Gov. David Paterson of NY / AP Photo - Tim Roske
Governor David Paterson of New York doesn’t think the Justice Department’s decision to bring 9/11 terrorists, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind, to trial in a civilian court in New York City is a good one.
“This is not a decision that I would have made. New York was very much the epicenter of that attack; over 2,700 lives were lost,” the governor said, “It’s very painful. We’re still having trouble getting over it. We still have been unable to rebuild that site, and having those terrorists tried so close to the attack is going to be an encumbrance on all New Yorkers.”
Paterson made his comments on Monday after a ceremony at a new City University of New York campus in Harlem, siding with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani on the subject. Current NYC Mayor, Michael Bloomberg has expressed his support of the DOJ’s decision.
Holder’s decision, announced on Friday, to forgo a military tribunal was reportedly based on the fact that it was primarily civilians who were killed in the attack, and the fact that the attacks took place on U.S. soil.
It is unclear how trying these terrorists in a civilian court in the United States is such a bad thing. To do otherwise admits defeat to the terrorists, that the very justice system for which thousands upon thousands of U.S. service men and women have put their lives on the line, and even died for, is somehow so flawed that we would be unable to prosecute them in a civilian court.
The entire premise of keeping the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, outside the U.S. was a defeatist stance taken by the Bush Administration for political reasons and to enable them top more freely torture the prisoners.
This country needs to un-declare the “War on Terror” that we’ve allowed to chip away at our constitution and lawfulness, and prove once and for all that all Americans are united and committed to fighting terrorists, and showing by example that our prison system, our justice system, and our system of laws were created to deal with, and handle all types of people who threaten, harm or kill American civilians and that we will prevail. Anything less, admits defeat to Al-Qaeda.
Comments
Here is what Obama said May 15 2009.
www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/14/obama.military.tribunal/index.html
Obama said he supports the idea of the military commissions but opposes the version of the law that had been governing such trials in recent years: the Military Commissions Act put in place under the Bush administration in 2006, but subsequently struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
The president said military commissions "are appropriate for trying enemies who violate the laws of war, provided that they are properly structured and administered." But, he said, the 2006 act "failed to establish a legitimate legal framework and undermined our capability to ensure swift and certain justice against those detainees."
What changed? Or is this more proof Obama lies? He is on every side of every issue.
Holder will make damn sure this is a trial in which the Bush administration will be tried as well as KSM.
The same leftists who want Bush Cheney to be tried for war crimes are happy with KSM tried in civil court.
It shows who's side they are truly on!
To Jihad Watch (comment below) I don't get your point. If the President said that the current military commissions failed to establish a legitimate legal framework and undermined our capability to ensure swift and certain justice, then that leaves "civilian court". How is this a contradiction? How is this being on every side of every issue?
Marie, read the entire article and you will see Obama wanted to tweek the Bush rules but he NEVER wanted KSM to be tried in civil court. Until now that is. He says one thing today and another thing tomorrow! As expected from a man with no moral base to work from.
HERE is a product of another time thse people were treated as criminals instead of the terrorists they are. We will see more of the same again!
People are too soon to forget!
www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE5AG4CE20091117
"A disbarred New York lawyer convicted in 2005 on charges of supporting terrorism by helping an imprisoned blind Egyptian cleric smuggle messages to militant followers was ordered to prison by a U.S. federal appeals court that upheld her conviction on Tuesday.
The appeals court also ordered the trial judge to consider lengthening the 28-month prison sentence given to civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart, 70, saying the judge had declined to consider whether Stewart committed perjury."
Holder has stated he will seek the death penalty.
Consider this. If a terrorist is convicted in a military tribunal and sentenced to death, there are no endless years of appeals. The sentence is carried out.
If convicted in a US courtroom and sentenced to death, the automatic and endless appeals process will most likely go on longer than a two term president.
Obama's Muslim brothers don't die under HIS hand.
Just food for thought.
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