Several Senators announced legislation to pull funding of a federal trial as a means to prevent the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to take place in Manhattan.
"The law enforcement model being used by the Obama administration should be rejected," Senator Lindsey Graham said. "We're not fighting a crime, we're fighting a war." Of course, as I like to point out, the shoe bomber Richard Reid was tried in civilian courts and these very same detractors of the Obama administration lay silent years ago. "Our military justice system is best able to protect the American people," Graham continued.
"The fact is, we should not try these people in New York, we shouldn't try them in Illinois, we shouldn't try them in Phoenix," said Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona. "We should try them in the courtroom in Guantanamo Bay, and we should try them according to the Military Commissions Act," referring to the legislation passed in 2006 under President Bush which governs military trials for terror suspects.
While not all opposition to the trial is coming from the right, with other senators including Joe Lieberman, stating that opposition to the trial stems from supplying terrorists with a platform to recruit new members, but from my understanding, the trial would not be open to the public.
"To try them as common criminals, giving them the constitutional rights of American citizens in our courts, is justice according to Alice in Wonderland," said Lieberman. I find this statement to be interesting because what he proposes is trying these individuals in American military courts without any protected rights. If that is the case, then we should return these people to their country of origin... but wait... that would also be wrong. Maybe we should keep these people indefinitely to ensure they can do no more harm to Americans.
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