9/11 Justice
I’m deeply concerned about and opposed to Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to try 9/11 terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed in a civilian court rather than in a military tribunal. A military tribunal is the appropriate venue to try an enemy combatant, a venue presided over by military judges where sensitive national security information can be protected.
Does anyone doubt that, given the public stage of a trial in a civilian court in New York City, Khalid Sheik Mohammed will utilize this as a bully pulpit to denigrate the United States and justify the 9/11 attacks? The United States should not be put on trial.
A civilian trial affords one of the world’s most notorious terrorists the same rights as U.S. citizens. Holder himself is apparently not prepared to extend those rights to one of the terrorists responsible for the attack on the U.S.S. Cole. He is instead being tried before a military tribunal. This illogical decision sends a message to would-be terrorists that they will receive more legal rights by attacking civilians on American soil. Does this not fly in the face of our strategy to take the fight to terrorists where they live and to keep their attacks out of our country?
Military tribunals are not without fault. This process has been unacceptably slow. It has been more than eight years since 9/11, and KSM is still awaiting trial. He should have been convicted and his sentence carried out long before now to offer some sense of closure to the victims’ families. The families of 9/11 have suffered enough. They deserve to know that the perpetrators of this crime will receive justice.