January 26, 2010

Moderate Senators to AG Holder: Are you f**king nuts???

A letter from three Democratic and three Republican Senators urging the AG to stop with the nonsense already and give the 9/11 conspirators a military trial for war crimes.

I'll go ahead and publish the entire press release of the letter found on Lieberman's website below the fold. I'll stick my comments about this and the Aafia Siddique trial below that.

Dear Mr. Attorney General:

In light of recent events, we write to express our continuing concerns regarding the policies of this Administration with respect to those prisoners now detained at Guantanamo, and also any others who in the future might be charged with acts of international terrorism. We remain particularly concerned about using the U.S. criminal justice system for trying enemy combatants.

Of special importance due to time constraints and location, we strongly urge you to reconsider your decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other alleged conspirators in the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The attacks of 9/11 were acts of war, and those who planned and carried out those attacks are war criminals. Today, those who subscribe to the same violent ideology as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed continue to plan and execute attacks against innocent civilians all over the world. It is not in our national interest to provide them further publicity or additional advantage.

We and many others have already expressed serious concerns about whether a trial in civilian court might compromise classified evidence, including revealing sources and methods used by our intelligence community. We are also very concerned that, by bringing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other terrorists responsible for 9/11 to the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, only blocks away from where the Twin Towers once stood, you will be providing them one of the most visible platforms in the world to exalt their past acts and to rally others in support of further terrorism. Such a trial would almost certainly become a recruitment and radicalization tool for those who wish us harm.

The security and other risks inherent in holding the trial in New York City are reflected in Mayor Bloomberg’s recent letter to the administration advising that New York City will be required to spend more than $200 million per year in security measures for the trial. As Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly know too well, the threat of terrorist acts in New York City is a daily challenge. Holding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s trial in that city, and trying other enemy combatants in venues such as Washington, DC and northern Virginia, would unnecessarily increase the burden of facing those challenges, including the increased risk of terrorist attacks.

As you acknowledged in your testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in November, your decision to prosecute enemy combatants captured on foreign battlefields like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is without precedent in our nation’s history. The challenges of containing and defeating international terrorism do not give us the proper moment to break that precedent. Given the risks and costs, it is far more logical, cost-effective, and strategically wise to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in the military commissions that Congress and the President have now established for that very purpose.

Sincerely,

Senator Joseph Lieberman

Senator Lindsey Graham

Senator Blanche Lincoln

Senator Susan Collins

Senator Jim Webb

Senator John McCain

In related news, this is what the trial might look like.

The al Qaeda sympathizers in the audience are organized. I know, I've been following their screeds for months urging people to show up at Aafia's trial.

One of the men originally calling for Muslims to show up to her trial for support is none other blogger and arrested al Qaeda supporter Tarek "Abu Sayaba" Mehenna. He was in the audience for some of the pre-trial hearings --- that was before he was arrested. Who else might we expect at, say, Khalid Shiekh Mohammad's hearing?