When Attorney General Eric Holder announced that he intended to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and five other terrorists in a civilian court in New York City rather than in a military tribunal, we here at The Heritage Foundation condemned it as “A Historically Bad Decision.” It may have taken the Obama administration four months to fully realize just how terrible Holder’s judgment was, but today’s story from The Washington Post is great news for the rule of law and national security:
President Obama’s advisers are nearing a recommendation that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, be prosecuted in a military tribunal, administration officials said, a step that would reverse Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s plan to try him in civilian court in New York City.
The Obama administration should be commended for having the courage to reverse themselves on such a high profile and deeply important policy issue. But today’s announcement is not enough. In order to make the military commission system work, the Obama administration must fully and enthusiastically embrace and promote their legitimacy. The best way for them to do start making this commitment is to give the commissions the full resources that they have lacked, including world-class prosecutors and defense counsel.
The Obama administration has matured tremendously on this issue. We sincerely hope they continue to show they have the capacity to transition from their campaign rhetoric to truly protecting the American people.
If it took President Obama this long to learn the obvious, how long will it take him to learn that $1T/year deficits are bad? Anyone, even high school drop outs, could have come to the conclusion of military tribunals in less time.
I find it deeply ironic that one of the tags for this post is "rule of law."
Why commend grown adults, particularly one in high elected office, for finally doing what they should have known better to do in the first place, as a function of both principle AND contingencies? That's a prime example of false humility and civility trying to masquerade as know-better wisdom. In this case such false humility and civility relegated the status of the President of the United States to somewhere between a Prodigal Son and 'at-risk' child. But then again, this 'commendation' is coming from the Heritage Foundation, a front for full-price retail republicans such as Bush and McCain. Bush and now Obama have proven beyond all reasonable doubt that third party is the only way to vote now, toward the likes of a Rep. Ron Paul. And when the Heritage Foundation finally gets on board with this the way President Obama has finally gotten on board with a military tribunal for KSM, no, I won't 'commend' the Heritage Foundation either.
Please see my blog in response: http://www.political-bull.com/
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Let's hold on a minute before we start declaring, or even hinting, that sanity is slowly creeping into the White House. When I see KSM and the Christmas Day 'crotch bomber' tried before a military tribunal then I will think about accepting this premise.
Did it ever occur to anyone that this "try them in civilian court" might be a trial balloon to see how much resistance there would be? There seems to be and ulterior motive behind everything this administration does? BHO might be trying to see just how much he can get away with. Some wise person once said something about – Don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.
Barry Soetoro and his cronies are inexperienced idiots. This is just one of many missteps this administration has clearly demonstrated. The Keystone Cops and Three Stooges had more common sense than this White House. This administration will go down in history is absolutely the worst presidency in history.