After threats from Republicans and Democrats to cut off funding and New York Major Bloomberg speaking out against having the trial of 9/11 terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohamed in New York City, the New York Daily News reports tonight that the White House has ordered the Justice Department to look for other places to hold the trial
President Obama must have finally figured out that he has no allies left on this issue when even MSNBC’s Chris Matthews this evening sided with conservative commentator Pat Buchanan.
There were projections that a trial in New York would cost $1 billion due in part due to security concerns.
Obama should go one step further and put Khalid Sheik Mohamed in front of a military tribunal rather than offer him a propaganda platform in a civilian trial. The Obama administration is using military tribunals for several other terrorists.
Military tribunals have been used in the past to deal with enemies of the United States in times of war. Wikipedia describes the following precedent:
President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered military tribunals for eight German prisoners accused of planning sabotage in the United States as part of Operation Pastorius. Roosevelt’s decision was challenged, but upheld, in Ex parte Quirin. All eight of the accused were convicted and sentenced to death. Six were executed by electric chair at the District of Columbia jail on August 8, 1942. Two who had given evidence against the others had their sentences reduced by Roosevelt to prison terms. In 1948, they were released and deported to the American Zone of occupied Germany.
Why would a terrorist responsible for planning an attack that killed 3,000 Americans deserve more lenient treatment than Nazi agents that were caught before they could do harm?
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