Following up my article yesterday about the response from right to the trial of KSM and other te4rriorists, here’s a some info about flotsam in the the National Review.
The main reason that supporters of Bush's anti-terror policies are wetting their pajamas is pretty clear from a look at National Review Online:
We are now going to have a trial that never had to happen for defendants who have no defense. And when defendants have no defense for their own actions, there is only one thing for their lawyers to do: put the government on trial in hopes of getting the jury (and the media) spun up over government errors, abuses and incompetence. That is what is going to happen in the trial of KSM et al. It will be a soapbox for al-Qaeda's case against America. Since that will be their "defense," the defendants will demand every bit of information they can get about interrogations, renditions, secret prisons, undercover operations targeting Muslims and mosques, etc., and — depending on what judge catches the case — they are likely to be given a lot of it. The 
administration will be able to claim that the judge, not the administration, is responsible for the exposure of our defense secrets. And the circus will be played out for all to see — in the middle of the war. It will provide endless fodder for the transnational Left to press its case that actions taken in America's defense are violations of international law that must be addressed by foreign courts. And the intelligence bounty will make our enemies more efficient at killing us.
No doubt the defense attorneys will try to exclude evidence obtained while these defendants were being tortured in black prison sites. But, the DOJ isn't going to rely on any of that evidence. No judge is going to allow a self-defense argument, so our policies are not going to be on trial. The indictments will be based on information obtained legally. The right is afraid that these folks will be convicted and sentenced to death for a crime that can proven without resorting to torture. And, then, what will be left of their justification for despoiling our country's reputation for upholding human rights?... [emphasis added]
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The author makes a good point here. What the right fears the most is not that a terrorist might go free on US soil. They fear the high profile exposure of the truth before the world that they are war criminals, every bit as guilty as the terrorists who will be tried. They fear a worldwide public outcry that they be brought to judgment for their crimes against humanity. They fear that the exposure if their accountability will permanently remove their ilk from power in this country. Let the trials proceed and let the truth be heard, the truth about the terrorists and the truth about the war criminals.
2 comments:
I think it will be an interesting trial. KSM has for years now admitted responsibility before being tortured *shrug* I take the position that this is not so much a trial of American policy as it is the trial for conspiracy, hijacking airplanes, and 2800 counts of murder.
Anything not germane to the indictment should be kept out of testimony.
There is no defense for murder that makes it more palatable, we are after all not talking manslaughter or self defense here but calculated, premeditated acts of murder.
If American policy is to be put on trial then let a court forward indictments to the appropriate parties. Which also we would live through.
Mark, I trust that you understand I did not intend my indictment of the GOP war crimes as a justification for what these criminals did. Where the GOP material will enter the record is not in direct testimony, which I agree would be improper. It will do so in briefs and motions to determine the admissibility of evidence.
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