Imagine the possibility that a man who plotted at least five terrorist attacks, served in al-Qaida’s hierarchy and killed untold thousands was placed on trial in New York City while receiving the same privileges and protection afforded to every U.S. citizen.
So stands the case of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
The 9/11 Commission labeled him the primary architect of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Now, the man directly responsible for 2,973 American casualties returns to the scene of his most heinous crime.
The expected media frenzy will only encourage grandstanding from Mohammed and his compatriots as the trial will likely receive as much publicity as the OJ Simpson murder case.
When a judge told him that he faced certain death if convicted, Mohammed told the court, “Yes, this is what I wish, to be a martyr for a long time. I will, God willing, have this, by you.”
President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, in their infinite wisdom, made the decision to try him against a backdrop of intense public scrutiny. As opposed to a speedy, efficient, and most importantly, quiet, military tribunal, Mohammed will have his martyrdom.
This sort of decision epitomizes Obama’s approach to foreign affairs and specifically the war on terror.
When he’s not busy blaming his predecessor for every problem America faces or coming up with a politically correct synonym for terrorism. Obama enjoys groveling at the feet of the world’s monarchy. It seems in his free time, he works hand-in-hand with Holder to castrate this country’s intelligence gathering capabilities for political gain.
The same man who claimed that Cambridge police acted “stupidly” earlier this year when they arrested Henry Louis Gates for disorderly conduct told Americans not to jump to conclusions about Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan for the Fort Hood massacre. This represents one of Obama’s finer examples of hypocrisy.
Holding hands and chanting, “Yes we can!” might work with gullible, short-sighted American voters will have absolutely no effect on mass murderers.
The very same culture that produces men like Mohammed also danced in the streets following the 9/11 attacks. That ideology believes in stoning women to death after they report a rape. One cannot show compassion to this fundamentalist Islamic dogma, which finds no problem in using innocent women and children as human shields.
If Obama cannot summon the will to call these radicals “enemy combatants,” how can the U.S. succeed in this dire struggle?
Men like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed deserve immediate and violent retribution, not political correctness. These individuals deserve, dare I say, “enhanced” interrogation, not the lofty and impractical ideals of what liberals consider human rights. Terrorists deserve outright destruction, not a civilian trial that affords them the same rights as Americans.
At what point will Obama demand terrorists receive their Miranda rights before the military places them under arrest? That is the next logical step in Team Obama’s already asinine and naïve approach to the global war on terror.
Shame on Obama and his administration for giving Mohammed his greatest desire in the form of martyrdom. And, shame on him for lacking the fortitude necessary to win a life-or-death struggle against the tenets of radical, fundamentalist Islam.
Shane is an economics junior.
18 comments
As a man of science I could not read more! simply because of the contradiction in this paragraph. (1) The writer admits that the convict is a man, that is a human being, and he wants to deprive him of hiss rights as a human being no matter what he did. This is America and human rights should be respected. Now, human rights for who, the terrorist? I give this answer, human rights are for this man and also for those victims of the terrorist attacks. As a civilized society as should never allow them to make us abandon our morals. (2) The writer, then, claimed that he plotted the terrorist act even before the court decides on this matter. We all know, from media reports, that he is accused of this crime, but as far as I understand things, once this case is in the hands of the judiciary system, we have to wait for the verdict. The convict is always innocent unless convicted with a court verdict. Even then, we should wait, till the verdict is final. I am not defending the man, I am here talking about the morals and values of our society. (3) Now comes a very strange point which I could not believe my eye when I was it! The writer's point of view is that the man should not be tried and exercise his rights of having a fair trial, not because of his sympathy with the victims, but because he is not American! What a mentality!
Thank you for writing this article, it's about time someone did. Giving terrorists a public trial and reading them Miranda rights is just ridiculous. As far as I know the Constitution says that American citizens have a right to fair trial, I don't recall it saying anything about radical terrorist bastards like Mohammed. For everything he has done even torture would be to light of a punishment. Mohammed should even be considered a human, because a normal human being wouldn't knowingly kill thousands of innocent people. These kind of actions by O'Bama make the United States look weak therefore showing terrorists that they can get away with a lot of stuff, what we need to do is exterminate every terrorist we can find, that will show the other ones what the consequences of messing with the United States are.
"Did he mean we can change everything about America until it is no longer America anymore. Well, he may actually succeed with that, and I am scared to death."
