Terrorist Trial Flunks
Washington,
Nov 18 -
In June 2009, the Obama Administration sent Ahmed Ghailani from Guantanamo Bay to New York to face a civilian terror trial for his involvement in the East African embassy bombings a dozen years ago. It was to be the first case in a series of federal prosecutions of GITMO detainees, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind. Better stop the train.
The Obama Administration doesn’t like military tribunals. Candidate Obama protested that "we have destroyed our credibility when it comes to rule of law all around the world." So the Ghailani case was to be the poster-child, showing that terror suspects can be tried successfully in civilian courts, a key tenant of its counter-terror policy of showing a soft side.
It's just hard for this Administration to accept that we've never been World Citizens. In fact, "at no point in our history have the nation’s wartime enemies been given access to the civilian justice system and endowed with all the protections and presumption that American citizens receive," as attorney Andrew McCarthy put it today. They have different legal status. Well the verdict on Obama’s plan is now in: guilty of another bad idea.
Yesterday, a New York jury convicted Ghaliani on just one charge, conspiracy to destroy U.S. property, while acquitting him of 284 other counts, including every murder charge. A conspiracy conviction for this colossal crime is an abject failure.
Civilian trial process matters. The judge disallowed the testimony of a "giant witness" because he was identified through "enhanced interrogation." Civilian trials have higher standards than military commissions for admitting evidence. Concerns over disclosing classified information keep evidence out. Search warrants are usually required. So foreign terrorists are getting the American treatment in our courts. Meanwhile, Americans feel like they are being treated like terrorists going through airport security lines. Just who is getting due process?
The former commander of the USS Cole said in reaction to yesterday’s verdict, "One of 285 counts is not exactly a track record…to be proud of… This case sends a clear and unmistakable signal about using civilian courts: It didn’t work." It's common sense to put our enemies in military courts.
We dodged a bullet. This al-Qaeda killer still faces 20 years to life for his single count conviction. But this debacle should be a glaring warning light to the Obama Administration on civilian vs. military trials: change course. We're at war.
