Obama should not move trial of accused terrorists to civilian court
Nic Dunn
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other accused conspirators of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks will be tried in a federal court in New York City instead of in the military commission system at Guantanamo Bay.
This is a serious mistake. The decision to try terrorists in a civilian court instead of a military tribunal shows a serious lack of judgment by President Barack Obama’s administration.
Obama must understand fully and completely that the United States is at war.
Some may disagree with that statement, asking what country we are fighting, but we must understand that we have reached a point where our perception of war has changed.
Governments and individual people have traditionally viewed war as an armed conflict between two or more states.
Now, the state is no longer the ultimate actor in the political arena. When an extremist group such as Al-Qaeda attacks the United States, inflicting thousands of casualties, the U.S. is not only at war with them, but also with their ideology that America and all it stands for is evil and that it must be destroyed. This fundamental Islamic extremism is the part of the war that is the most difficult and complicated.
If we are at war, then why are prisoners of that war being treated as regular civilians who have committed a crime? Why are Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his conspirators being given the rights afforded to U.S. citizens under the Constitution, when there is no historical or logical precedent to do so?
These men who will go on trial are not civilians. They are not common criminals who warrant a civilian trial with a jury of their peers.
They are illegal combatants in an international war, and should be treated as such. A military tribunal for war crimes is the proper way to deal with them; a criminal trial in which they may confront their accusers or in which confessions given under duress — such as during waterboarding — may be thrown out, is not. They should not have a trial in which the prisoners’ lack of Miranda rights could add complications.
This lack of good judgment from the Obama administration shows that the president does not view the situation with the necessary gravity. He must understand that we are in the midst of one of the most difficult and complicated wars in our nation’s history.
Obama is too concerned with proving to the country and the world that he is not George W. Bush. With a political move like this, Obama is trying to say to the world, “You see how unlike my predecessor I am? He tortured captured terrorists, but I’m giving them the benefits of a fair trial!”
Mr. President, we all understand how very dissimilar you are to President Bush. Now is not the time for political games to gain support and distance yourself from a very unpopular administration.
The key to Obama’s success is not the ability to do the opposite of everything that Bush did. The key is to evaluate each situation with a fresh, clear outlook free from political influence. The Obama administration has failed to do that on this issue. They were so blinded by the desire to do everything differently from the last administration and to gain public favor that they have missed the mark.
I only hope that this administration quickly learns from its mistakes so that we can move forward and accomplish real change, not just the illusion of change with the same old political tactics.
Nic Dunn is a senior studying journalism and political science. He hosts a talk show on Wolf Pack Radio every Monday from 3 to 4 p.m. Listen at www.wolfpackradio.org or reach him at perspectives@nevadasagebrush.com.
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18 Responses to “Obama should not move trial of accused terrorists to civilian court”
If we had just thrown them out of a helicopter we would have saved a whole lot of trouble.
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It is called – “Living up to our own standards instead of constantly torturing our captives and giving them a trial for once.”
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So you’re saying that we should ignore the constitution? Yeah, um that may have be acceptable during the Bush admin, but not now.
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Eric you should probably realize that you’re not actually better than everybody else and get your self-righteous as* off the sagebrush website for once. They are terrorists; not citizens contrary to some of your beliefs, and therefore the Constitution does not, and will never, apply to them. Also, on a side note, they are not part of a uniformed army and therefore are not subject to the terms of the Geneva Convention, and thus we can torture them as much as we want without penalty. Research something before you talk about it, you might almost sound smart for once.
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Aaron,
Blind people like you who know nothing but rage and hate give this country’s position in foreign policy a bad reputation. What is the difference between releasing photos of abuse ad carrying it out without any remorse? Nothing – They both make the world hate us a little bit more.
I know you like to sound tough, but your beliefs don’t work in real life. These guys will get the death penalty quicker then you can 1-2-3, but at least they will have some dignity in terms of civilized punishment.
You are dismissed.