This article is about the Obama administration's decision to try suspected terrorists in civilian courts, and that practice is not in any way new. In fact, the Obama administration's decision to bring these heinous individuals before a court of law to face justice--instead of locking them up indefinitely or executing them without a trial, as the author of this piece and a shameful amount of posters to this site seem to favor--is a return to the rule of law and is quite profoundly American. your name @ Dec 1 2009 20:59
"A Muslim is a Muslim, they all read from the same book, the Qur'an. These people are demonic and very disturbed individuals."
Wow. Really? Way to lump over 1/6th of the world's population with the depraved acts of a very small and extraordinarily misguided portion of that population. I guess all Christians are Christians too, right? Stereotypes and over-generalizations are poor arguments and are counterproductive if we are serious about solving the difficult problems this country faces.
Your article contains a couple of misleading lines:
1. You claim that civilian trials for suspected terrorist are a new thing. Since 9/11 we have tried over 190 suspected terrorists in civilian courts. We have a long history of trying such people in civilian courts. For example, Ramzi Usef and "The Blind Sheik,"--the perpetrators of the first attack on the World Trade Center--are currently serving life sentences without the possibility of parole in federal prison.
2. Your assertion that military tribunals are "speedy, efficient, and most importantly, quiet," is plain wrong in this context. The military tribunal system set up by the Bush administration were not regularly constructed and were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on several occasions. See Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. If the tribunals were as speedy and efficient as you claim, presumably the Bush administration would have tried KSM during the 7
years they held him.
3. You says that KSM and others deserve "enhance" interrogation techniques. He has. KSM was water boarded on 183 separate occasions. Furthermore, the "lofty and impractical ideals" that you ascribe to "liberals" are actually found in the U.S. Constitution.You should check it out. Its full of crazy liberal notions like due process!
4. There is no danger that suspected terrorists will be read Miranda rights on the battlefield. KSM is being given such rights because he committed a crime against civilians on U.S. soil. The Cole bombers are not being extended these rights because they attacked a military target outside of the U.S. Therefore, there is no danger that, as you claim, suspected terrorists on a foreign battle field will be given these right.
Finally, your call for "immediate and violent retribution" reeks of mob rule and evidences an utter disrespect for the rule of law. I'm baffled that a self-styled conservative patriot like yourself is so comfortable with summary executions and indefinite detentions.
Nathan Nelson
Oklahoma State University Secondary Education Major
Your words are full of hatred and generalization.
I suggest you pick up some books about Islam from the library before writing your columns.
It helps prevent lying about other cultures.
number one...
All rights that are afforded to people on american soil are given by "Their Creator" and are not removable by any government. These rights cannot be stripped from any human as they are not given by the government and therefore not to be taken away by the same government. This is to ensure that the government does not do the same to YOU and more importantly ME. If you will allow another human to be placed under "enhanced interrogation" then you must allow for every human to come to the same fate. (this includes you, your family, me, and mine as well. I say no thanks. Our laws were written to protect the innocent from such atrocities at the cost of allowing any number of guilty walk away free. This means it is better to let 100 guilty people get away than to torture or wrongly incriminate one innocent person. This is American, you may not be.
Now to the next point.
Please stop supporting the patriot act and illegal power grabs by the administration.
The term enemy combatants comes from illegal and very unsafe legislation that can also be used on you as well as anyone else. Your ignorance and support of something That removes due process from America is very telling about your lack of knowledge on the subject.
If you think a human is not to be given due process then why would you care if due process was taken from you, or even worse again me?
You seem to be incapable of using your brain to see that what is good for the goose is indeed good for the gander.
To what seems to be your strongest point... Martyrs are still dead thus removing any future threat and applying the toughest form of justice any American can get behind.
The problem with your cries for a military tribunal is that we the people cannot see this justice being performed and we can also not ensure it was done fairly.
And what if they have the wrong guy? Do you think a military tribunal would admit to the public if they did? Do you think if this guy turned out to be innocent he would get a fair trial and be acquitted?
Whatever you "think" doesnt really matter its what the public can "see" that does matter.
Im not sure theres any way to fix what is wrong with your thinking, but I am at least with you on the fact that obama is weak and inexperienced and possibly not even eligible to be the president.
I just cant get behind your misguided attempts to further erode our bill of rights.
in the American lexicon by such barbaric howls for revenge?