Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (official photo)
Former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean (R) and current Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ-11) have both made definite statements against the idea of trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four cohorts in a Federal district court in New York City.
Kean, who also served as Chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Against the United States (aka the 9/11 Commission), expressed his fear that KSM would gain a platform from which to play the martyr in the eyes of members and sympathizers of the Muslim terror network, Al-Qa'ida (literally, "The Base"). He made his remarks to Brian Lehrer, a talk-show host on WNYC Radio. Fellow Commission member Richard Ben-Veniste (D) disputed that assertion, saying that an open trial "would demonstrate the power of the American justice system," according to Brian Donohue, staff reporter for The Star-Ledger (Newark).
Rodney Frelinghuysen, in a press release issued today, expressed "anger" at what he called an "irresponsible decision" to bring the men to trial in New York.
Yes, they must be brought to justice. But these terrorists were already being tried by military commissions, which were specifically designed, and endorsed by the President, to prosecute such heinous acts.
In fact, then-Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), in 2006, had said on the floor of the Senate that KSM would and should be tried by a US military tribunal. Breitbart TV recently released this video capture from CSPAN-2, the official cable channel of the Senate:
Frelinghuysen echoed Kean's fears concerning KSM's opportunity for attention-getting, and then expressed further fears:
- Prosecutors would have to reveal details of American intelligence methods, details that could only assist the current intelligence chief of Al-Qa'ida in planning further attacks and circumventions of US intelligence and counterintelligence.
- Soldiers would be forced to collect forensic-grade evidence on the battlefield--in short, to treat the field of battle as though it were a secure crime scene, a task absurd on its face.
Frelinghuysen also criticized the decision to transfer most or all of the current inmates of Camp Delta, the secure facility on the Guantanamo naval base, to a prison in Thomson, IL. This last proposal has already prompted Representative Mark Kirk (R-IL-10) and other Republicans to explore multiple avenues to prevent this transfer.
On May 7, 2009, Representative John Boehner (R-OH-8) had introduced HR 2294, the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act, to prevent just such transfers as these. This bill has languished in the House Armed Services Committee ever since. Frelinghuysen has now listed himself as a cosponsor of that legislation.
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