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Who can argue that they deserve dignity? They would have gladly died trying to murder more innocent Americans, as they gladly will today. They deserve nothing from this country. As for how we have treated them, I’d like to see what would happen if American citizens were arrested in the middle east for terrorist acts. Do you think they would be treated so kindly? But hey, at least lethal injection hurts less than being burned alive or jumping out of a building right? Its hard to argue that even the death penalty is a fair punishment.
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Obama is a bigger threat to the U.S. than KSM.
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Unfortunately, your entire argument rests upon a fallacy. They are not, as you state, foreign combatants. As they are not soldiers fighting under the flag of a sovereign nation, they are common criminals. Non-citizens still, but they have the same standing as the Oklahoma City bomber had.
Calling the fight against terrorism a “war” is overly simplistic silly. It is not quite so black and white as that.
“same old political tactics.” for some reason, I am getting the feeling that you bring a bit of bias to the table in regards to this article. Do you truly, sincerely believe that by bringing these civilian mass-murderers to a fair federal trial, Obama is “merely” attempting to distance himself from Bush? Is ANYONE that shallow? You presume that Obama, someone who has access to vast clandestine intelligence information and the support of expert advisers, somehow has less of a grasp on the issues that some hack writer in a College paper. I sincerely doubt it.
In America, it’s innocent until proven guilty. Torture and the withholding of rights is not the way that we do things here. I’m glad that we finally have a president who is actually practicing what he preaches, instead of just paying lip service to the ideals and values of this nation.
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Aaron: “An eye for an eye” might of worked in Hammurabi’s time, but we’re supposed to have moved beyond that. By punishing them with blind rage and hatred we are only accomplishing their goals for them: to bring us down to their level. If we do that, then they have won. We must hold to our ideals; they can destroy every building in every city, and they will try, but they can’t destroy the ideals that this country was built upon.
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I hate Obama. He is stopping the Republican plan to bring back slavery. Our founding fathers had slaves so why can’t we. If we get rid of all the democrats, we can rename the entire U.S. the Confederate States of America. Long live George W. Bush.
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Just saying, they are ACCUSED of conspiracy. They have not been convicted. If we don’t have enough faith in our system that justice won’t be served, then why the heck are we still using it?
I think it is nutty that they would hold a trial in New York, but again, we as a country are always striving to have the best of everything. By throwing out the criminal justice system on a case by case basis, we would effectively prove that we think our system is incompetent.
In the Congo, rape is a legitimate weapon of the military. If we went to war with the DRC, and they raped American women, would you all be screaming that we start raping their women? I highly doubt it.
Innocent before PROVEN guilty. Let’s give these suspects the trial they deserve as HUMAN BEINGS, and let Lady Justice do as she will with them.
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While your definition of a new breed of warfare is interesting, it has too many holes…
Reagan declared a war on Drugs. Should all drug users be prosecuted within military tribunals?
These people committed heinous acts and should be put to death. But it wasn’t an act of warfare. It was an act of mass murder based in one group’s hatred. Keep the military out of it and lets see these people killed like they should be.
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Oh, Long Live the Confederacy. For a Republican, you sure do not know the history of the party. Lincoln was the first Republican president. You know, the man who is credited to ending slavery.
Silly, Rabbit.
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Harry Reid should be in Guantanamo. On second thought, he should be in Havana. He seems to be a protoge of the Castro brothers.
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1-20-13
Are you serious?
Wow….
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Very serious,Eric. Reid is arguably the most corrupt public official in goverment. The damage he has done to this country is incalcuable. He is disgrace to Nevada.
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All democrats are a discrace to Nevada. They told the terrorists to attact the world trade center. The presence of democrats is unbearable. We need to send them to guantanamo and bring back slavery. Micheal Steele supports the idea if he can have a slave himself.
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Just for a note, terrorists caught under the Bush administration were prosecuted in civilian courts far more often than in military tribunals.
I believe only 3 were tried in a military system. So the argument that what the Obama admin. is doing is so different than before is false.
Bush prosecuted terrorists in civilian courts too. The issue is not who did what when, but what SHOULD we do.
I find it annoying that these comment boards always devolve into juvenile personal attacks. Can’t we just have a civil discussion?
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