News of moving the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-conspirators to NYC is disappointing at best. At worst it is butt-stupid. When I first heard the story, appropriately enough on Friday the 13th, I actually felt a vague sense of melancholy. What possible gain could there be from this? Then the obvious occurred to me. Politics. Political hay is to be made.
Of course it will provide a venue for a real dog & pony show for Eric Holder and might possibly provide a great political payoff for the Obama administration. If it doesn’t backfire and it very likely will…
We will see the Bush administration on trial, which is what Holder and others of the president’s cabinet have been salivating for since the day they took office. Of course in the end this may be not such a good idea. Already it seems that there is something of a pattern that when the Obama Clan try to be clever they end up with egg on their collective faces.
One of the very few things I admire about W is that after 9-1-1 when we were ALL waiting for the ‘other shoe to fall,” it never did. Apparently he kept his word and kept America safe, by whatever means, for the next 7 years or so of his service. A LOT of folks recognize that and admire it and, in fact, and plenty from Obama’s own party are starting question his administration’s dismantling of some of the apparently effective Bush programs.
But then they, The Obamites, will have the distinct pleasure of (at least trying) to humiliate the former president and, of course, Dick Cheney too, which they will likely see as a huge bonus, if not the actual prize. It will provide a “twofer,” being able to denigrate the office of vice president (and with Joe Biden currently “serving,” who can blame them for that?) as well personally humiliating Cheney.
The trial is destined to be what is commonly called “a circus.” There will be great bombast from both sides, but doubtless in the end it will be the proverbial “bully pulpit” for the jihadists and will provide them with more publicity and news coverage recruitment materials than all the money on earth could buy. It seems impossible that this will not seriously damage the Central Intelligence Agency and the FBI and, in fact, America’s entire intelligence gathering community.
If somehow I was chosen to be a member of the jury I would double, no triple, my life insurance coverage. It occurs to me that I just might become a target for the next jihadist jerk who wants to make a name for himself so’s he can wind up at the prophet’s side with all those trick virgins.
What about the judge? Can I take out a policy on him/her as well? What’s that life expectancy going to be? Would you want the job? If so, how do you think your family might feel about it?
By it’s very nature the necessary testimony will be fodder, day in and day out, for what we jokingly call our “news” media and what they report will inflame Arabs and incense Muslims around the world. In turn this will damage already tenuous relations back to a point that they quite possibly can never be repaired, further alienating the Islamist population from the rest of the world’s society. And what will be the result if one or more of the attackers is sentenced to death, which we’re told is likely the case? How long will the appeals last? How will this NOT continue to fan the flames of hatred and “holy” self-righteousness? And, yes, it will drag on indefinitely. The talking heads will yammer this to the point that we will cease to listen or to care.
Monetarily this trial/these trials will cost millions of dollars to a city already teetering on the brink of insolvency at a time when that money could be better spent almost anywhere for almost anything.
In addition to all of this, it is, I think an inherently wrong approach. Criminal courts are designed to handle conventional crimes and conventional criminals, the appeals process and all the rest…this case involves neither a conventional crime nor conventional perpetrators.
The idea that the September 11th attack was a criminal act is an insipid holdover from the Clinton years. It was laughable then and it is laughable now. For those with short memories, when the Towers were originally bombed on February 26, 1993 President Clinton treated it as a “criminal” affair. Of course that bit of brilliance ended up with the total destruction of the World Trade Center a scant few years later.
Back then a car bomb was detonated below the North Tower. The bomb was a big one, estimates say about 1,500 lb, but it apparently wasn’t quite big enough. The idea was to knock the North Tower (Tower One) into the South Tower (Tower Two), bringing both crashing down and to kill thousands of people in the process. Like most terrorists these guys were not awfully bright, thankfully, and “only” managed to kill six, although they did injure well over a thousand folks.
Quoting an article in Wikipedia, “The attack was planned by Ramzi Yousef, Mahmud Abouhalima, Mohammad Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Abdul Rahman Yasin and Ahmad Ajaj. It is well established that they received financing from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Yousef’s uncle. In March 1994, four men were convicted of carrying out the bombing: Abouhalima, Ajaj, Ayyad and Salameh. The charges included conspiracy, explosive destruction of property and interstate transportation of explosives. In November 1997, two more were convicted: Yousef, the mastermind behind the bombings, and Eyad Ismoil, who drove the truck carrying the bomb.
Now, you tell me, in the real world, does this sound like a “common crime,” or does this sound like a terrorist/militaristic attack?
(It occurs to me that one does not charge an invading army of enemies with criminal charges. Instead, one engages them in a war, hopefully to assure that such attacks no not happen again. WHEN THE WAR IS OVER you try them for war crimes, not in the middle of TWO wars.)
This is why we developed military tribunals. How ridiculous would it have been if, in 1945 some genius proposed bringing Hess, Goering, and Himmler to New York for trial after the heinous crimes of W.W. II? Ridiculous then, ridiculous now.
Methinks that this whole scenario is based on politics pure and simple, rather ugly politics at that and that no good is going to come from it either for New York or for America and its people. I think it further muddies the waters of justice and confuses many of the issues that we were just now starting to get sorted out.
Speaking of politics it will also serve to draw attention away from our moribund economy, the Ft. Hood occurrence, and continuing gaff’s by the president (bowing to the emperor of Japan???) and his cabinet.
At best this is a disappointment and certainly isn’t the sort of “change” that I can believe in. Personally I think it is a travesty.