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December 15, 2009
Editorial Board
Attorney general Eric Holder and President Barack Obama are poised to knock out two birds: the closing of Guantanamo Bay and the conviction of terrorists, with one big stone– the United States judiciary. The United States’ judicial system made a bold decision recently to bring five terrorists currently imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay into a civilian court in New York City for trial.
Convicting terrorists has been mostly a failure in the past, dating back to the peak of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The Bush administration attempted to create “military commissions” in 2007 for specific military cases such as terrorism hearings, but Obama has put minimal use to these military courts in the past year.
Regardless, both Obama and Holder are confident that their case against the terrorists is a death sentence waiting to happen. Holder fully understands the magnitude of this case, stating: “Failure is not an option” in an interview with the New York Times in late November.
American concern stems from two equally unsettling decisions: one being the treatment of terrorists as U.S. citizens and resident U.S. aliens and two being the location of the trials. The first concern is as highly unconstitutional as the second concern is justifiably constitutional.
As U.S. citizens, the terrorists are allowed defense lawyers. This gives the terrorists, especially the self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, an opportunity to make clear to America the harsh torture that they were subjected to in Guantanamo. As somewhat of a detriment to the prosecution, the terrorists are also free to deny any confessions that they were coerced into making; all of the waterboarding and torture that the CIA implemented on the terrorists amounts to nothing for Holder.
However, after the decision to give terrorists U.S. citizenship for the trial, most other legal decisions fell within the parameters of the Constitution. Because the scene of the crimes of 9/11 is New York City, the federal court of that district has original jurisdiction to hear the case first. Unfortunately, this adherence to the Constitution likely puts New York City in jeopardy of another terrorist attack.
Even if justice will be carried out, the Obama administration may have been able to take a more constitutional approach to dealing with terrorists. The military courts were created more specifically for cases such as these, and with help from the U.S. judiciary, they would be strong enough to convict the Guantanamo prisoners.
The U.S. judiciary will ensure that the terrorists are punished accordingly, but Obama’s plan of attack certainly could have been more constitutional and less unsettling to the American public.
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December 18th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Great job! Important subject and professionally written. Keep up the good work.
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