For Holder And Obama, Much Wrestling Over How To Turn The 9/11 Trial Into A Photo-Op

by William Teach | November 14, 2009 8:39 am

The Washington Post lays out the rational for the decision to prosecute KSM and the other 9/11 jihadis in court in NYC

Eric H. Holder Jr. called his order Friday[1] to send the suspected plotters of the Sept. 11 attacks to trial in Manhattan “the toughest decision I’ve had to make as attorney general.” But what the nation’s chief law enforcement officer did not lay bare for public consumption was the four months of deliberation, lobbying and tug of war inside his own Justice Department that preceded an announcement that will follow him into history.

Hmm, that’s more time than they have spent on Afghanistan, a situation which requires a more immediate response.

In his nine months in office, Holder has jettisoned a public corruption case against former senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) because of prosecutorial lapses, launched an inquiry into CIA interrogators who abused terrorism suspects and announced a turnaround on medical-marijuana enforcement. Each decision has drawn a measure of criticism from Capitol Hill and some of his predecessors.

Interesting. No mention of Holder dismissing the case against the New Black Panthers[2], who were caught dead to rights violating federal voters rights statutes.

Nevertheless, the fate of the five men who allegedly conspired to use fully fueled airliners as weapons of mass destruction in 2001 posed the single biggest legal and political question that Holder is likely to face. The criminal proceedings against Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his four alleged confederates may display to the world all the protections and failings of the U.S. justice system.

Allegedly? They all admitted to it, then withdrew their guilty plea’s when they realized they wouldn’t get their platform to speechify and martyrdom. Notice the language is turn terrorist attacks into strictly a legal issue, which is called a 9/10 mentality.

“The stakes are high,” Holder said Friday in a brief conversation. “You have what is truly the trial of the century. The American people are committed to the resolution of this, and I considered that closely in picking the right place, the right forum, the right team.”

In other words, he wanted a place which would have great visuals. Do you want the circus in Manhattan, or Dickinson, ND?

For Holder, a native New Yorker who observed the construction of the World Trade Center’s twin towers as a student at Columbia University, the decision to send the detainees to a heavily secured courthouse in Lower Manhattan held special meaning. His brother, William, is a retired Port Authority police officer who lost friends in the attacks, and many of their relatives continue to reside in the Queens neighborhood where Holder grew up playing street basketball.

Why should the person stuff have any bearing on the case? This is just plain idiocy about Holder playing basketball, though, I wonder if Holder asked his brother what he thought?

At a news conference, Holder emphasized the location to full symbolic effect: “After eight years of delay, those allegedly responsible for the attacks of September 11th will finally face justice. They will be brought to New York — to New York — to answer for their alleged crimes, in a courthouse just blocks away from where the twin towers once stood.”

Right there is the money quote. The Obama administration is trying to create a photo op, something they can hang their hats on as being “tough on terrorists,” because this is what stands for being tough on terrorists in Liberal World.

No matter which way you look at it, this is going to backfire badly on Holder and Obama. As all the information comes back to the public conscience regarding 9/11, we will remember why the attacks happened, namely, because Democrats are extremely weak on national security, and most Americans could care less that a scumbag like KSM was waterboarded to get information that will protect American and American lives.