9/11 Mastermind To Be Tried In NYC Civilian Court, Cole Mastermind In Military Court – Update: Death Penalty Sought

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9/11 Mastermind To Be Tried In NYC Civilian Court, Cole Mastermind In Military Court – Update: Death Penalty Sought

Written By : William Teach

File this under “are you fracking kidding me?”

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and four other men accused in the plot will be prosecuted in federal court in New York City, a federal law enforcement official said early on Friday.

As Jammie Wearing Fool points out, this is going to create a massive circus, one in which the defense will not be able to defend the actions of their client, but use the trial as a way of bashing Bush and the GWoT. What will happen with the secret information gained from KSM? Will we tell the world all about our means and methods, meaning Al Qaeda will know? And, can you imagine if the prosecutors lose the case?

But Obama the administration will prosecute Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri — the detainee accused of planning the 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen — and several other detainees before a military commission, the official said.

Hmm, that happened under a different president. Anyone remember what Party he was a part of? The memory is eluding me this morning.

The decisions to give civilian prosecutors detainees accused of the 2001 terrorist attacks and keep the case of the Cole attack within the military system are expected to be announced at the Department of Justice later on Friday by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because that news conference has not yet taken place.

The Fish Wrap of Record’s only attempt to find a rational for this is some mealy mouthed idiocy about closing Gitmo. They apparently have no interest in knowing why the difference in treatment.

On the flip side, it might be very interesting to have KSM on the stand explaining how Democrat weakness during the Clinton years (remember when OBL called America a “paper tiger” not long after he, as head of al Qaeda, declared war against America?) for all to hear.

More: Michelle Malkin writes

If this White House thought Tea Party activists were an “angry mob,” wait until they see the backlash from 9/11 family members and their supporters nationwide. We’re not going to sit down and shut up about the reckless, security-undermining Obama 9/10 agenda and conflict-of-interest-ridden AG Eric Holder.

I wonder how Obama will insult the 9/11 family members when they rightfully go ballistic? There is also a petition to President Neophyte.

Another thought occurs: trying KSM and the others in NYC will create a legal appeal nightmare for years, if not over a decade. The defense will say there is no way for them to get a fair trial, etc and so on.

As I am adding on to this, I am listening to Holder’s PC, and he says they will shoot for the death penalty.

Double More: Not trying to go all Glenn Greenwald with the updates, but, a few more thoughts occur. 1st, how did the Obama admin come to this decision? Who was involved? I suspect it was more of a political meeting which revolved around “hey, look at us, we are going to bring these guys to justice, and what better place than NYC,” with no one in the GroupThink saying “yeah, not such a great idea.”

Also, this looks more like a distraction event. Things have not been looking rosy for Barack as of late, even with the passage of the health destruction bill in the House, so, they throw this out on a Friday morning, hold some press conferences, and try and look tough and wise. Consider that there were no concrete timelines involved. KSM could be sitting around in Gitmo for years before being moved to NYC, if ever.

The families are not happy

Debra Burlingame, the sister of a pilot whose plane was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11, said in a statement that “the trial will be a travesty.” She supports military trials for Mohammed and four other defendants.

“In open court, it will be Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who will hold forth,” she said, “mocking his victims, exulting in the suffering of their families, ridiculing the judge, his lawyers and the American justice system, and worst of all, rallying his jihad brothers to kill more Americans.”

and

“To allow a terrorist and a war criminal the opportunity of having US constitutional protections is a wrong thing to do and its never been done before,” Ed Kowalski of the 9/11 Families for a Secure America Foundation told AFP on Friday.

“We feel that that’s a terrible mistake.”

http://TheNixonTape.Blogspot.Com Dick_Nixon

Maybe some patriotic citizen will step forward and provide some instant justice for this pagan animal.
http://quantum-kitty.blogspot.com/ simulacre

if KSM is tried in a federal court, doesn’t that make him subject to the protections of the constitution? Would we have been required to read and honor Miranda rights for him? Is it even possible to try him or will this be thrown out of court and KSM set free?
http://conservativebootcamp.com martinhale

I don’t think that the defence will successfully be able to argue that because he wasn’t ‘Mirandised’ that he should be released. I think it’s pretty easy for the prosecution to rebut that motion with the facts that KSM was apprehended by military personnel, not civil law enforcement personnel and therefore the preemptive reading of Miranda rights was not part of the legally accepted procedures for handling enemy combatants, nor did KSM have any reasonable expectation that he would be ‘Mirandised’. I’m sure the mouthpieces who step forward to represent KSM will howl and bay about the issue, but I don’t see them winning the argument.

The real legal risk I see for this prosecution is that death penalty cases have higher evidentiary standards than other types of cases due to the fact that the defendants life is at risk. As a result, death penalty cases are more likely to result in a mistrial or deadlocked jury, if one is involved. Given that, I can easily see where trying this case under the higher standards of a death penalty case could result in the prosecution failing to make their case “beyond a reasonable doubt” meaning KSM either walks free, or pleads to a lesser charge and has his time served applied to his penalty.

I think we all pretty much expect KSM and his legal team to use the trial as a platform to sound off about all the evils of Bush, the US, and about the virtues of Islam. The real danger with that is that we end up with a trial much like that of Saddam Hussein. The decision will look like it was made in a vacuum because much of what emerges during the trial will not actually bear any relevance to the crimes of which he is accused. That will tend to make the case look like it was a foregone conclusion, not an unbiased legal proceeding.