Is This Really Worth It?
- 11.16.2009 - 8:31 AMFormer Justice Department lawyer John Yoo writes:
Trying KSM in civilian court will be an intelligence bonanza for al Qaeda and the hostile nations that will view the U.S. intelligence methods and sources that such a trial will reveal. The proceedings will tie up judges for years on issues best left to the president and Congress.
Whether a jury ultimately convicts KSM and his fellows, or sentences them to death, is beside the point. The treatment of the 9/11 attacks as a criminal matter rather than as an act of war will cripple American efforts to fight terrorism. It is in effect a declaration that this nation is no longer at war.
Yoo was the object of much ire from the Obami and their supporters. As one author of the Bush-era interrogation memos, he was accused of promoting “torture” — an assertion that now will be wielded like a sword by KSM’s lawyers as they try to put the U.S. on trial. And what will Eric Holder’s Justice Department say — no, it wasn’t torture after all? No, none of the information derived from the enhanced interrogations was used for the “prosecution”? It will be only one aspect of a multi-ring circus.
And as Yoo explains, the danger to the U.S. is great, as we will be “forced to reveal U.S. intelligence on KSM, the methods and sources for acquiring its information, and his relationships to fellow al Qaeda operatives.” Aside from blowing the “cover” of personnel and plans known to us, we will be taking an unmistakable step toward criminalizing the battlefield:
Even more harmful to our national security will be the effect a civilian trial of KSM will have on the future conduct of intelligence officers and military personnel. Will they have to read al Qaeda terrorists their Miranda rights? Will they have to secure the “crime scene” under battlefield conditions? Will they have to take statements from nearby “witnesses”? Will they have to gather evidence and secure its chain of custody for transport all the way back to New York? All of this while intelligence officers and soldiers operate in a war zone, trying to stay alive, and working to complete their mission and get out without casualties.
The mind reels as one considers the multiple ways in which the decision to extract KSM from the military-tribunal system and plop him down into a Manhattan courtroom will harm our national security. And will it really stay in Manhattan, in such close proximity to Ground Zero, or should I say, “the crime scene”? Certainly a change of venue motion will be forthcoming among the hundreds, if not thousands, of motions that will flow from the defendant — oh yes, that’s defendant KSM, now entitled to the presumption of innocence – and his stable of lawyers.
If you think Yoo or Obama’s critics are exaggerating, Yoo reminds us of Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker: “His trial never made it to a jury. Moussaoui’s lawyers tied the court up in knots. All they had to do was demand that the government hand over all its intelligence on him. The case became a four-year circus, giving Moussaoui a platform to air his anti-American tirades.”
The president would have us believe that this is all Holder’s doing. Obama wasn’t even in the country when the announcement was made. If true, Obama has abandoned his obligation to make key decisions affecting national security. But who really believes that? No, this is the president’s call. KSM is landing in a civilian courtroom because Obama wants him there. Whatever flows from that, whatever damage is done to our national security, is his responsibility. And frankly, whatever anguish is experienced by the victims’ families, who will now hear KSM proclaim the virtue of his cause, is also Obama’s. He should have had the decency and the courage to tell them and the American people why he thought this was necessary.
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