Most oppose civilian trial 11/27/2009 12:31 AM By Mary Beth Deaha For six years, Republicans prepared to hold military tribunals at Gitmo for the 9/11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others. Legal roadblocks were used by the ACLU, Congressional Democrats, Eric Holder before he became President Obama's Attorney General and Greg Craig before he became Obama's White House counsel. These people incorrectly claimed military detentions and tribunals violated the Constitution, Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The hard left fought the Republican plan using our tax dollars, but in September 2008, they lost in federal court. The courts ruled in favor of the Republican military tribunal plan.
Within three months of those rulings, Mohammed pleaded guilty and asked to be executed. Apparently the Obama administration decided they had not spent enough of our tax dollars needlessly because they have announced that despite the federal court rulings, they will give Mohammed a civilian trial granting him the same constitutional rights as American citizens. The cost of the civilian trial is expected to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, most of it going to security which would be an unnecessary expense had the Obama administration admitted they lost in federal court and tried him at Gitmo.
Inexplicably, the Obama administration announced last week that Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who bombed the USS Cole in Yemen, will receive a military tribunal. You have to hand it to Obama - he doesn't mind being inconsistent.
Both Obama and Holder have said on national television that Mohammed is guilty and will be given the death penalty. Holder said a not guilty verdict was impossible. These statements are a perversion of jurisprudence and I was stunned that Obama, who is a lawyer, did not realize the danger of his words. Where does one go find an impartial jury now that the man with the biggest microphone in the world announced the defendant is guilty? If a not-guilty verdict is impossible, then the trial is sham.
If Mohammed is convicted, he will spend his life in a federal prison where he will radicalize other prisoners. Ramzi Yousef, the 1993 World Trade Center bomber, has spent over a decade radicalizing other prisoners who now work with jihadists. No wonder a Rasmussen poll last week showed that 71 percent of Americans oppose Obama's plan to try Mohammed in civilian court.
Mary Beth Seaha
Aiken
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Posted by: Sven On: Monday, November 30, 2009 9:30 PM
Comment Title: thanks, Mary Beth
Thanks for a well researched and written article and for the additional explanations. The trials seemed like a good idea to me. I suspect I was wrong.
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Posted by: Bruce On: Sunday, November 29, 2009 8:18 PM
Comment Title:
If you look at it from an investors perspective the Chinese have a trillion dollars invested in American T bills and I am sure they don't want the dollar to devalue their investment to the point of losing money. You make Hu Jintaos comments out to be more than it really is.
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Posted by: chas On: Sunday, November 29, 2009 3:10 PM
Comment Title: fresh set of talking points
Bruce, how did like the way the Chinese chastised him about spending too much money. They treated him like the immature and unqualified person he is. The next Osama started talking about reducing the deficit. He sound like a child that just got a good child scolding.
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Posted by: Bruce On: Sunday, November 29, 2009 12:35 PM
Comment Title:
What was said about their guilt really has no bearing on the fact that 9-11 was one of the biggest events in American history. And I really don't think they will be able to find the jury to sit on this trial. As far as bashing goes Chas how can you be so upset by it, when that is your forte when it comes to Obama? I just wish you could come up with something more substantial than a chain email you received, or the regurgitation of the same old talking points that have been proven false many,many, times.Rush, and Sean are on every day, please try to get a fresh set of talking points, the old ones you use are very old and outdated.
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Posted by: chas On: Sunday, November 29, 2009 9:31 AM
Comment Title: Finding twelve impartial citizens
If you can’t find an impartial jury how can you have a fair trial? Osama and Holder have already said they are guilty so the case has already been prejudiced. Any judge that does his job will throw the case out. But again Osama and Holder could care less about the 9/11 victims all they want is a stage to bash Bush & Cheney.
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Posted by: Bruce On: Saturday, November 28, 2009 10:35 PM
Comment Title:
The one thing i keep coming back to is the jury. Finding twelve impartial citizens who could meet the criteria to sit on KSM's jury will be impossible. There is no place in America where a change of venue could find anyone who hasn't heard of 9-11. But on the other side of the coin will it bring closure to the victims of this attack and perhaps bring some healing? Either way this will be way bigger than the OJ trial.
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Posted by: On: Saturday, November 28, 2009 7:15 PM
Comment Title: To Steph
Do you believe everything you read? The print media has always exagerated, lied and made up stories to catch the readers. To this day newspapers do not tell the truth on many articles they print. If you believe they do let me interest you in purchasing the Brooklyn Bridge.
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Posted by: Bruce On: Saturday, November 28, 2009 4:02 PM
Comment Title:
I think he was refering to the signatures Steph, before you condemn maybe you should be the one to read it.
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Posted by: On: Saturday, November 28, 2009 3:54 PM
Comment Title:
Why wasn't the trials done while Bush was in office?
