Nature of the Beast
Oily Terror_______________
Even a lefty paper can't get it right.
"Even if the White House loses on the Mohammed trial because of its poisonous politics, President Obama has to insist on maintaining the long proven system of trying terrorism cases in federal court. People captured in battle may, of course, be held as military prisoners."
There is no "may" to it: Those captured in battle are covered by the Geneva Conventions and must be treated with due diligence -- no standard solitary confinement, waterboarding, humiliating acts, secreting them off, etc.
Regarding NYC rejecting venue for the trial:
"While Mr. Holder blew the politics, he was right about the policy. Apart from the principle, the military tribunals don’t have the experience, rules or qualified lawyers for such a case (The K.S.M. Files)."
Nor do they have jurisdiction. If they were captured in battle, they are Prisoners of War, plain and simple. If they were arrested carrying out non-military crimes of terror, then the alleged perpetrators do not come under the purview of military courts. Terrorists are seldom, if ever, captured on the field of battle since this is not the nature of the beast.
Military courts are precisely that, and should not address any activity not military in nature. It is duplicitous to say Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is a military court candidate since he planned the attack on the Pentagon; what proof do we have of the allegation that did not flow from a water tap?
The threat facing the U.S. is not terrorism, but rather the overreaction to terrorism. It is wrong to believe that Secret Courts or secretive military tribunals are the tool to legally deal with arrested terrorists.
If one of modern history's greatest criminal enterprises -- Nazi Germany -- was dealt with via open trials, then so can this openness be applied to the crime of terrorism. When trials are secretive and evidentiary rules downplayed, the U.S. loses and the terrorists score a new victory.
KSM will remain a hero regardless of his treatment by the U.S. to a portion of the world's population, therefore, U.S. efforts to vilify or humiliate him will continue to be counterproductive.
Why is the U.S. unwilling or unable to deal in a rational, legal way with this issue? What are we hiding from? If truth and justice is the product of our legal system, it is time to turn the cards face up.
Labels: KSM, PWOT, state sponsored terrorism, terrorism, war on terror
posted by rangeragainstwar at 5:32 PM
5 Comments:
When trials are secretive and evidentiary rules downplayed, the U.S. loses and the terrorists score a new victory.
Precisely, and maybe that's the point.
POLT,
Perhaps you're one step ahead of us.
if ksm gave a precise and simple 2 or 3 sentence reason for why 9/11 happened, the shit would hit the fan. haven't you noticed the latest presentations of Islamic extremist. they're obviously figuring out our marketing techniques. the difference between the nazis and these Islamic terrorist is that we very much played a role in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of their children before 9/11 even happened. not to mention what's happened since. in my estimation, we are afraid of justice because it would mean having to face up to some very ugly realities. it's easy to say "forgive and forget" when you're the one who dropped the bombs on the virtually defenseless while the masses back home got fat off the excess bounty. that worked for a while, but now that the money is gone...
Anon,
Guys like KSM and Noriega must be kept quite for some reason.
It's called conspiracy theory if we question this fact and countered by national security.
If our tax money pays for the black opns then we have the right to know all the facts.
I think that's called freedom , or is it democracy?
jim
I've seen that 'of course they can be tried in military courts' meme popping up a lot in the last few weeks... curious.
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