Daniel Pearl's Family Disagrees WIth NYC Trial For Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

The mother and father of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl are disappointed with the federal government's decision to try Pearl's professed killer and Guantanamo detainee Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City, according to The Hill.

Pearl's father, Judea Pearl, told the New York Post that the Justice Department's decision made him "sick to the stomach."

The foundation started by Pearl's parents, Ruth and Judea Pearl, released a statement to The Hill Saturday night, explaining their disappointment. The Hill:

We are respectful of the legal process, but believe that giving confessed terrorists a worldwide platform to publicize their ideology sends the wrong message to potential terrorists...

The Pearl family is not the first to object to the federal trial for Guantanamo detainees. The Washington Post has written that a public trial could be the "perfect arena" for smug Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's huge ego. And that a trial for the "9/11 mastermind" could provide him with "the attention he craves."

Pearl was beheaded in 2002, after he was kidnapped in Pakistan. He left behind a wife, Mariane, and young son, Adam Daniel, who was born three months after Pearl's murder. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessed to killing Pearl in 2007.

Comments

[OswegoKayaker]

07:42 PM on 11/20/2009

I am so sorry for the Pearl family -- what a monstrous thing to have happen to your child. But all the more reason that the man who claims he murdered their son be tried as a murderer, not as a soldier, but as the thug and terrorist he is. I am glad they will not give him the dignity of a military hearing, but rather the courtroom of the common criminal. He was not a military man, and certainly not a religious man -- but a man who used religious terrorism to murder a good person. Give him a fair trial, and then let New Yorkers each have a few minutes with him -- or give him the Sharia death he wants. Do we have any stones left from the tower site?

[Jake Gittes]

11:37 AM on 11/18/2009

I was under the impression that the video evidence of Pearl's murder contradicted KSM's confession.
Pearl's father himself has stated that KSM didn't kill his son.
This site should focus more on the fact that this alleged mastermind confessed to a number of crimes he did not commit, such as planning an attack on an office building in LA that didn't even exist until 2 years AFTER his capture.
The reason so many conservatives don't want this case tried in our courts is because they know it will fall apart if given any real scrutiny.
Of course, if KSM actually deserves a military trial, then he is also entitled to all the rights of a POW, and, again, the case falls apart do to the fact that he was repeatedly tortured in our custody.
None of the statements KSM made as a result of torture will be allowed into evidence at this trial.
Without that, what case is there?

[stardust835]

11:31 PM on 11/17/2009

Daniel Pearl was an American. Why is Huffington Post listing this story under Israel news?

[KathyBarkulis]

11:03 AM on 11/18/2009

Huffington Post published Kristen Breitweiser's article on this subject in a more prominent section. And they did not publish my respectful, but critical comments on her political motives. What's up with that?

[bowingagain]

11:34 AM on 11/17/2009

Even campaign mode Obama said the civilian trails were a no no. What happened?

[KathyBarkulis]

11:07 AM on 11/18/2009

Holder figured out that this would be the only way he could put Bush and Cheney's policies on trial.

[kentah]

04:12 PM on 11/19/2009

Exactly. Hopefully the method by which a confession was extracted will come up as well, then the games can really begin.

[bklynnupe]

01:08 AM on 11/17/2009

Have the trails here and put these folks in American jails if convicted.
Why pay a foreign government or a bunch of contractors a pile of money? Are jails work.
This all a bunch of political nonsense.

[Mondayboy]

12:51 AM on 11/17/2009

When have you seen a political decision that received unanimous reception from all people? Even if God decided to drop manna from heaven for all of mankind, I am sure there will be a few teabaggers who will complain that it smacks of socialism.

[SarahSarah]

08:09 PM on 11/16/2009

Due process is what our system is all about, not something to be afraid of...

[bowingagain]

11:35 AM on 11/17/2009

That's not what he said in campaign mode.

[SarahSarah]

02:43 PM on 11/17/2009

This is not about Obama. Presidents come and go. It about reestablishing this country's commitment to the rule of law. Why are we so afraid of these guys and when did Americans get to be so cowardly that we can no longer uphold the principles that once made us great?

[Gould123]

02:46 PM on 11/16/2009

Take away their Power to make people fear them, make them ordinary criminal who don't deserve special treatement.

[suigeneris]

12:40 PM on 11/16/2009

I don't get it. How is trying him inside the U.S. justice system giving him a "worldwide platform" for his ideology?

That makes no sense at all. It's too bad people are taking this statement seriously out of sympathy for the Pearls.

Terrorists already have "a worldwide platform" for their ideology. Every time Osama releases a tape, it's played everywhere on the planet. They post their material on websites and every time they stage an attack, it's all over the news.

How does BRINGING THEM TO JUSTICE properly do anything but DISCREDIT their ideology? They only know how to kill innocent people to make their point. We take those we know are guilty, wait until they are proved to not be innocent beyond a reasonable doubt, and even then we usually lock them up for life instead of killing them (ideally).

Our system is a total refutation of the terrorists ideology, and we should be proud of that and continue to use it as such.

