumably know how our legal system works. Does anyone think he will not try to work the system? If given the chance will he not drag his case out for years? He may decide to represent himself and will then be allowed access to all of the intelligence on him and given a platform to spread his message of hate. Is this what we want?
Most of the classified information and interrogation techniques used on these “defendants” by the Bush administration will come out because the defense will have a right to the information. Is this a roundabout way of Obama making the Bush administration look bad? Is this a way to release information that liberals have been begging for in such a way where Obama can say that he was forced to release the information and had no choice? I can’t think of any other reason to go with this route instead of a military court. What are the advantages of doing this? Is there some valid reason that justifies all the risks associated with this decision?
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Comments (8)
stunatra
November 16th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
You bring forth great questions. I’m afraid of the answers.
Matt
November 16th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
My take is that the purpose of having this in civilian court is in order to try the Bush administration. They are going to use this as a venue to expose intelligence operations, discredit the Bush administration, and, in the end, discredit and humiliate the US. If the defendant walks, it’s all good for Obama, because it will be Bush’s fault.
I think this will backfire in the end, but you can count on the media to concentrate on Bush and NOT 9-11. Come to think of it, we ought to be downloading 9-11 videos before they disappear.
Harrison
November 17th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Yes… and the USS Cole bombers are being tried in a MILITARY court. Interesting.
Dean
November 17th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Embarrassing the Bush administration and opening things up for a possible indictment by the ICC is the only upside I can see.
I don’t see, however, this petty payback to his base outweighing what a colossal Charlie-Foxtrot this has the potential of being.
Golden Arple
November 18th, 2009 at 8:41 am
I disagree with you on this point, I think Obama trying them in American courts is a good idea. I think we as a country should be proud, that despite the fact that these guys attacked us, we still treat them as human beings and give them the benefit of a trial. Are these guys any worse than the man in Cleveland who was responsible for deaths of dozens of women? He’ll get a fair trial and he might be worse than them.
If we dehumanize our enemy, we dehumanize ourselves. This trial will be good for the country.
Harrison
November 18th, 2009 at 11:45 am
So we are de-humanizing (your word) the people who bombed the USS Cole?
Liberty
November 18th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Golden Arple,
I have the utmost respect for our legal system but this has never been treated as a civilian law enforcement case. It has always been treated as an act of war. If it had always been treated as a law enforcement issue, I would have no problem with these terrorists, I’m sorry, “alleged” terrorists being tried in a civilian court. However, it has been conducted as a military operation from the beginning so it must be finished in a military court. You can’t switch methods half way through. Were any of these terrorists read their Miranda rights when they were captured in Afghanistan or Pakistan? Of course they weren’t because they were considered enemy combatants. Do you think an impartial jury can be found?
What happens if the KSM’s attorney requests information that can be beneficial to his defense but is classified? Does the judge order the information unclassified or does he leave the defense an opportunity for an appeal because they were not given access to all of the evidence?
Is there anything to be gained by having this done in a civilian court as opposed to a military court and conveying Constitutional rights on someone who is not a citizen?
Paul
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Nothing good can come from this. You can bet this is going to backfire. Couple this with massive debt and liberty grabbing, the Dems are setting themselves up for a massive loss of power in 2010 & 12.
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