People involved in the bombing of the USS Cole and the 9/11 planning have been transferred to federal court in New York and will be tried like everyone else. This is good news, contrary to the reactions that have been coming out on TV.
The military commissions are part of the Bush Administration’s star-chamber justice policy that makes a mockery of the American justice system, and denies the writ of habeas corpus to everyone, as the United States is sworn to observe as a charter member of the United Nations. In fact, the U.S. and Britain pushed for this writ to be included in the United Nations charter when it was being written.
The Obama Administration now has two choices: go after these guys in federal court with every shred of evidence that they have, or run the risk of them getting off and being released back into the wild. In other words, put up or shut up. They’d better put up.
I’ve long spoken out against the government’s policy of keeping people locked up for years without trial, and without legal representation, and the Obama Administration’s decision to maintain the Bush policies was a very disappointing one. Then a federal judge ordered the Administration to either charge them with crimes, or release them, which precipitated this move into federal court.
And for those who are worried about them in civilian prisons, not to worry. Our prisons are good enough to hold former soliders; they can hold onto a small handful of 12th century barbarians.
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