Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, others to finally face justice in NYC

Put on your fear flack jackets because the right wing attacks are a-coming.

So if you haven't heard yet - it's official. So-called 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammad and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees are to be tried in New York City. All are facing prosecution in federal court and we all know that Right Wing critics will be out, en masse, using their favorite tactic of fear-mongering while relying on ignorance to manipulate the public.

Good thing we've got the facts on our side.

FACT: Since 2001, 195 terrorists have been tried and convicted in the civil court system. Military commissions? They have only convicted a whopping three. Federal trials are the best way to get justice for 9/11 victims.

FACT: Federal courts successfully tried and convicted terrorists involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombings. We have faced difficult, terrorism trials before and we were successful.

FACT: No one has ever escaped from a "supermax" prison where terrorist convicts like Ramsey Yusuf and Zacarias Moussoui are being held. We can handle terrorism suspects because we already have them in our prisons.

Said Jon Soltz of VotVets.org about these facts:

This will prove that Liz and Dick Cheney, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner and their cohorts have been engaging in pure politics. Contrary to what they've said, transferring detainees to the US to face justice and punishment will be secure, safe, and strong, as it has been for nearly 200 other terrorists. Once that becomes evident, it will be clear that their only interest in opposing real justice was to take down President Obama -- American security be damned.

Right wing critics want to scare people with an ominous, fictitious future, when the past already tells us what any trial of a 9/11 suspect will bring. Just last week South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham was pushing the Graham Amendment as a preemptive strike on Khalid Shaikh Mohammad and others coming to the U.S. on trial. Sen. Graham tried to kill all funding for any transportation of 9/11 suspects from Gitmo. He failed. There are bound to be other measures, other amendments and other scare tactics to stall, deny and delay justice. We can't let that happen.

Now is the time to contact your Congress member in support of the President's prosecution of Khalid Shaikh Mohammad and other 9/11 suspects. And if you haven't already, sign our letter to close Gitmo now, and pass it along to your family and friends. This is one of many steps that needs to take place so the prison at Guantanamo Bay can finally be shuttered. We can't let the usual Right Wing lines of "death, taxes and fear" stop the inevitable. We know these attacks are coming because we've seen them before. But you know what else is coming? Justice. It's time for justice now.

 

Comments

[tarkin79]

I can't imagine how their trials could move forward when their so-called "confessions" were obtained during torture.

[Havingfun100]

So how is New York going to afford this trial with all of the additional security that will be needed. My fear is that puts a bigger target on NYC as a form of protest. I have 2 kids living in NY and this makes me nervous

[S1m0n]

None of the three convictions that the kangaroo courts have managed to rack up came in trials in which the accused mounted a defense; all were the result of deals in which the prosecution traded the certainty of indefinite detention for a guilty plea and a pre-defined penalty. In no case was the prosecution's case or evidence tested.

[philosopherking]

150 family members of the 9/11 attacks signed a petition supporting the Graham Amendment.

The Graham Amendment would prohibit trying anyone accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks on America in federal district court (Article III Courts).

Military Commissions, the proper and historical venue for prosecution in this instance, have been a respected tool of military justice since the Revolutionairy War.
This is the appropriate venue for a number of reasons. Evidence collected in time of war is not collected with Chain of Custody standards, and of course, without offering Miranda Rights. Much of the evidence collected against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would thus likely not be acceptable in a civilian court. All of the trials would be subject to the prosecutors objection that there was a violation of the Speedy Trial Motion. Classified evidence would be brought to light, endangering those in our Interlligence, as well as how we go about protecting our intelligence sources. Crucial evidence, as in all war crimes, was not collected with CSI chain-of-custody standards. None of the 9/11 conspirators were given the Miranda warnings..­Much of the self-incriminating information given by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others would not be allowed in the trial. Prosecutions would be subject to the Speed Trial Mandate, with the possibility of dismissal. CIA Intelligence sources would be endangered, and the perpetrators would have an open forum to proseltyze their venom., as well as cause unnecessary hurt to the victims' family.

[vm12608]

I thought the major fear of trying them in the US was government fear the trials would turn into a travesty of them trying to sue us for having been tortured. The crap about them being able to escape from our prisons was and is malarkey. Giving them a forum to air their grievances over their treament while at Gitmo was the real concern.