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| NYT: Trying Terrorists In NYC Will Repair 'Damage Wrought By Bush' |
| 2009-11-15 |
| The New York Times told readers Saturday that Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to try five Guantanamo Bay terrorist detainees in New York City was "a bold and principled step...toward repairing the damage wrought by former President George W. Bush." Not surprisingly, while the Times editorial board cheered Friday's decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others with suspected ties to the 9/11 attacks near where the World Trade Center used to stand, they also took the opportunity to bash Bush: From that entirely unnecessary policy (the United States had the tools to detain, charge and bring terrorists to justice) flowed a terrible legacy of torture and open-ended incarceration. It left President Obama with yet another mess to clean up on an urgent basis.The editorial continued: It was an enormous victory for the rule of law, a major milestone in Mr. Obama's efforts to close the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and an important departure from Mr. Bush's disregard for American courts and their proven ability to competently handle high-profile terror cases. If he and Vice President Dick Cheney had shown more faith in the laws and the Constitution, the alleged mass murderers would have faced justice much earlier.The piece concluded with one final swipe at the Bush White House: Still, this much is clear: the Obama administration has yet to completely figure out how to rectify the disgraceful Bush detention policies, but it is getting there. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #13 Show trial. The real defendant is of course not KSM but GWB. What a disgrace. Then again, maybe this is just Stimulus, Pt II (Media Sector). Just think: prob'y 10,000 media jobs preserved in the pre-trial phase alone! |
| Posted by: lex 2009-11-15 23:31 |
| #11 KSM is a tool. The people in the administration could care less about KSM. They're out to destroy our government and [like the hijackers using the aircraft was a weapon] are using the government's own institutions to destroy it. The two remaining bulwarks of trust in the national government are the judiciary and the military. This provides them the opportunity to destroy that trust in the institutions of the law. It's been made possible by the legal caste itself. Justice Kennedy et al wanted to impose their power and control over matters that have for all previous conflicts have been the purview of a separate judicial system, military tribunals. There were rational reasons why these were separate, but the legal caste just can't help itself in sticking their fingers into every aspect of the nation. Now they have what they've wanted. However, now they have to play by their own rituals, procedures and precedents which are ill equipped to do the work. Now the principle of forcing your enemy to live up to their own standards comes to play. If they hold true to their process, KSM will not be convicted on technicalities. When that happens in the large public stage, that trust in the institution may well be fundamentally destroyed, which is the true objective of this kabuki theater. KSM is just the tool to make it happen. The legal caste is so wrapped up with itself and its rituals it won't be able to help itself. The one out they really have is at the start of the proceedings, the sitting justice rebukes DoJ and directs the process back to the tribunals. Isn't going to happen. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-11-15 14:34 |
| #10 If I were a defence lawyer, I'd be salivating. First of all, since waterboarding is not an approved police procedure, any statement made by KSM after that might (will) be ruled inadmisable. That would include anything he said about the other 4 defendants. Also, did anybody read these defendents their Miranda rights? If so when? Anything they say before then might (will) be excluded from evidence. This will include any physical evidence gathered as a result of their excluded statement (this is called "fruit of the poisoned tree"). Were there warrants issued before all of the searches and seizures of evidence? If not, motion to dismiss. Has O'Bambi thought of the problems of maintaining an uncontaminated crime scene in a combat zone? or maintaining chain of custody? Has O'Bambi thought of what will happen if KSM and his buddies walk because of a technicality? Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2009-11-15 13:35 |
| #9 Think back to the swagger of the Libyan airline bomber released by the Scots. Now: imagine KSM let off because of 'torture' by the US, but not until after day after day of rants about how the US is responsible for oppressing Muslims around the world. What better soapbox could Holder give him? Imagine how it will empower the Islamicists around the world when KSM is freed and then rallies jihadis all over again. |
| Posted by: lotp 2009-11-15 10:05 |
| #8 Hopefully only the NYT crowd will be swayed by the machinations of the defense attorneys. |
| Posted by: HammerHead 2009-11-15 09:53 |
| #7 I'm not sure it will be a lose-lose for this administration. It appears that their intent is to discredit the WOT and this is a prime venue for doing just that. |
| Posted by: lotp 2009-11-15 09:39 |
| #6 I feel for the 9/11 families who I know don't want this, but it's gonna be a lose lose for the Obama Regime, so that's about the only silver lining in this. |
| Posted by: HammerHead 2009-11-15 09:31 |
| #5 Any and all sh1t will hit the Obama admin and Dem Party fans. They own this "trials for genocidal islamic terrorists" shtick. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-11-15 08:50 |
| #4 This trial will be the congressional hearings on Bush and Cheney Obama knew would be a majority killer. The OJ trial will look like the Lincoln Douglas debates in comparison. I wonder if Judge Ito is still available. |
| Posted by: whitecollar redneck 2009-11-15 08:41 |
| #3 "a bold and principled step... There. FTFY. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2009-11-15 05:48 |
| #2 Blame Bush, of course. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2009-11-15 01:09 |
| #1 If New York becomes a shooting gallery or a bomb site, just what does the NY Times propose to repair that damage? |
| Posted by: badanov 2009-11-15 00:41 |