Another Great Move, Geniuses!

Obama’s Justice Department has decided that it would be a good idea to bring 9/11 mega-criminal Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four of his assistant jihadists to trial in New York City.

As others have asked, why not a military tribunal? These creeps are foreign combatants who planned a terrorist attack on U.S. soil, not Enron executives, for cryin’ out loud.

A criminal trial holds all kinds of pitfalls: evidence may be tossed out, intelligence sources can be jeopardized, the defendants can portray themselves as martyrs (great recruitment propaganda), there might be a juror who can’t bring himself to vote for conviction because of his personal opposition to the death penalty (which Attorney Eric Holder is supposedly going to seek); and what are they going to do about Muslims in the jury pool? Can or should they be kept off the jury?

And the most intriguing question of all: what if the “defendants” are found not guilty? Do we turn them loose? Will they then be able to sue for damages?

And who’s going to be the lead defense lawyer?


Ok, now we’re screwed.

There are also concerns about maintaining security in New York while the trial is in progress. I don’t think that should be much of a problem, though, because I understand that the Department of Justice has got a top-notch team of special cops in charge…


Hmm. Ok, now we’re really screwed.

Updte: This piece by Andy McCarthy at NR is getting a lot of play today. Here's the key paragraph:

So: We are now going to have a trial that never had to happen for defendants who have no defense. And when defendants have no defense for their own actions, there is only one thing for their lawyers to do: put the government on trial in hopes of getting the jury (and the media) spun up over government errors, abuses and incompetence. That is what is going to happen in the trial of KSM et al. It will be a soapbox for al-Qaeda's case against America. Since that will be their "defense," the defendants will demand every bit of information they can get about interrogations, renditions, secret prisons, undercover operations targeting Muslims and mosques, etc., and — depending on what judge catches the case — they are likely to be given a lot of it. The administration will be able to claim that the judge, not the administration, is responsible for the exposure of our defense secrets. And the circus will be played out for all to see — in the middle of the war. It will provide endless fodder for the transnational Left to press its case that actions taken in America's defense are violations of international law that must be addressed by foreign courts. And the intelligence bounty will make our enemies more efficient at killing us.

If this really is about putting the Bush administration on trial, no matter what the cost to America's security and American lives, then Obama is indisputably the most contemptible man to ever serve as president.

Update II: In re: this topic, Don Surber has a great opening line.