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Posted by: Steph On: Saturday, November 28, 2009 1:07 PM
Comment Title:
To the person who said that 100,000 is a drop in the bucket in NYC, apparently you can't read.
There were 100,000 signatures gathered by 9/11 victims and their associated families and friends who signed that petition opposing the civilian trial for the planner of 9/11. But Democrats walked out of the room when the families tried to hand over the petition.
Some people sure don't mind showing they can't read. lol
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Posted by: Ron On: Saturday, November 28, 2009 1:04 PM
Comment Title: To Bruce:
The NYT can't tell the truth to save their lives. To this date they still can't admit how the global warming hoax was exposed by the hackers who found the scientists were lying and rigging results. But hey, if it floats your boat to believe the NYT, carry on.
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Posted by: Bruce On: Saturday, November 28, 2009 12:47 PM
Comment Title: Try again Chas
more sources proving Chas is wrong again,
abcnews.go.com/GMA/Vote2008/story?id=4464194&page
ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/21/the-full-story-behind-rev-jeremiah-wright...
newsbusters.org/node/19981/print
www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_4596.shtml
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Posted by: chas On: Saturday, November 28, 2009 10:23 AM
Comment Title: 9/11 was America’s chickens coming home to roost’.
Bruce, you can try to spin it anyway you want but I saw the tape when Wright said, “It is America’s chickens coming home to roost”. Wright’s statement was NOT taken out on context. Quoting that left wing rag the Huffington post would get you anything.
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Posted by: Bruce On: Saturday, November 28, 2009 12:41 AM
Comment Title:
Meet the man who inspired Reverend Jeremiah Wright's now famous tirade about America's foreign policy inciting the terrorist attacks of September 11.
His name is Ambassador Edward Peck. And he is a retired, white, career U.S. diplomat who served 32-years in the U.S. Foreign Service and was chief of the U.S. mission to Iraq under Jimmy Carter -- hardly the black-rage image with which Wright has been stigmatized.
In fact, when Wright took the pulpit to give his post-9/11 address -- which has since become boiled down to a five second sound bite about "America's chickens coming home to roost" -- he prefaced his remarks as a "faith footnote," an indication that he was deviating from his sermon.
"I heard Ambassador Peck on an interview yesterday," Wright declared. "He was on Fox News. This is a white man and he was upsetting the Fox News commentators to no end. He pointed out, a white man, an ambassador, that what Malcolm X said when he got silenced by Elijah Muhammad was in fact true: America's chickens are coming home to roost."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/21/meet-the-white-man-who-in_n_92793.html
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Posted by: Bruce On: Saturday, November 28, 2009 12:28 AM
Comment Title:
The New York Times says New Yorkers are split right down the middle on the subject.
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Posted by: chas On: Friday, November 27, 2009 5:23 PM
Comment Title: 9/11 was America’s chickens coming home to roost’.
People don’t understand; this is not about justice for the terrorist. This is about vengeance against Bush/Cheney. The far left wing idiots that supported Obama wanted him too investigate Bush/Cheney. The trials in NY will give them a platform to bash Bush. Why should Obama care about justice for the terrorist after all he sat in a church for 20 years and listen to a preacher say ‘9/11 was America’s chickens coming home to roost’.
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Posted by: On: Friday, November 27, 2009 4:17 PM
Comment Title:
Most people in the island of manhattan use the subway system,buses and taxi cabs, also maintain chronic traffic jams on any given day. What New York papers do you allegedy read? Why haven't the Republican taken care of this matter when they had a chance? or was it because Pres. Bush was involved in his war.
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Posted by: On: Friday, November 27, 2009 3:49 PM
Comment Title: to Mary Beth
100,000 out of over 8 million people? That number in NYC is a drop in the bucket.
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Posted by: Mary Beth On: Friday, November 27, 2009 11:23 AM
Comment Title: Response to Sven
Sven, I read the NYC papers daily and most city dwellers are opposed to the trial being held there. Their reasons are numerous but security is the primary concern. Traffic is another concern.
As well, the lawyer for KSM has already stated he plans to use the trial to showcase why America deserves jihad. NYC lived through the nightmare and lost loved ones; they don't want to hear how they DESERVED 9/11.
The polls show that that vast majority of Americans are opposed to these show trials and for good reason.
The 9/11 families had a signed petition with over 100,000 signatures and they took it to Congress to present to the Democrat leaders in Congress. The Congressmen walked out of the room!!!!
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Posted by: On: Friday, November 27, 2009 6:55 AM
Comment Title:
Mary get a life. You like many others opinions have no weight.
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Posted by: Sven On: Friday, November 27, 2009 6:49 AM
Comment Title: Trial
Is it possible that a trial in NYC would be welcomed by New Yorkers? That is where the attack occurred. Most of the victims lived there. Any chance they would welcome this trial, in their city?
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