President Obama claims Eric Holder made the decision, without consultation, to try Khalid Sheikh Muhammad in criminal court in New York City. Presumably, this is a more fair trial because a military commission does not afford the same criminal procedures and includes a jury of military judges. Plus, it’s open, so everyone around the world can see how wonderful the American system is, and how we uphold our values.
Then, the President’s press secretary says he’ll be tried and executed, echoing President Obama himself assuring us of a conviction months ago. Clearly, this is an orchestrated message and not a slip of the tongue by one or the other. So, why would the White House insist on a civil trial as a better venue to showcase American values and then undermine their own argument by prejudging the case? And if they really were intent on seeing him executed, why not let him plead guilty to the military commission as KSM intended? Maybe they are inept or incompetent. Maybe they’re trying to taint the jury pool. Maybe they want to be seen as “tough” on terrorism and thus they are drawing this out while swaggering Dubya-style. I think they are simply counting on the short attention span of the press and the American people. A good bet if you ask me.
They should be tried at GITMO. The pentagon estimates a cost of about a million. NYC would be a cool billion. Billion-that’s a word this administration has really embraced. This administration is a cluster-f#@%.
November 19, 2009
http://howisthatobamavoteworkingoutforyou.blogspot.com/2009/11/in-2006-obama-said-this.html
I don’t see why it needs to be tried at all personally.
I agree Z. Actually, I don’t see why we even have to know what happened/will happen with him. I’d say wring him out like a wet t-shirt and then dispose of him. Or, keep him in an undisclosed location indefinitely – who knows what elese he knows???
Now that he’s mirandized and charged, he pretty much has to be tried, doesn’t he?
Why Obama felt that a military tribunal would be a miscarriage of justice is beyond me, especially when you consider that the US military tries it own members by tribunal thousands of times each year.
This is the most inept presidential administation of my lifetime, and I lived through the Carter presidency for God’s sake!
The story last night on NPR, Fox radio, etc was that Holder is taking full responsibility…which is really none.
That man sees more of a problem with someone like O’Keefe than say…terrorists trying to bomb a plane or thugs with clubs and military garb threatening people entering voting locations.
Holder and the people he installed in the Justice Dept. are actual defense attorneys for terrorists.
Yes. It is just that preposterous in Obamaworld.
They want to extend the constitution to people who aren’t American citizens. That’s the part that confuses me.
I don’t see why people are so afraid to face the fact that war is vicious and brutal. If you’re not prepared to face that, don’t get involved in a war. Once you decide you’re in it, get the hell in it. We lost Vietnam because *they* were prepared to do what needed to be done.
Remember a few months ago when Obama went on national news and was like “hey guys, here’s the strategy we’re going to be using in Afghanistan from now on”? I mean, are you kidding me? Who the ____ sits there and just explains to their enemy what they’re about to do to them? I don’t see the Taliban calling us up on the phone telling us they’re going to be at x,y GPS coordinates planning an offensive.
The administration is so focused on transparency and bipartisanship that they forgot that once the word “war” enters into the picture, all bets are off. Business is business, get it done and shut the hell up about it. If not, don’t go to war. That’s *what* war is. Do what you have to do — someone needs torturing? Torture them, don’t sit around arguing with people who aren’t even in charge of decision making about whether or not to torture them.
It’s funny we claim to be the most powerful country in the world yet getting our asses handed to us by 3rd world countries is starting to become the norm. Not saying we’re losing, but when Bush said back after 9/11 that it was going to be over quick, he *should* have been right. But this isn’t a democratic only problem, it’s becoming a cultural problem that crosses party lines. The US is no longer prepared to fight wars IMO, despite the fact that ironically our military budget is literally 50x more than the next highest country in the world. We could get by with like 1/10th of that if we would actually fight instead of just talk about fighting.
Bush never said it would be over quickly. Just the opposite. He said it would be “generational”. I’m afraid that since the American people pussed out when they started lopping off heads, it will last much longer than that.