Staging Sheikh Mohammed Terrorist Trial In NY Reckless

Oh, that is just brilliant.  Putting Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his fellow terrorists on trial in New York is about the most reckless thing this administration could do.  They might as well paint a big bull's-eye on New York and write “prime target” above it.  This is the insanity to which political correctness has led.

It also raises some extremely important issues.  Will the allowable evidence be enough to convict these mass murderers?  That may sound silly, I mean they are obviously guilty, but the rules of evidence in our citizen/civilian courts are much stricter than is the case for an enemy combatant in a military tribunal.  Remember, Zacarias Moussaoui, the twentieth hijacker, already escaped his deserved death penalty because of the civil liberties aimed at protecting the rights of a defendant in a civilian criminal court.  Because of these protections, especially the Fourth Amendment to our Constitution, prosecutors were not allowed to use data from his computer.  Without this evidence, he received a life sentence instead of the death penalty.

Since a lot of the evidence against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was obtained through interrogations as an enemy combatant, it is highly unlikely that he was read “his Miranda rights.”  Also, he may have been water-boarded, so defense lawyers can insist that his confessions were obtained under duress.  His admissions to being the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks may be deemed inadmissible in court.  He and his co-conspirators can make a mockery of our justice system by using it to protect themselves from the death penalty.  In fact, it might be possible that they do not even receive life sentences.

There is another problem.  The Department of Justice will face a serious decision on how much evidence can be openly discussed in open court and still maintain the secrecy about our anti-terror methods.  Revelations about our methods may prevent the FBI and Homeland Security from effectively protecting the country.  And if, as will be his right in a civilian court, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed opts to defend himself then he will, according to court rules, be given access to all materials the government has related to his case, even sensitive security matters.  He could, then, still request a lawyer later in the case.  A well-trained defense lawyer may even help create a global backlash against the U.S. by portraying Mohammed as a victim of over-excited and biased investigators and prosecutors.

In any case, Attorney General Eric Holder and his boss President Obama, will be giving Mohammed and his friends exactly what they want—a global stage.  One of the chief purposes of terrorist acts is to attract maximum attention for some message.  The administration has put a huge megaphone in Mohammed’s hands.  He will be able to drone on and on about supposed grievances against the U.S.

And what happens, if any of the five, including Mohammed, is not convicted by the court?  Where will they be released?  Can they walk out of the courtroom and into a hotel in New York?  Will be fly them to Afghanistan on the American people’s dime?  Won’t they, once free, resume their plots against the American people?

The President should have allowed Mohammed and his friends to be tried before a military tribunal, without the full rights of an American citizen.  Remember Mohammed and his co-defendants are not American citizens but enemy combatants.  The likely outcome there with all the evidence against these terrorists would have been guilty verdicts with execution following.  Our President, however, has made political correctness an imperative.  And, in doing so, he has done Mohammed a huge favor.

There is some speculation that the President and his Attorney General have done this to curry the favor of the far left in their political party.  Some wonder if the purpose may be to try and criminalize what the previous administration did in order to score political points.  If this is the purpose, then shame on you Mr. President.  Your job is to keep all Americans safe, not endanger them to score political points.