Bachmann: Trying 9/11 mastermind in U.S. is “slap in the face” of victims
Friday, December 11, 2009 at 8:33 am
- 5 Comments
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
WASHINGTON — Rep. Michele Bachmann and the National Review’s Andrew McCarthy teamed up with other House Republicans on Thursday on the front steps of the Supreme Court to take a shot at President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder for deciding to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other alleged co-conspirators of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in U.S. federal courts.
“The decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City and give him all the benefits and perks reserved for American citizens is a slap in the face of the 9/11 victim’s families, the American people, and the men and women who risk their lives to defend our liberties each and every day,” said Bachmann in a statement released after the press conference.
Curiously, many of those protesting the accused terrorists’ trial in federal court repeatedly refer to a federal court trial and its attendant due process rights as being “reserved for U.S. citizens.” At a rally last weekend in New York City, for example, protesters and speakers repeatedly objected that the 9/11 defendants were being given “the same rights as U.S. citizens.”
In fact, the “right” to be prosecuted in a U.S. federal court has never been “reserved” for U.S. citizens at all. It’s historically been a “right” accorded to anyone who commits a crime on U.S. soil. Thus everyone from a U.S.-born citizen to an illegal alien who commits a federal crime in the United States gets tried in federal court. Although the government has just recently created special military commissions to try some crimes against U.S. military targets abroad, we don’t normally create new courts or legal systems to try non-citizens who commit mass murder, mail fraud, or any other crimes that might land them in federal court.
“If President Obama admits that we are a nation at war, then we should act like one,” continued Bachmann in her statement. “Justice for the 9/11 attackers should be swift and conclusive, something that won’t be done when KSM exploits the abundant appeals and legal loopholes he has been inexplicably awarded as a foreign combatant,” said Bachmann.
Bachmann didn’t mention that there have been only three military commission trials since they were created by President George W. Bush because detainees challenged the constitutionality of the military commissions — and won.
The proceedings that began last week under the supposedly new-and-improved military commissions signed into law by President Obama already suggest that we’ll be seeing more of the same.
5 Comments
Comment posted December 11, 2009 @ 9:21 am
For people who insist they have great faith in the Constitution they sure don’t seem to want to follow its’ rules and laws. Bachmann seems to be spitting on our long history of Constitutional law with her wild claims. I just wish she had something to back up this foolish attack. Treating terrorists as criminals takes away their political power. Doing what Bachmann wants to do puts terrorists on some kind of weird evil pedestal. They deserve to be treated like the common criminals they are, not like some government we are at war with honorably.
Comment posted December 11, 2009 @ 10:24 am
Not unsurprisingly, Bachman contradicts herself. First, she implies that a trial would be a form of justice which they do not deserve (stating incorrectly that only US citizens can be tried in US). Then she says they should have justice. Where is this justice to be meted out if not in the US, the scene of the crime?
Comment posted December 11, 2009 @ 11:22 am
I suppose it isn’t surprising that Michele Bachmann, from Minnesota, thinks she speaks for the families of those killed and injured on September 11, 2001.
The group known as The Jersey Girls, whose husbands died in the Twin Towers, are in favor of trial in NY, as are many other family members. By the way, it was The Jersey Girls who forced King George to hold the 9/11 Commission.
The real slap in the face is that this twit from Stillwater thinks she speaks for the families, while she is in league with Glenn Beck who called the families “crybabies”. THAT, Ms. Bachmann, is the real “slap in the face”.
Comment posted December 12, 2009 @ 7:37 am
It is correct to try anyone who commits a crime here on american soil in a fair manner. The combatants housed at gitmo and other detainees do not deserve the same treatment as american civilians. After all the hoopla about ab-graib and gitmo the obvious answer is to just leave more of them dead on the battle field then you do not have to try them as much
Comment posted December 13, 2009 @ 4:20 pm
1.)How is it a slap in the face? 2.)Why was thermite found in the ash ? 3.) Is this Bachmann character actually this ignorant. So much for the Minnesota educational system.
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