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An endless Circus

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The current administration has announced its intention to try five 9/11 terror suspects in a civil court in New York.
Families of the victims of 9/11 are outraged and many legal experts are appalled. Both these groups believe that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and the others should be brought before a military tribunal at Guantanamo.
One major concern is setting the awful precedent of giving non-U.S. citizens or residents all the civil protections available to U.S. citizens in the civil court systems This includes issues of a Miranda warning against incriminating oneself, full disclosure of all evidentiary materials, rules of evidence and admissibility, and the right to represent oneself instead of a selected lawyer.
KSM can use all of the above to turn the court into a full scale three-ring circus. He said when he was caught in Pakistan that he wanted a lawyer and wanted to go to New York. After some time at Guantanamo Bay, realizing he might face a tribunal, he claimed to be the mastermind of 9/11 and said he wished to become a martyr.
All of that will go by the boards. Apparently, he is educated and speaks English. We have granted his original wish - to go to New York City. From the greatest stage in the world, on worldwide television, he can put on show for all the disaffected Muslims across the globe.
It is frightening that, under disclosure rules, sources and methods used by our intelligence people, and those people themselves, may be disclosed far and wide and endangered.
Even worse, giving non-residents constitutional rights sends out the message that we are no longer serious about the issue of terror and our war on terror is ended.
If you are politically cynical, you might also think that this is being done to put the previous administration on trial - that KSM is less the target than George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld along with the entire CIA.
Another thought: How will they find a jury? Surely anyone who serves will become a target, especially if they convict. Might a jury NOT convict because they feared for their safety?
Sadly, this sorry spectacle may drag out over a long period of time and KSM will have plenty of occasions to rev up his propaganda machine. This administration has made some really bad decisions - but this one may prove to be the worst.
Copyright©2009SheilahPepper
 

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