Thursday, November 19, 2009
Editorial: Justice for 9/11
Civilian courts and prisons have proven quite capable of handling high-profile terrorists. There is no reason for fear-mongering.
From the RoundTable blog
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More than eight years after the 9/11 terror attacks, the United States will finally be bringing some of the alleged perpetrators to justice.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has spent the years since his capture in the legal limbo of Guantanamo, will be brought to New York City for trial, the Obama administration announced late last week.
Other suspected 9/11 conspirators will also be brought to trial. Predictably, the reaction from some quarters has bordered on hysteria. "This decision is further evidence that the White House is reverting to a dangerous pre-9/11 mentality -- treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue and hoping for the best," said House Minority Leader John Boehner.
"Putting political ideology ahead of the safety of the American people just to fulfill an ill-conceived campaign promise is irresponsible," said Republican National Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn.
Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman accused President Obama of treating 9/11 terrorists as common criminals rather than war criminals.
Some expressed fear that the civilian courts couldn't handle the security concerns surrounding such a high-profile terrorism trial. Congressmen on both sides of the aisle have doubted whether U.S. prisons could securely handle terrorists.
Of course, these criticisms ignore the fact that civilian courts have already been successfully used to prosecute high-profile terror cases and that U.S. super-max prisons currently house hundreds of domestic and international terrorists, and not one has even attempted to escape.
Some, such as Virginia's Sen. Jim Webb, expressed more reserved concerns. "Those who have committed acts of international terrorism are enemy combatants, just as certainly as the Japanese pilots who killed thousands of Americans at Pearl Harbor. It will be disruptive, costly, and potentially counterproductive to try them as criminals in our civilian courts," he said.
Others noted that treating 9/11 as a war crime inflated the perpetrators in a way. "Those responsible for 9/11 are not warriors, they are criminals and mass murderers," said Tom Andrews, who is leading a campaign to close Guantanamo. "Treating them as anything else plays into al-Qaida's hands and rewards them an elevated status that only stokes their desire for 'martyrdom.'"
Attorney General Eric Holder framed the issue best in testimony before Congress Wednesday: "We need not cower in the face of this enemy. Our institutions are strong, our infrastructure is sturdy, our resolve is firm and our people are ready. It is past time to finally act by bringing prosecutions."
Americans used to not allow themselves to be governed by fear, especially by the fear of a motley crew of terrorists. Americans should trust their institutions and the people behind them to mete out appropriate justice for mass murder.