And as for the folks who think we need to hold them in prisons outside the U.S. -- you're not making sense either. Our maximum security prisons can hold cannibalistic serial killers and mob bosses, but not cave-dwelling amateur bomb aficionados with a religious fetish? Are you kidding me? I'd be more worried about how long the terrorists are going to last in jail than I would be about the states or areas they'll be held in.

[madatnewsmedia]

10:53 AM on 11/17/2009

Thank you! People, you all need to read this post! I can't believe that the Pearls would rather see these people tried somewhere other than the US! What is going on? There is no reason for the country not to try these idiots and those that agree need to rethink your positions. This is lunacy at its finest!!!!!!!!!!

[MDCambridge]

08:01 PM on 11/15/2009

My sincere sympathies to the Pearls, however:

Our recent history proved that the abdication of liberties for security neither made us more free or more secure. (Deference to Ben Franklin.)

Waving a banner of liberty when liberty is not challenged is false patriotism; defending liberty for the least deserving is the epitome of what it means to be American.

[Phxflyer]

07:34 PM on 11/15/2009

Fanned.

Spot on.

[bowingagain]

11:36 AM on 11/17/2009

Spot not. Listen to the magic man while in campaign mode about this subject.

[jan4insight]

07:25 PM on 11/15/2009

The family of Daniel Pearl has been through unimaginable pain, and they have the right to express their opinions like anyone else.

And like anyone else, we have the right to disagree with them. I certainly do; I support the rule of law, and I think one of the best ways to restore the US's standing in the world is to let our justice system work the way it is supposed to.

There are many who think this way, as evidenced by the posts on this thread, as well as survivors of the 9/11 dead. If HuffPost is going to report the Pearl family's point of view, then in all fairness I think they should also post this interview with 9/11 widow Kristen Breitweiser, which appeared on Countdown last week:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

[Gretel1or2]

10:56 PM on 11/15/2009

jan you raise a good point. I alluded to something similar which was never posted. I think if the women on the countdown interview had said the opposite, this interview would be posted. However, it does not advance the Republican talking points, and therefore, will be ignored in favor of the Pearl family.

[AgapeSeeker]

04:46 PM on 11/16/2009

The differing approach recommendations seem to lie inthe end we all wish to see brought about through this. Some see this as an opportunity to restore something about America's image abroad. Yet, if you read Dr. Pearl's WSJ piece on countering terrorism through our response to terrorists (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-daniel-pearl15-2009nov15,0,2116776.story), you will see that the Pearls' view is not just another victim's family's strong feelings, but gets to the core of the question of how to prevent such actions.

The Constitution was made flexible for such things that could not have been foreseen. The death penalty asa mechanism of punishment and/or deterrent assumes that even the most perverse criminal has a desire to stay alive. Yet here we are confronted with people like KSM who want nothing more than to complete his self-perceived hero status with what he sees as "holy martyrdom."

And what do terrorists want? The innocent blood they pour is for one main purpose besides perpetuating hatred and fear: to publicize their ideology (evident in the beheading video). And you believe the correct response to this is to give them aplatform before the entire planet? Unfortunately this is equivalent to mass murder as it will announce to every potential terrorist that the avenue to make their voice heard is by shedding innocent blood. The justice system will not "work the way it is supposed to" by rewarding criminal action in giving it what it seeks.

[eXcommunicate]

07:16 PM on 11/15/2009

I'm sorry, but Daniel Pearl's family doesn't get to decide what does or does not constitute justice.

[blaharumph]

03:44 PM on 11/16/2009

i agree. not to mention the NYT paid the Ts to get pearl out, which offended folks as well

[AgapeSeeker]

04:49 PM on 11/16/2009

They are not saying they do. They are simply stating, in agreement with everyone that has studied and developed policies in responding to terrorism, that rewarding criminals by giving them what they seek makes little sense, and the repurcussions of that will be felt around the world in bloodshed and future terrorist acts.

[lungfish]

12:31 PM on 11/20/2009

As if the court is going to give him free reign to preach from the witness stand.... Cmon, folks, if you want to know about his ideology its all over the web. Its time to show the world OUR ideology and the best way to do that is to put this man on trial for his actions. If that leads to other prosecutions of US officials or an overall indictment of the legal jeopardy created by the Bush Administration, then so be it...
Let there be Justice, finally.

[uhuhuh]

07:12 PM on 11/15/2009

Daniel Pearl's family should be disgusted, as I bet the majority of the American people are.

[fya]

01:07 PM on 11/16/2009

Confucius says, "Never argue with a fool...he may be doing the same thing."

[Mr-Mikey]

07:12 PM on 11/15/2009

If we throw away these people without a trial, without due process we are no better than the enemy we face.

The extremists our troops face everyday, can and will capture people off the streets. There is no trial, there is no justice, there is extortion and death. That is exactly what all these people who "Support the Pearls" opinion with likewise statements or statements of ignorance are doing.

Our laws, our sense of right or wrong, our country is based upon the dream that all men are created equal.

Disregard our laws, we show to our enemy that they are changing us. That is what they want, and that is what they have declared to do. Hit us so hard, that we forget how our country works, hit us so terribly that we live in fear.

I do not live in fear, Try these people in a court of law. Find them guilty or innocent, where ever the evidence will lead us. For the sake of our Principles that we guide ourselves by.