Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Obama's appalling decision to give Khalid Sheikh Mohammed a military trial.

Down with Obama... I am deeply disappointed in POTUS for deciding to give Khalid Sheikh Mohammed a military trial.

Cowardly, Stupid, and Tragically Wrong
The Obama administration's appalling decision to give Khalid Sheikh Mohammed a military trial.

Today, by ordering a military trial at Guantanamo for 9/11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants, Attorney General Eric Holder finally put the Obama administration's stamp on the proposition that some criminals are "too dangerous to have fair trials.

My thoughts after the jump.
Some say, Mohammed is a terrorist, and that terrorists don't deserve trials, but as I pointed out on Facebook earlier you can't call him a known terrorist, and restrict his rights on that basis, before giving him a trial. The point of the trial is to determine if he's guilty or not. You can't put the cart before the horse. You can't punish him for being a terrorist before you find him guilty of being a terrorist. That's how law and justice work, and I think every last one of us is put in danger if we consent to this idea that some people are entitled to fair trials and others are not.

If the government can decide today that people we strongly suspect are terrorists shouldn't be tried, why can't it decide tomorow that you or I shouldn't be tried?

Ultimately it cost us absolutely nothing if we give this guy a criminal trial. There is no good reason to deny it to him, but the risks to us and to the American ideal of justice if we set this precedent are real.

Todd Elner said:
I voted for him because I wanted a Democrat in the White House. Instead, we got Dubya's third term with a higher IQ.

I replied:
Still, a W who doesn't make silly cowboy noises and trip over his tongue is an improvement, however modest.

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